Included extensions

Vera includes extensions for side conversations, workspace diffs, context inspection, commentable artifacts, and command hooks. They appear in /extensions and /customize; no separate installation is needed.

Extension code lives in four places in the repository. Vera loads the first two on its own:

src/core-extensions/   core extensions: part of Vera, can be switched off
extensions/            optional extensions: on by default, delete a folder to remove one
examples/extensions/   example extensions: never loaded unless added by path
src/extensions/        the extension host: discovery, manifests, registry, manager

To use an example, install its folder with /extension install <path>, as in Install a local extension.

The core and optional extensions are:

core       vera.command-hooks, vera.context, vera.customize, vera.explorer,
           vera.reasoning-cycle, vera.session-identity, vera.web-search
included   vera.artifacts, vera.btw, vera.budget, vera.diff, vera.mcp,
           vera.recap, vera.titles

BTW and Pair

Use /btw for a read-only side conversation that can refer to the primary conversation. /btw <message> opens it and sends the message. Its pane is temporary.

Use /pair for a fresh peer conversation with ask permissions. /pair <message> sends a message as it opens. /pair close closes its pane. Pair attachments survive restart, and the conversation is available in /resume.

Work with two panes

Ctrl+G changes focus. Ctrl+\ cycles split and single-pane layouts. @sidekick, @peer, and @vera address the currently visible conversation; @all addresses both visible conversations.

Inspect changes and context

Use /diff to review workspace changes. Use /context to inspect context usage. The Context extension also provides /dashboard; disabling it removes both commands.

Recap a conversation

/recap opens a full-screen list of the conversation’s phases, newest first. Each row starts with the time the phase began, followed by its title, how long Vera worked on it, and whether its last test run passed. /timeline does the same. Commits, questions Vera asked you, long steps, side questions and interruptions sit under the phase they happened in, each with its own time. The right pane shows the selected row’s details, including the files it edited.

Phases are built from the conversation itself. Their titles come from the snappy model (see Assign defaults): when you open /recap, Vera sends each finished phase that has no title yet (your requests, the checklist items it ticked, the files it edited, its commits and test result, and the start of its last reply) and asks for a one-line title. Titles are kept until the client exits. With no snappy model, or if it does not answer, a phase is titled with the checklist item it ticked, or else the first words of your request. A phase still running keeps that title too.

Type to filter. Enter scrolls the transcript to that point, and the next /recap starts on the row you jumped to. Otherwise it starts on the newest phase. Time between turns, while Vera was waiting on you, does not count toward a phase.

Run command hooks

vera.command-hooks runs a hooks list from its own configuration, in any hook phase: around tool calls and turns, when a conversation starts, resumes, or compacts, when a session closes, and when a subagent hands back its result. With no list configured, it runs nothing. Hooks in the home config.json are run by the host, not by this extension, and disabling it does not stop them. See Hooks.

To configure this extension’s list, add an extensions entry whose path is the absolute directory shown for vera.command-hooks in /customize. That entry replaces the included copy. Its argv is an absolute path. Malformed supplied configuration prevents activation.

Title new conversations

vera.titles names a conversation after its first turn finishes. It sends your first message and the start of the reply to the snappy model (see Assign defaults) and asks for a title of six words or fewer. The title shows in /resume and in the terminal window title, including a window that already has the conversation open.

It only names a conversation that has never had a name, so a /rename always wins, even one that cleared the name. It skips conversations another agent started, and turns that were interrupted or failed. With no snappy model assigned it does nothing. Disable it with /extension disable vera.titles.

Write artifacts

vera.artifacts gives agents four tools: artifact_write and artifact_edit write a markdown artifact, artifact_read reads one, and artifact_comments lists, closes, or deletes your comments. The agent reads artifacts without asking in every mode. In ask and auto mode it also writes artifacts and closes comments without asking. Each artifact belongs to the conversation that wrote it. An image, audio or video file written as ![alt](https://…) shows as a picture or player. A fenced block marked html embed runs its own HTML and JavaScript, such as a wavesurfer.js player, in a sandboxed frame that cannot read the page or act for you.

Read an artifact in the annex: run /usage and pick Artifacts from the ≡ menu, or open the link the transcript shows after artifact_write. Hover a block and click the comment button to comment on it. A comment does not start a turn; the agent reads it the next time it checks. When the text a comment was left on changes, the comment is marked Outdated.

Tick Send to Vera on a comment to also send it to the conversation. It starts a turn right away, or after the running one, without asking. Disable it with /extension disable vera.artifacts.

Configure or disable included copies

Use the extension manager for available controls. To suppress included copies in configuration, name their IDs in disabled_included_extensions:

{
    "disabled_included_extensions": ["vera.diff", "vera.command-hooks", "vera.btw"]
}

Any ID from the lists above works here. /extension disable <id> and /extension enable <id> edit this list, as does Space on an included row in /extensions.

An extensions entry in config.json whose path is an included directory replaces the included copy, even when that entry is disabled. It keeps its own configuration. An installed extension with the same ID also replaces the included copy.

Restart the host for command-hook changes. Restart the client for BTW changes.

Example extensions

Examples are not included. Install one by path to try it.

Plan

Install it with /extension install examples/extensions/plan. Then use /agent plan to agree a plan before the work starts. Use /agent default to return to the default definition.

With Artifacts enabled, Plan writes its plan as an artifact you can comment on in the annex, instead of keeping it only in the conversation. It works through the steps you agree to and updates the artifact when the plan changes. It has the default agent’s tools and keeps the access mode you already have, so ask mode still asks before it edits files or runs commands.

Configure Plan

An installed copy runs with the defaults. To set options, skip the install and add a config.json extensions entry whose path is the absolute path of examples/extensions/plan. Its configuration supports:

A home or project plan.md overrides the extension’s definition. Restart the host and client after changing its configuration.