Getting Started4 min read

Installing & Opening

Get Nx IDE running and open the Nexgile Code panel

Nexgile Code comes built into Nx IDE — there is nothing separate to download, no extension to hunt for, and no version matrix to manage. Install Nx IDE, open a project, and the agent is already there in the activity bar. This page covers the few requirements worth checking, the two ways to open the panel, and what you’ll see the first time it launches.

What’s already installed

When you open Nx IDE, the Nexgile Code extension (id nexgile-code, published by nexgile) is preinstalled and enabled. You never install or update it independently — it ships and updates with Nx IDE itself.

Requirements

Two things make the difference between a smooth first session and a confusing one:

Open a folder, not a single file. Nexgile Code works at the workspace level — reading across files, honoring .nexgilerules and .nexgileignore at the workspace root, and recording checkpoints. Use File → Open Folder and pick your project’s root directory. With only a loose file open, workspace features (including checkpoints) are unavailable.
git on your PATH. Checkpoints — the one-click undo for agent changes — are captured in a shadow git repository, which requires the git executable. Verify it from a terminal:

git --version

If that prints a version number, you’re set. If not, install Git for your operating system and restart Nx IDE.

You will also need an API key for at least one AI provider — or a local model server such as Ollama or LM Studio if you prefer to run offline. That’s the subject of the next page, Connecting an AI Provider.

Opening the panel

Look at the activity bar (the vertical icon strip on the left edge of the window). One of the icons is Nexgile Code — hover over the icons and check the tooltip if you’re not sure which. Click it and the Nexgile Code panel opens in the sidebar.

The panel is where everything happens: you type tasks into it, approval prompts appear in it, and its toolbar holds New Task, Settings, and — under the … overflow menu — Task History and Open in Editor. The full tour is in The Interface.

Opening in a full editor tab

The sidebar is fine for quick tasks, but for long sessions — big diffs, long todo lists, multi-agent traces — you’ll want more room:

Click … in the panel toolbar and choose Open in Editor, or
Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P) and run Nexgile Code: Open In New Tab.

The chat moves into a regular editor tab that you can split, drag to another editor group, or put on a second monitor. Sidebar and tab are the same conversation — use whichever fits the moment.

Your first launch

The first time you open the panel — before any provider is configured — you’ll see a short welcome screen instead of the chat:

The Nexgile logo, with the heading “Choose your provider.”
A provider form: pick a provider from the dropdown, paste your API key, and choose a model. (The next page walks through this in detail.)
A Finish button that saves the configuration and drops you into the chat.
An Import Settings link, in case you’re restoring a configuration exported from another machine.

Once a provider is saved, the panel shows the home screen: a short list of capability highlights (Translate, Refactor, Secure, Spec Wiki, Any Model) above the chat box, which prompts “Type your task here…”. From here on, opening the panel always lands you ready to work.

Moving between machines

Two commands make a second machine feel like the first:

Nexgile Code: Import Settings (Command Palette, also linked from the welcome screen) restores a previously exported configuration — providers, profiles, and preferences. Settings export lives in the Settings view. For managed rollouts, the VS Code setting nexgile-code.autoImportSettingsPath can point at a configuration file to import automatically on startup.
Nexgile Code: Set Custom Storage Path relocates where conversation history and task data are stored (the VS Code setting nexgile-code.customStoragePath) — useful when your home directory is small or synced.

If the first launch misbehaves

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
Chat panel renders blank	Stale UI cache (often right after an update)	Run Developer: Reload Window from the Command Palette.
Errors immediately after a side-loaded install	Old cached modules	Reinstall the VSIX package, then reload the window.
Checkpoints reported as failing	git missing, or a single file open instead of a folder	Install git / open the project folder. Note that a nested git repository inside the workspace also disables checkpoints.
No response to your first message	No provider configured or invalid key	Revisit Connecting an AI Provider.

More cases, causes, and fixes live in Troubleshooting.