# Use Godspeed in VS Code, Claude or Codex

Canonical: https://godspeedmissioncontrol.com/guide/use-ai-apps

Everything Godspeed knows sits in one folder of plain files, your mission control folder. An AI app that works in that folder becomes your Godspeed: it reads the same instructions, rules and skills, and reaches the same notebook. Use the app you like, and switch whenever you want.

Your mission control folder is `%USERPROFILE%\godspeed-v2` on Windows (Start menu: **Open my mission control folder**) and `~/godspeed-v2` on a Mac or Linux.

## In VS Code

VS Code is a free editor by Microsoft. You see your folder's files on one side and talk to Godspeed on the other.

1. Install VS Code from [code.visualstudio.com](https://code.visualstudio.com). In it, add the **Claude Code** extension by Anthropic or the **Codex** extension by OpenAI.
2. Click **File**, then **Open Folder**, and choose your mission control folder.
3. Open the extension's chat and sign in, as the extension's own help explains.
4. Ask "Who are you?". It answers as Godspeed Mission Control, because it read your folder's instructions.

## In the Claude app

1. Open the **Code** tab and choose **Local**.
2. Click **Select folder** and choose your mission control folder.

The **Code** tab needs a paid Claude plan.

## In the Hermes app or a terminal

Hermes is the free AI app that runs your assistant, and the installer adds it for you. On Windows, open your notebook, click **Settings**, then **Open the Windows assistant**. On a Mac or Linux, type `hermes` in a terminal.

Codex and Claude Code also run in a terminal: start them inside your mission control folder.

## What every app shares

- **The same instructions.** It reads `AGENTS.md` in the folder first.
- **The same rules, profile and skills**, as files in `rules/`, `profile/` and `skills/`.
- **The same notebook.** Claude Code and Codex reach it by themselves.
- **The same Gmail connection** in Claude Code and Codex, once you connect it on that computer ([Let it read your Gmail](/guide/email)).
- **The same conversation archive.** New chats with these apps are saved there ([Find an old conversation](/guide/find-a-conversation)).

## Connect OpenCode or another app

OpenCode, a free and open-source AI app, and other apps need the notebook's address in their own settings, as their help explains:

```text
http://127.0.0.1:47831/mcp
```

To limit what that app may do in the notebook, give it a key as well:

1. In the notebook, open **Settings** and the section **Connect other assistants**.
2. Click **Generate new API key**. Give the key a **Name**, tick what **This key may touch**, such as notes or profile, and click **Generate**.
3. Copy the key at once, because you cannot see it again, and give it to the app.

With a key, the app cannot say yes to a step that costs money or reaches another person. Any app working in your folder can still change its files, rules included.

## Hand your code to a coding helper

Your code projects can live in the `dev/` folder of your mission control, each with its own Git history.

1. Say this, with the repository's name or address in the same message:

   ```text
   Clone this repository into dev/ inside my mission control.
   ```

   The app clones it, checks it and tells you the full path.
2. Ask for a change in that project, in your own words.

A coding helper takes the work. It works only in that project's folder, tests and saves its work there, and reports back, while your conversation keeps its thread. In Claude Code this helper is `coder`, which comes with your folder; Codex and Godspeed itself use their own.

## Related

- [Chat with Godspeed](/guide/talk-to-it)
- [Your notebook](/guide/notebook)
- [Folders and files](/guide/folders)