Pixel Agents turns multi-agent AI systems into something you can actually see and manage. Each agent becomes a character in a pixel art office. They walk around, sit at their desk, and visually reflect what they are doing — typing when writing code, reading when searching files, waiting when it needs your attention.
Right now it works as a VS Code extension with Claude Code. The vision though, is a fully agent-agnostic, platform-agnostic interface for orchestrating any AI agents, deployable anywhere.
This is the source code for the free Pixel Agents extension for VS Code — you can install it directly from the marketplace with the full furniture catalog included.
- One agent, one character — every Claude Code terminal gets its own animated character
- Live activity tracking — characters animate based on what the agent is actually doing (writing, reading, running commands)
- Office layout editor — design your office with floors, walls, and furniture using a built-in editor
- Speech bubbles — visual indicators when an agent is waiting for input or needs permission
- Sound notifications — optional chime when an agent finishes its turn
- Sub-agent visualization — Task tool sub-agents spawn as separate characters linked to their parent
- Persistent layouts — your office design is saved and shared across VS Code windows
- Diverse characters — 6 diverse characters. These are based on the amazing work of JIK-A-4, Metro City.
- VS Code 1.109.0 or later
- Claude Code CLI installed and configured
If you just want to use Pixel Agents, the easiest way is to download the VS Code extension. If you want to play with the code, develop, or contribute, then:
git clone https://github.com/pablodelucca/pixel-agents.git
cd pixel-agents
npm install
cd webview-ui && npm install && cd ..
npm run buildThen press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host.
- Open the Pixel Agents panel (it appears in the bottom panel area alongside your terminal)
- Click + Agent to spawn a new Claude Code terminal and its character
- Start coding with Claude — watch the character react in real time
- Click a character to select it, then click a seat to reassign it
- Click Layout to open the office editor and customize your space
The built-in editor lets you design your office:
- Floor — Full HSB color control
- Walls — Auto-tiling walls with color customization
- Tools — Select, paint, erase, place, eyedropper, pick
- Undo/Redo — 50 levels with Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y
- Export/Import — Share layouts as JSON files via the Settings modal
The grid is expandable up to 64×64 tiles. Click the ghost border outside the current grid to grow it.
Free assets are COMING VERY SOON!
The office tileset currently used in this project and available via the extension is Office Interior Tileset (16x16) by Donarg, available on itch.io for $2 USD.
This is the only part of the project that is currently not freely available. The tileset is not included in this repository due to its license. To use Pixel Agents locally with the full set of office furniture and decorations, purchase the tileset and run the asset import pipeline:
npm run import-tilesetFair warning: the import pipeline is not exactly straightforward — the out-of-the-box tileset assets aren't the easiest to work with, and while I've done my best to make the process as smooth as possible, it may require some manual tweaking. If you have experience creating pixel art office assets and would like to contribute freely usable tilesets for the community, that would be hugely appreciated.
The extension will still work without the tileset — you'll get the default characters and basic layout, but the full furniture catalog requires the imported assets.
Pixel Agents watches Claude Code's JSONL transcript files to track what each agent is doing. When an agent uses a tool (like writing a file or running a command), the extension detects it and updates the character's animation accordingly. No modifications to Claude Code are needed — it's purely observational.
The webview runs a lightweight game loop with canvas rendering, BFS pathfinding, and a character state machine (idle → walk → type/read). Everything is pixel-perfect at integer zoom levels.
- Extension: TypeScript, VS Code Webview API, esbuild
- Webview: React 19, TypeScript, Vite, Canvas 2D
- Agent-terminal sync — the way agents are connected to Claude Code terminal instances is not super robust and sometimes desyncs, especially when terminals are rapidly opened/closed or restored across sessions.
- Heuristic-based status detection — Claude Code's JSONL transcript format does not provide clear signals for when an agent is waiting for user input or when it has finished its turn. The current detection is based on heuristics (idle timers, turn-duration events) and often misfires — agents may briefly show the wrong status or miss transitions.
- Windows-only testing — the extension has only been tested on Windows 11. It may work on macOS or Linux, but there could be unexpected issues with file watching, paths, or terminal behavior on those platforms.
The long-term vision is an interface where managing AI agents feels like playing the Sims, but the results are real things built.
- Agents as characters you can see, assign, monitor, and redirect, each with visible roles (designer, coder, writer, reviewer), stats, context usage, and tools.
- Desks as directories — drag an agent to a desk to assign it to a project or working directory.
- An office as a project — with a Kanban board on the wall where idle agents can pick up tasks autonomously.
- Deep inspection — click any agent to see its model, branch, system prompt, and full work history. Interrupt it, chat with it, or redirect it.
- Token health bars — rate limits and context windows visualized as in-game stats.
- Fully customizable — upload your own character sprites, themes, and office assets. Eventually maybe even move beyond pixel art into 3D or VR.
For this to work, the architecture needs to be modular at every level:
- Platform-agnostic: VS Code extension today, Electron app, web app, or any other host environment tomorrow.
- Agent-agnostic: Claude Code today, but built to support Codex, OpenCode, Gemini, Cursor, Copilot, and others through composable adapters.
- Theme-agnostic: community-created assets, skins, and themes from any contributor.
We're actively working on the core module and adapter architecture that makes this possible. If you're interested to talk about this further, please visit our Discussions Section.
We use GitHub Discussions for questions, feature ideas, and conversations. Issues are for bug reports only.
If something is broken, open an issue. For everything else, start a discussion.
See CONTRIBUTING.md for instructions on how to contribute.
Please read our Code of Conduct before participating.
If you find Pixel Agents useful, consider supporting its development:
This project is licensed under the MIT License.