2. Projects
2.5 Editor, terminal and extensions
Opening the project in the editor or in a kit console, choosing the extensions, the editor settings and the project's MCP servers.
In the app: «Projects»
In short
- “Editor” opens the project in VSCodium, inside an Atollo window, with all the kit's tools.
- “Terminal” opens a kit console in the project folder.
- Extensions are chosen per project; the installed ones apply to the whole editor.
- In the “Editor” section you set indentation, formatting, hidden folders and the project's MCP servers.
The editor
The kit's editor is VSCodium, the free version of Visual Studio Code. The “Editor” button (on the project page, in the list row or in the “Quick panel”) starts the editor server the first time and opens an Atollo window on the project. “Editor running” appears in the status bar.
- The editor's terminals already have the kit's environment. On Windows the profiles are “Atollo” (PowerShell, default), “Atollo - Git Bash” and “Atollo - cmd”; on macOS and Linux “Atollo”, “Atollo - Bash” and, on macOS, “Atollo - zsh”.
- Commit, push, comparing changes: everything Git does in the editor works with the kit's GitHub account.
- The editor's “Accounts” menu and its “Publish to GitHub” and “Clone from GitHub” functions do not see the kit's account: use Git, the Projects page or GitHub CLI.
The project terminal
“Terminal” opens a kit console in the project folder: a tab of the terminal panel inside Atollo, on every system, with the kit's PowerShell 7. The tools are the kit's, at the versions chosen for the project. The prompt shows Atollo and the folder.
For consoles in other folders or with tools you choose there is the Terminals page: The kit's terminals (3.4).
The “Extensions” section
Atollo pairs each language with its editor extensions, taken from Open VSX (the free extension catalog). A project gets those of its languages: the section shows them in groups (one per language, then “Tools” and “Added by you”), with the status “installed”, “to install” or “off”.
- Untick an extension to turn it off in this project, or tick it again.
- To add one that is not there, type its publisher.name identifier (for example ms-python.python) in the “Add an extension” field and press “Add”.
The “Editor” section
Two panes.
| Setting | Values |
|---|---|
| Format on save | like the editor, yes, no |
| Indentation | like the editor, 2 spaces, 4 spaces, tab |
| Folders hidden in the editor | One per line, for example **/vendor or **/node_modules: they do not appear in the file list. |
“Save” writes them in the project's .vscode\settings.json file; the other settings in the file stay. If the file contains comments or is not plain JSON, Atollo does not rewrite it and asks you to edit it in the editor.
The second pane, “Project MCP servers”, adds MCP servers that apply only in this project, on top of the kit's. Under “Ready servers” one click is enough for filesystem (the files, only in the project's folder) and, once the project's database has been created, for mysql (DBHub) or mongodb: the database reaches the server when the agent starts, never written in .mcp.json. How they work and how to add them: Shared instructions, skills and MCP servers (4.2).