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A DevFoundry product

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Getting Started with Forge

Forge 0.1.2 is an Early Preview. This page is the shortest path from download to a first Ask or Review session.

1. Download Forge

Install Forge 0.1.2 from the Visual Studio Marketplace, the Open VSX Registry, or download the VSIX from this site for VS Code and compatible editors such as Cursor.

Download Forge 0.1.2 Visual Studio Marketplace Open VSX / Cursor

Visual Studio Marketplace, Open VSX Registry, and direct VSIX download are all valid ways to install Forge 0.1.2.

2. Install in VS Code

From the Visual Studio Marketplace, open the Forge listing, install the extension, then continue at Open Forge below. Or install the downloaded VSIX:

  1. Open VS Code.
  2. Open the Extensions view.
  3. Open the Extensions view menu (More Actions / …).
  4. Choose Install from VSIX…
  5. Select the downloaded forge-extension-0.1.2.vsix file.
  6. Reload or restart the editor if VS Code asks you to.

Optional CLI:

code --install-extension forge-extension-0.1.2.vsix

Run that from the directory that contains the downloaded file, or pass the full path to it.

3. Install in Cursor

Cursor is VS Code-compatible. Install Forge from the Open VSX Registry in Cursor’s Extensions view, or use the same Install from VSIX workflow. Forge does not add a special Cursor Agent integration; it sits beside whatever coding agent you already use.

  1. Open Cursor.
  2. Open the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P) and run Extensions: Install from VSIX…, or use the Extensions view menu → Install from VSIX….
  3. Select the downloaded forge-extension-0.1.2.vsix file.
  4. Reload the window if prompted.

4. Open Forge

  1. Open a project folder. Forge needs a workspace to inspect.
  2. Click Forge in the activity bar.

That opens the Forge sidebar. If no folder is open, Forge will ask you to open one before Ask or Review.

5. OpenAI API key

Forge 0.1.2 uses your own OpenAI API key. Forge itself does not include hosted AI usage. When Forge reasons, OpenAI bills those requests to your OpenAI API account.

  • A ChatGPT subscription is not the same thing as OpenAI API billing. You need an OpenAI API account with API access and billing configured.
  • Create or manage keys on the OpenAI API keys page.
  • Keep the key out of your repository. See OpenAI’s API key safety guidance.
  • Forge stores the key you supply in VS Code Secret Storage. It is not written to .forge/ or settings.json, and Forge never displays the stored key.

6. Configure the key in Forge

  1. Open the Forge sidebar.
  2. In the Forge header, click the key icon (Set OpenAI API key). If you see the setup prompt, you can also choose Set API key.
  3. Paste the key when prompted.

Command Palette alternative: Forge: Set OpenAI API Key. Remove a stored key with Forge: Clear OpenAI API Key.

If OpenAI rejects the configured model, change forge.reasoning.model in Settings to a model your account allows. The shipped default is gpt-5.

7. First use

Forge is the reasoning companion. Your coding agent remains the implementation and execution agent.

Ask

Use Ask when you want Forge to independently investigate the repository and reason about an engineering question. Enter sends; Shift+Enter inserts a newline.

Example: “Where does this service load its deployment artifact, and what still points at the old path?”

Review

Switch the composer to Review proposal when you already have a plan, fix, or proposal from a coding agent and want Forge to check whether it actually fits the codebase. Paste the proposal, or use Choose source… to load it from the editor, clipboard, or a file.

Example: paste the agent’s plan to move a config file, then ask Forge whether the plan matches the repository you have.

After a review starts, the composer returns to Ask for follow-up. Help in the Forge header covers the rest of the sidebar.

History and Stop

Use Conversation history in the Forge header to reopen, rename, or delete prior threads for this workspace. Continuing a restored thread regenerates current project, workspace, and runtime grounding rather than replaying stale context. History stays in local editor workspace storage; it is not cloud sync and is not Project Memory.

While Forge is reasoning, Stop cancels the in-flight turn.

8. Project Memory

Forge can save durable engineering findings under .forge/ in the workspace, including .forge/memory.json. That is project data on disk. It does not sync to the cloud.

Project Memory can preserve things such as:

  • architecture decisions
  • constraints
  • runtime and deployment facts
  • conventions
  • known traps

In Forge, Save Finding writes a durable note to Project Memory. Uninstalling the extension does not delete .forge/.

9. Usage and cost

Forge 0.1.2 does not charge for hosted AI because it does not provide hosted AI. OpenAI bills API usage to your OpenAI account according to that account’s plan and usage.

Forge shows local usage information in Help where it is available (turns, requests, and token counts when OpenAI reports them). Those numbers stay in local editor storage. They are not a price estimate, and Forge does not publish a cost per request.

Monitor and control spend in your OpenAI usage dashboard.

10. Privacy

When you Ask or Review, relevant repository-derived context may be sent to OpenAI using your key. Forge does not send telemetry to DevFoundry. Contents of .env* files are not read. Conversation history stays in local editor workspace storage and does not sync to the cloud. See Privacy for the data-flow detail.

Privacy Support & Feedback Forge 0.1.2 release notes Back to download