Reference

Skills

Claude Code skills from the redline plugin. Invoke them as /redline:<name>.

Skill	Does
redline-tour	Opens the current diff as a round with a numbered walkthrough: Claude picks the parts a reader must understand and notes each one, in reading order. Then invokes redline-connect. Takes an optional source or a round id from Copy round id.
redline-annotate	Opens the current diff as a round with only the notes Claude already wrote in this session, or none. Then invokes redline-connect. Same source argument.
redline-connect	Attaches the session to submits from VS Code. Confirms the monitor when one runs, else fetches submitted comments once. redline-connect listen polls for up to 5 minutes per call, three calls per turn. Use it from the Claude Code VS Code extension, which runs no monitors.

redline-tour and redline-annotate run only when you type them. redline-connect can also be invoked by Claude, and the two round skills invoke it.

Commands and shortcuts

Every chord starts with the leader Ctrl+Alt+R (Cmd+Alt+R on macOS). Press the leader, release, then the key.

Command	Keys	Does
Redline: Open latest round	Ctrl+Alt+R O	Opens the newest round as a multi-file diff.
Redline: Open review round	Ctrl+Alt+R H	Picks a round from history and opens it.
Redline: Submit review	Ctrl+Alt+R S	Sends every open thread with your comment in the active round. Asks which round when more than one is open.
Redline: Next note	Ctrl+Alt+]	Jumps to the next note in tour order. No leader.
Redline: Previous note	Ctrl+Alt+[	Jumps to the previous note. No leader.
Send to Agent	Ctrl+Alt+R Enter	Sends the thread under the cursor now, without submitting the round. The thread needs your comment first.
Mark resolved / Reopen thread	Ctrl+Alt+R R	Toggles resolved on the thread under the cursor.
Edit comment / Delete comment		On your own comments, in the comment's title bar. Edit opens the text in place; Save or Cancel finish it. Neither changes what Claude already fetched, and neither reopens or re-queues the thread. Deleting the last comment removes the thread.
Redline: Compare…	Ctrl+Alt+R C	Picks what to review, then what to compare it against, and opens or refreshes that round with no notes. Working tree and index are pickable.
Redline: Refresh round		Rebuilds the round's diff from its source and moves your threads to the new lines. Threads whose lines are gone become detached.
Redline: Copy round id		Copies the round's id, such as r3, to the clipboard. Paste it as the argument of /redline:redline-tour or /redline:redline-annotate to target that round.
Redline: Drop review round		Removes one round from the view and storage.
Redline: Drop all review rounds		Removes every round.
Reload view		Reloads the round view.
Redline: Get started		Opens the Get started with Redline walkthrough. It opens on its own once, when the extension does not find the Claude Code plugin.
Redline: Install the Claude Code plugin		Runs the marketplace add and plugin install in a terminal. Also the button on the first walkthrough step.
Redline: Check the Claude Code plugin		Re-reads Claude Code's plugin registry and updates the walkthrough step.
Redline: Reset onboarding		Forgets that the walkthrough was shown and opens it again.

Thread commands act on the thread nearest the cursor in the active diff, else on the note you last stepped to. Rebind any of them under Keyboard Shortcuts by searching redline.

Where the buttons are

• Round view (the Redline panel): Compare, Submit review, previous and next note, and Drop all in the title bar. Open latest round, Refresh round, Copy round id, Reload view, and Drop review round in the ... menu. Each round row has Submit, Refresh round, and Open inline, and Copy round id and Drop review round on right-click.
• Thread title bar: Send to Agent, Mark resolved or Reopen thread.
• Comment title bar, on your comments only: Edit comment, Delete comment.
• Thread footer: Comment, and Send to Agent, which saves the reply you are typing and sends it.

Settings

Setting	Values	Default	Does
redline.avatar	github, none	github	Identity on your comments. github shows the login and avatar of the GitHub account VS Code is signed in with; nothing is fetched until a session exists. none shows the OS user name with the built-in icon.

MCP tools

The plugin registers an MCP server named redline. Claude calls these; you rarely type them, but they explain what Claude is doing.

Tool	Arguments	Does
request_review	source or roundId, title?, notes?	Opens a round in the VS Code window with this folder open, or refreshes the open round of the same worktree or range source. With roundId, refreshes that round from its stored source, so notes land in a round you opened with Compare…. Returns Opened, Refreshed, or Kept with the source label and counts. Notes on files outside the diff are dropped and reported.
add_notes	roundId, notes	Posts notes under an existing round, each as a thread on the diff as it stands. No rebuild, no submit, no new round; use it for a remark you ask Claude to leave.
get_review	roundId?, threads?, wait? (seconds, max 300)	Returns the submitted comments of a round as markdown and marks them delivered. Without roundId, the newest round with undelivered comments. With wait, blocks until a submit or the timeout.
list_reviews		Lists the rounds of this window, newest first, with file count, open threads, state, and source.
resolve_comment	threadId, body?	Closes a thread with a one-line note on what changed. VS Code shows the thread as resolved.
reply_comment	threadId, body	Posts a reply and leaves the thread open for the reviewer.
redline_ping		Finds the window and returns its port, app, version, workspace folders, and a monitor field: armed when a submit will wake this session on its own, absent or unknown otherwise.

source is one of:

{ "kind": "worktree", "scope": "staged" | "unstaged" | "all" }
{ "kind": "range", "from": "main", "to": "HEAD" | "worktree" | "index" }
{ "kind": "patch", "text": "<unified diff>" }
{ "kind": "files", "pairs": [{ "left": "a.ts", "right": "b.ts" }] }

A note is { file, summary?, hunks?: [{ newRange: [start, end], summary, rationale? }] }. Summaries and rationales are markdown; relative links resolve against the workspace root and #L<line> opens the file at that line.

Window selection

The extension writes one lock file per VS Code window under ~/.redline/ (REDLINE_HOME overrides the directory). The MCP server picks the window whose workspace folder contains Claude Code's working directory. With the same folder open in VS Code stable and Insiders, it prefers the window Claude Code runs in; from a plain terminal, set REDLINE_VSCODE_APP=vscode-insiders in the MCP server environment to target Insiders. The request_review result names the app it posted to.

Error text

Every tool result that starts with redline: names something for you to fix. Claude prints it verbatim and stops instead of retrying.

Text starts with	Fix
redline: no VS Code window has this folder open with the redline extension	Open the folder Claude Code runs in as a workspace folder in VS Code, with the extension installed and enabled. Check the Redline panel exists in that window. Then ask Claude to retry.
redline: the VS Code window for <folder> is not answering (stale lock)	The window closed without cleanup or the extension crashed. Run Developer: Reload Window in that VS Code window, then retry.
redline: this folder is not a git repository	Claude Code runs outside a repository. Start it inside one, or pass a source that needs no git: a patch file or --files.
redline: the requested revision does not exist	The ref in the source argument is unknown to git. Check the branch or commit name.
redline: git could not produce the diff (<git's line>)	Git failed for another reason; the parenthesis carries its first line. Fix that, then retry.
redline: reply_comment needs body	Claude called the tool with the wrong argument shape. Ask it to retry; no action on your side.

Two messages come from VS Code instead of Claude:

Message	Meaning
Redline: submitted N comments. Queued; /redline:redline-connect in Claude Code picks it up.	No session is listening. Run /redline:redline-connect in Claude Code, in the same folder, to fetch them.
Redline: nothing to send in <source>. Only open threads with your comment are sent.	Write a comment in a thread first. Claude's notes alone are not sent back.