Toolkit

The Toolkit is Sidequest’s built-in extension for managing skills, commands, and agents — the three types of customizations that Claude Code understands. It also serves as a window into the extension system that powers Sidequest’s side panels.

Using the Toolkit Extension

Open the Toolkit panel from the bottom toolbar (Cmd+6 by default). It provides a unified interface for managing all three types of Claude Code customizations, and the same items power the / autocomplete in the Create Quest prompt.

Item Types

Type	Paths scanned	Description
Skill	~/.claude/skills/*/SKILL.md, ~/.claude/skills/*.md, ~/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/*/skills/*/SKILL.md, <project>/.claude/skills/	Instructions Claude loads on demand
Command	~/.claude/commands/**/*.md, <project>/.claude/commands/	Slash commands
Agent	~/.claude/agents/*.md, <project>/.claude/agents/	Sub-agents with their own model, tools and turn limits

Items are grouped by Type (Skills, Commands, Agents) or by Scope (the current project vs. User). Plugin and marketplace skills appear under User, named <plugin>:<skill> when the skill has no name of its own. Use the search box to filter by name or description.

Creating Items

1. Click + in the Toolkit header and choose New Skill, New Command or New Agent
2. Choose the save target with the segmented toggle: Global (~/.claude/..., available in every project) or the current project’s name (<project>/.claude/...)
3. Fill in the name and description
4. For agents, configure additional fields:
   • Model — Default, Opus, Sonnet or Haiku
   • Allowed Tools — quick-add Bash, Read, Write, Edit, Grep, Glob, WebSearch, WebFetch, or type any tool name
   • Max Turns — limit on agent execution turns
5. Write the instructions in the body editor
6. Click Save

Files are written as markdown with frontmatter (name, description, and for agents model, allowed_tools, max_turns) to <dir>/<slug>.md.

Context Menu Actions

Right-click any item to Edit it in the Toolkit editor, open it in your preferred editor, open its folder in the file manager, open a terminal there, or Delete it.

Sidequest’s own skills

Two skills in the list are managed by Sidequest and rewritten at every launch: sidequest (creating quests from an agent) and sidequest-journal (searching and writing journals). Editing them in the Toolkit will not stick; see Sidequest CLI.

Extension System Architecture

Sidequest has a lightweight extension system that loads panels into the right-hand panel of the app. Each extension is a directory containing a manifest.json and a JavaScript/TypeScript entry point.

Third-party extensions are loaded from:

~/.sidequest/extensions/
  my-extension/
    manifest.json
    src/
      index.ts

The ExtensionHost manages the full lifecycle — activation, deactivation, visibility toggling, and event broadcasting. Extensions receive a sandboxed API surface (SidequestAPI) that is gated by a capability system declared in their manifest.

Extension Lifecycle

graph TD
A[Startup: Scan extensions/] --> B[Parse each manifest.json]
B --> C[Register in ExtensionHost]
C --> D{User opens panel}
D --> E["Call activate(container, api)"]
E --> F{Panel closed}
F -->|"keepAlive: true"| G[Hidden, state preserved]
F -->|"keepAlive: false"| H["Call deactivate()"]
G -->|Reopened| E

1. Sidequest scans ~/.sidequest/extensions/ at startup for directories containing manifest.json
2. Each manifest is parsed for id, name, version, and capabilities
3. When a user opens an extension panel, the host calls the module’s activate() method, passing a container DOM element and the sandboxed API
4. When the panel is closed, deactivate() is called to clean up
5. Extensions with keepAlive: true are hidden instead of destroyed when their panel closes, so they can maintain background state

Manifest Format

{
  "id": "my-extension",
  "name": "My Extension",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "What this extension does",
  "main": "src/index.ts",
  "keepAlive": false,
  "capabilities": {
    "quest:read": true,
    "skills:read": true,
    "skills:write": true
  },
  "contributes": {
    "panel": {
      "label": "My Panel"
    }
  }
}

Manifest Fields

Field	Required	Description
id	Yes	Unique identifier (e.g., sidequest.toolkit)
name	Yes	Display name
version	Yes	Semver version string
description	No	Short description
main	No	Entry point file (defaults to index.js)
keepAlive	No	If true, extension stays loaded when hidden (defaults to false)
capabilities	No	Map of capability scopes the extension requires
contributes	No	UI contributions (currently only panel with a label)

Capabilities

Extensions declare the API scopes they need. Undeclared capabilities are denied at runtime. First-party extensions (IDs starting with sidequest.) skip runtime prompts; third-party extensions with sensitive capabilities require user confirmation.

Capability	Description
session:read	Read session stats (tokens, tool usage)
quest:read	Read active quest info
workspace:read	Read workspace/project info
skills:read	List and read skills, commands, agents
skills:write	Create, update, delete skills/commands/agents
shell:open	Open URLs, editors, terminals, Finder
ui:notify	Show notifications
fs:read	Read files from the filesystem
fs:write	Write files to the filesystem
net:request	Make HTTP requests
process:spawn	Spawn child processes (array of allowed executables)

Capabilities that are always prompted at runtime for third-party extensions, even when declared: fs:read, fs:write, net:request, process:spawn.

Extension Module Interface

Your entry point must export an object (or default export) with these methods:

export default {
  activate(ctx: ExtensionContext): void | Promise<void> {
    // ctx.container — the DOM element to render into
    // ctx.api — the SidequestAPI proxy (capability-gated)
    // ctx.extension — { id, name, version, directory }
    // ctx.onDismiss — callback to close the panel
  },

  deactivate(): void | Promise<void> {
    // Clean up listeners, unmount UI
  },

  onVisibilityChanged(visible: boolean): void {
    // Called when keepAlive extension is shown/hidden
  },
}

Third-party extensions get a button in the bottom toolbar with a generic icon, a Cmd+N shortcut after the built-in ones, and a visibility switch under Settings > Extensions like any other.

Built-in Extensions

Sidequest ships with three built-in extensions, registered by the app and always available in the bottom toolbar. Only one is open at a time.

Live Stats (sidequest.stats)

Displays live token usage (input, output, cache read), an estimated cost, the quest’s Token budget progress when one is set, and Tools / Skills timing tables for the active quest’s Claude Code session. Uses keepAlive: true so it maintains state across panel toggles.

Capabilities: session:read, quest:read

Toolkit (sidequest.toolkit)

The skill, command, and agent manager described above.

Capabilities: skills:read, skills:write, quest:read, workspace:read, shell:open

Council (sidequest.council)

Briefs a separate agent session on the current quest’s work and asks for an adversarial review. See Council.

Capabilities: process:spawn (restricted to the agent binaries), quest:read