Collama

AI-powered code completion and editing for VS Code using local LLM backends

Overview • Features • Infos • Quick Start • Installation • Configuration • Models • Usage • Contributing

---

Overview

Collama is a VS Code extension that provides code completions, refactoring suggestions, and documentation generation. It supports multiple backends:

• Ollama - local
• OpenAI compatible — local / cloud
• Anthropic — cloud (this feature was only added as poc testing / better use claude ext)

Status: This project is in heavy active development. Please note that the output may sometimes be unexpected or unusual. If you have any ideas to improve the quality just let me know and contribute!

Features

Code Completion

• Inline, multiline, and multiblock suggestions
• Uses currently opened tabs as context

Code Edits

• Generate docstrings, extract functions, refactor code
• Simplify complex code, fix syntax errors
• Manual instructions for custom edits

Chat Interface

• Multiple chat sessions with custom titles
• Temporary chat sessions — create unlisted, non-persisted sessions for quick experiments
• Send selected code/files as context with file references
• Search and attach files/folders directly from the chat input - easily browse and add workspace files to your conversation context
• Chat search functionality — find messages in your conversation history
• Real-time context usage bar with automatic trimming
• Edit messages, copy sessions, scroll navigation
• Export chat history to JSON for backup and sharing
• Auto-accept all toggle for edits and creates to streamline workflow
• Summarize individual turns or entire conversations to reduce context usage
• AGENTS.md support — define custom agent rules by placing an AGENTS.md file in your project root

AI Agent with Tool Calling

• File system tools: read, grep, glob, create, write, delete files
• Git tools: list commits/branches, view diffs
• Code analysis: get diagnostics from language server
• Security: path protection, workspace boundaries, .gitignore integration
• Real-time tool execution feedback
• Agent duration counter — track how long the agent has been running
• Tool confirmation modal with Accept/Accept All/Cancel options
• Cancel with reason: provide feedback to guide the agent
• Read-only mode for safe exploration

Commit Messages

• AI-generated conventional commits from staged changes
• Accessible via command palette or Source Control view

Current Context Management

• Smart pruning of editor tabs in autocomplete to fit context
• Chat history optimization (tool results removed)
• Token counter visualization in agent-loop / total usage

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• VS Code 1.109.0 or higher
• Ollama or OpenAI compatible running locally (or accessible on your network)
• A supported code model (see Models)

Installation

Install the extension from the marketplace or build the vsix yourself, then configure an endpoint in settings. For authentication, set your API key as a bearer token — see Bearer Tokens.

Ollama (local, remote)
See Ollama installation instructions or the Docker image. Point apiEndpointCompletion / apiEndpointInstruct to your Ollama host (default: http://127.0.0.1:11434).

OpenAI / OpenAI-compatible (local, remote, cloud)
Point the endpoint settings to your server (e.g. vLLM, LiteLLM) or to https://api.openai.com for the OpenAI cloud API.

Configuration

Configure Collama via VS Code Settings (Preferences → Settings, search "collama"):

Setting	Type	Default	Description
collama.apiEndpointCompletion	string	http://127.0.0.1:11434	Endpoint for code auto-completion
collama.apiEndpointInstruct	string	http://127.0.0.1:11434	Endpoint for code edits/chat
collama.apiModelCompletion	string	qwen2.5-coder:3b	Model for code completions
collama.apiModelInstruct	string	gpt-oss:20b	Model for code edits (use instruct/base variant)
collama.apiTokenContextLenCompletion	number	4096	Context window size (tokens) for the completion model
collama.apiTokenContextLenInstruct	number	4096	Context window size (tokens) for the instruct/chat model
collama.apiTokenPredictCompletion	number	400	Max tokens to generate per completion request
collama.apiTokenPredictInstruct	number	4096	Max tokens to generate per instruct/chat request
collama.autoComplete	boolean	true	Enable auto-suggestions
collama.suggestMode	string	inline	Suggestion style: inline, multiline, or multiblock
collama.suggestDelay	number	1500	Delay (ms) before requesting completion
collama.agentic	boolean	true	Use tool-calling mode; recommended only for large models
collama.enableEditTools	boolean	true	Enable edit tools (read-only mode when disabled)
collama.enableShellTool	boolean	false	Enable shell tool usage
collama.tlsRejectUnauthorized	boolean	true	Verify TLS certificates for HTTPS endpoints

Manual Token Settings

Set token limits to match your model. Values are tokens, not characters.

• apiTokenContextLen* - available context window
• apiTokenPredict* - maximum generated tokens per request

Context length is shared by input tokens and the LLM answer, so a higher predict limit leaves less room for input/context.

Note

Check your model's maximum context window online and keep memory reservation in mind.

Bearer Tokens (API Key)

If an endpoint needs authentication, store the token via Command Palette:

• collama: Set Bearer Token (Completion)
• collama: Set Bearer Token (Instruct)

Tokens are sent as Authorization: Bearer <token> and stored in VS Code's encrypted credential storage. Run the same command with an empty value to clear one.

Models

Recommended Models

Collama is tested primarily with the Qwen Coder for Completion and liteLLM frontier models for Instructions.

For Code Completion (FIM - Fill In Middle)

• any qwen coder > 3b recommended

For Code Edits (Instruct/Base Models)

• any instruct model with thinking capabilities (e.g. gpt-oss:20b, qwen3:14b)

Agentic Chat

• Only use frontier models (e.g. gpt-oss:120b, glm-4.7b) for agentic mode.

Pure Chat

• Any chat model can be used for regular chat
• Keep Agentic mode OFF for small models — small models lack the reasoning for reliable tool calling

Model Completion Compatibility Table

Model	Tested Sizes	FIM Support	Status	Notes
codeqwen	—	⚠️	Untested	May work
qwen2.5-coder	1.5B, 3B, 7B	✅	Stable	Recommended
qwen3-coder	30B	✅	Stable	Recommended
starcoder	—	⚠️	Untested	May work
starcoder2	3B	✅	Stable	Like qwen2.5-coder

Note: FIM models are tested primarily with quantization level q4. Results may vary with other.

Note: ChatML format is not supported - that means only true FIM models will work for autocomplete!

Usage

Most actions are available from the editor context menu, chat sidebar, Command Palette, or Source Control view.

• Completions: trigger automatically after suggestDelay; press Tab to accept or Esc to dismiss.
• Code edits: select code and use collama (on selection) for docstrings, refactors, fixes, or manual edits.
• Chat: attach files/folders, manage sessions, summarize context, and toggle auto-accept for edits/creates.
• Commit messages: stage changes, then run collama: Generate Commit Message.

AI Agent Usage

If a chat already contains tool calls, switch to a fresh chat after turning Agentic OFF. Edit Tools can be turned OFF for read-only exploration. Shell Tool is OFF by default and can be enabled from the status bar menu.

• Agentic mode has been tested on vLLM (NVIDIA H200) with:
  • gpt-oss:120b
  • glm-4.7-fp8
  • minimax2.5, minimax2.7

Warning

Small models should use chat with Agentic OFF.

Available Tools:

• Explore

  • read - Read a workspace file, optionally by line range
  • grep - Search workspace files with a regex pattern
  • glob - Find files and folders by glob pattern

• Git

  • gitLog - List commits or branches with optional filters
  • gitDiff - Show working tree, staged, or commit/branch diffs

• Code Analysis

  • getDiagnostics - Show language server diagnostics such as errors, warnings, info, and hints

• Edit Tools

  • edit - Replace an exact string in a workspace file with preview and confirmation
  • create - Create a new file or folder with confirmation
  • delete - Delete a file or folder with confirmation

• Shell Tool

  • shell - Run npm/python shell commands with confirmation when collama.enableShellTool is enabled (⚠️ Work in Progress — currently tested with npm/python debugging only; use with caution and explicit confirmations); keep it OFF

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Here's how you can help:

1. Report Issues Open an issue
2. Submit PRs: Fork, create a feature branch, and submit a pull request