BackSpin VS Code Extension Setup Guide

To set up the BackSpin VS Code extension, install BackSpin from the VS Code Marketplace (or Open VSX in Windsurf and VSCodium), accept the one-time consent prompt, and keep working with your AI tools. While an agent runs commands, tasks or edits, BackSpin shows one discovery card in a side panel and a credit balance in the status bar. It works in VS Code 1.93 or newer and in forks such as Cursor, Windsurf, Kiro and Devin Desktop.

That is the whole happy path. Below are the details: where to get it, what each setting does, how to get chat-only waits counted, and what to check when the panel sits at zero.

What the extension does

The BackSpin extension is the editor side of BackSpin, the open attention exchange for AI-native workflows. It notices when your AI tool is busy, shows one relevant discovery (a developer tool, API, MCP server, credit or job), and credits you a share of what the advertiser paid for that attention. When the AI is done, the card steps aside.

It does not read your code. It watches for the visible signs of AI work:

• commands running in the integrated terminal
• build, test and run tasks
• fast, machine-paced edits to open files
• files being created, renamed or deleted in the workspace

Step 1, install it

Pick the route for your editor:

If your editor cannot reach either store, install the VSIX directly:

curl -fsSL https://usebackspin.com/dl/backspin-vscode.vsix -o /tmp/backspin.vsix
code --install-extension /tmp/backspin.vsix

Swap code for cursor or windsurf in those editors. Reload the window when asked.

Step 2, answer the consent prompt

On first run BackSpin asks once whether you want to opt in to anonymous attention reporting and sponsored cards. That is the trade: cards fund the rewards, and the reporting (timing and focus only) is how a wait gets credited to you. Say no and nothing is reported.

You can change your mind later with BackSpin: Manage data consent from the Command Palette.

Step 3, work normally and watch the panel

Run an agent that does real work: a refactor, a test run, a build. A card appears in the BackSpin panel and the status bar shows your balance. Open the panel any time with BackSpin: Show discovery panel, or click the status bar item.

You can rate the last card useful or annoying, save it for later, or dismiss it. Those ratings matter: they feed the advertiser's reputation, which affects how often that campaign is shown.

Step 4, turn on deep detection if you chat in a private panel

Here is the honest limitation. Editors do not let one extension read another tool's private chat view, and BackSpin does not try to. So if you only chat with an AI inside its own panel, with no terminal, task or file activity, a wait may not register. This is common in Cursor, Windsurf, Kiro and Devin.

Deep detection fixes most of that. Some AI tools write to a local session file while the model works, and deep detection watches the modification time of those files, never their contents. It is read-only and does not patch or change any AI tool. Turn it on with BackSpin: Enable deep detection, from the toggle on the idle panel, or with the backspin.deepDetection setting. BackSpin offers it once on its own the first time it runs in one of those editors.

Step 5, link your account

The extension shares an account code with the BackSpin CLI and with every other editor you install it into. If you ran the CLI first, the extension adopts the same code, so all your earnings land in one balance.

To withdraw, claim that account on usebackspin.com with Sync and connect and link it to an email. Payouts are in USDT, Litecoin or Bitcoin after an admin review, and the FAQ has the rules.

Settings reference

There is also an opt-in in-editor rendering command that shows the card inside the Codex and Claude Code editor panels. It works by a reversible patch to those panels, so it is off by default and has a matching Disable in-editor rendering command that restores them.

Troubleshooting when you earn nothing

If the panel sits at IDLE with 0 credits while you use AI tools, go through these in order:

1. Is it running? Look for the BackSpin item in the status bar. If it is missing, grant consent with Manage data consent and reload the window.
2. Was there visible work? Chat-only waits in a private panel do not register without deep detection.
3. Is there a warning in the status bar? BackSpin shows the reason when an account cannot earn right now, such as the daily reward cap, an account under review, or an unclaimed account. Cards still show, and earning resumes on its own when the reason clears.
4. Turn on diagnostics. Set backspin.debug to true, reload, and run BackSpin: Show diagnostic logs to see which signals fire. It never logs prompts, code or replies.
5. Add the CLI for terminal agents. For Claude Code, Codex, Cline and OpenCode in a terminal, the CLI hooks into each tool directly and is the most reliable way to earn. See how to monetize AI coding wait time.

One more thing: Toggle discovery cards always shows a card on demand, but that card is low-confidence on purpose and never counts as verified attention, so it does not earn.

Privacy in one paragraph

The extension uses the shape of your activity (timing, focus and which tools are active) to decide when to show a card. It never reads your code, prompts, AI replies, file names, file contents or cursor position. Deep detection, if you turn it on, reads only file modification times. Every setting that changes another tool is opt-in and reversible.

Other ways to run BackSpin

The editor extension is one of several surfaces. The full list, with the status of each, is on the integrations page. There is also a browser extension for AI sites, and the CLI for terminal tools. If you are still comparing products, our Kickbacks alternatives post puts BackSpin next to the other options.