Big Idea

The argument in one line.

VS Code with the Claude Code extension is a more capable, less sandboxed replacement for the Claude Desktop app, and a three-step 'OS folder' structure unlocks nested projects, live file co-editing, and persistent context that the desktop app cannot match.

Who This Is For

Read if. Skip if.

READ IF YOU ARE…

You use Claude for day-to-day knowledge work — writing, research, planning — and keep hitting the desktop app's sandbox or file-editing limits.
You want Claude to see and edit the actual file you're working on, not just discuss it in chat.
You run multiple Claude sessions in parallel and want a clean UI that isn't the terminal.
You're a non-developer curious about VS Code but unsure how to configure it for non-coding work.

SKIP IF…

You're happy with the Claude Desktop app and haven't run into its sandboxing or file-editing restrictions.
You're looking for a software development or coding workflow — this is entirely focused on knowledge work.

TL;DR

The full version, fast.

The Claude Desktop app is sandboxed, slow, and prevents you from editing the files it's working on. VS Code fixes all three: the Claude Code extension runs in the side panel with full file access; the document you're editing sits in the center pane so you and Claude co-edit it in real time without wasting tokens on back-and-forth; and your 'OS folder' on the left gives Claude persistent context across projects, brand assets, and custom instructions. Two extensions do the heavy lifting — Claude Code for the main AI and Codex for a second AI alongside it — and a pre-built profile installs the entire setup in 30 seconds without touching your existing VS Code configuration.

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Chapters

Where the time goes.

00:00 – 00:24

01 · Why I quit the Claude desktop app

Four complaints: slow performance, constant errors, sandbox restrictions, inability to edit working files.

00:24 – 01:43

02 · My setup

Tour of the three-panel VS Code layout: Claude Code extension (right), live working file (center), OS folder (left). Demonstrates model switching to Claude Fable 5.

01:43 – 02:24

03 · Editing files live alongside Claude

Opens a video script in the center pane and edits it while Claude works on it simultaneously — rendered markdown, slash commands, no token waste.

02:24 – 02:57

04 · Open PDFs, Word, Excel, PPTX and images natively

Demonstrates opening binary file types inside VS Code via extensions. Shows Gemini extension for thumbnail review without leaving the app.

02:57 – 04:52

05 · Install

One-link profile import takes 30 seconds. Lists the key extensions: Claude Code, Codex, file viewers, Excalidraw, Live Preview, icon set. Profile lands separately and never touches existing VS Code setup.

04:52 – 06:46

06 · Build your own AI OS

Three-step folder structure: (1) one root OS folder, (2) sub-folders per area of work (brand, content, context-farming, sales), (3) sub-sub-folders per workflow. Each folder can have its own CLAUDE.md.

06:46 – 07:28

07 · What's next

CTA for free AI strategy calls (limited spots). Teaser for context farming video showing how to pull Slack, meetings, and emails into the OS automatically.

Atomic Insights

Lines worth screenshotting.

The Claude Desktop app locks you in a sandbox that prevents editing the files Claude is helping you with — VS Code's Claude Code extension has no such restriction.
Opening the file you're writing in VS Code's center pane means you can make small edits by hand without burning tokens going back and forth with Claude.
VS Code's 'profile' system lets you import a complete AI workspace setup in 30 seconds as a separate profile that never interferes with your existing configuration.
Nesting Claude projects inside each other in a local folder structure removes the five-project cap and lets Claude see all files simultaneously rather than one at a time.
Running Codex (OpenAI) alongside Claude Code in the same VS Code window means you can delegate tasks to two different AI agents without switching apps.
A 'context farming' folder that pulls in Slack, meeting, and email content automatically keeps Claude informed about what's happening across your business.
Every sub-folder in your OS structure can have its own CLAUDE.md with custom instructions, so project context is always scoped correctly.
VS Code renders markdown beautifully, opens PDFs and Office docs natively, and previews web pages — making it a viable single-window workspace for knowledge workers.
The three-panel layout mirrors how Notion or Confluence works: sidebar navigator on the left, live document in the center, AI assistant on the right.
A video creator's actual script file ('Quit using the Claude Desktop App') was visible in the demo, showing the presenter literally built the video inside the system he was teaching.

Takeaway

How to give Claude a persistent view of your work

WHAT TO LEARN

The bottleneck in most Claude workflows is context — Claude only sees what you paste into chat, one file at a time, with no memory of the rest of your work.

Keeping Claude in a side panel next to the file you're editing eliminates the round-trip of copying text into chat and pasting edits back — small changes stay in your hands.
A single root folder that contains every project, brand asset, and instruction file gives Claude a stable, always-current view of your work without any manual context-sharing.
Nesting sub-folders by area of work (brand, content, sales) means Claude's scope is always appropriate — it can see everything or just one project depending on what you open.
Each folder can carry its own instruction file (CLAUDE.md), so the rules Claude follows shift automatically when you switch from client work to content creation.
The five-project cap in Claude Desktop is a platform constraint, not a fundamental limit — a local folder structure removes it entirely and lets projects grow without migration.
A context-farming folder that auto-pulls Slack, email, and meeting notes keeps Claude informed about live business events without any manual update step.

Glossary

Terms worth knowing.

OS folder: A single root folder — the presenter calls his 'OS' — that contains every sub-project, brand asset, context file, and Claude instruction file. Opening this folder in VS Code gives Claude a complete view of your working life.
Claude Code extension: The official Anthropic VS Code extension that places Claude in a side panel with a UI similar to the desktop app, but with full read/write access to local files, multiple sessions, and longer-running agent task support.
Codex: OpenAI's coding agent, available as a VS Code extension. In this setup it runs in the same side panel as Claude Code, letting the user assign tasks to two AI agents simultaneously within one window.
Context farming: Automated agents that pull content from Slack, meetings, and emails and write it into files inside the OS folder, so Claude always has current business context without manual copy-paste.
VS Code profile: A named configuration in Visual Studio Code that bundles specific extensions, settings, and keybindings. Importing a profile installs that exact environment as a separate profile without changing any existing setup.

Resources

Things they pointed at.

00:48toolClaude Code (VS Code extension) ↗

03:37toolCodex (OpenAI VS Code extension)

03:43toolExcalidraw (VS Code extension)

03:46toolLive Preview (VS Code extension)

03:25linkProfile install guide (free) ↗

06:37linkAI Strategy Call ↗

Quotables

Lines you could clip.

00:22

“The worst thing is you can't even edit the files you're working on.”

Tight complaint, no setup needed, universal pain point for Claude Desktop users→ TikTok hook↗ Tweet quote

02:36

“You're not burning tokens going back and forth with Claude just to make a few minor changes that are faster and easier to do by hand.”

Concrete efficiency argument with a specific mechanism→ IG reel cold open↗ Tweet quote

03:36

“VS Code markets itself as a great IDE and coding app, but it's also the best AI workspace I found for knowledge work.”

Counterintuitive positioning — coding tool reframed for non-coders→ newsletter pull-quote↗ Tweet quote

05:07

“Your projects can nest inside of each other, and you're never capped at five of them. Files are always live, and Claude can see all of them at once instead of one at a time.”

Specific enumerated advantages over Claude Desktop — easy to screenshot or clip→ TikTok hook↗ Tweet quote

The Script

Word for word.

Read-along

Don't just watch it. Burn it in.

See every word as it's spoken — crank it to 2× and still catch all of it. The same dual-channel trick behind Amazon's Kindle + Audible.

metaphoranalogy

00:00Board is great, but the desktop app totally sucks. I actually haven't used it now in months. Desktop is just so slow.

00:07It throws errors constantly and locks you in a sandbox so you have to fight it to do basic thing. The worst thing is you can't even edit the files you're working on. Now I'm using a tool called Versus Code, a free coding editing app where I spend my entire workday, even though 99% of the work I'm doing isn't even coding related.

00:24Inside of it, I've got my Claude desktop killer. I have Claude encodecs on the right here where I can run multiple sessions working across live files on my computer doing real work. And on the middle here, I have the file I actually have open.

00:38Claude and I can work on this file in real time like we're collaborating on a Notion doc. And then on the left, these are all of my files or my operating system. Everything I do runs out of this folder, whether that's content, custom skills, research, sales, delivery, everything, plus all of the files that tell Claude exactly who I am and how I want to work.

00:58Now this file structure is the part that makes this solution work. I'm gonna show you exactly how to set up your own operating system later in the video. But for now, let's get back into the tour so you can see this in action.

01:10Now here on the right, I've got Claude Code, and it isn't Claude in the terminal or Claude in chat. This is the Versus Code extension for Claude Code, and it actually gives us a really nice UI for interacting with Claude without all of the issues that come with the desktop app. You can do all the things that you're familiar with in the desktop app here as well, so don't worry.

01:28I can see all of my previous code sessions. I can start a new one, plus see all of my web sessions. I even switch models down the bottom here.

01:35This is Fable five, Anthropic's brand new model that just dropped today. But here, you have way more access to commands and features than you do in the desktop app. Things like long running agent tasks using the new goal and workflow features.

01:48And then there's this. I can actually open a file in my content folder. Let's say I'm writing a script for a video, and I can have it right here in an editor where I can edit it myself all while Claude is working on this same file in the background as well.

02:01This isn't something that just doesn't exist in the desktop app or Cowork, and it's way more efficient because you're not burning tokens going back and forth with Clord just to make a few minor changes that are faster and easier to do by hand. And the file opens like it's in Confluence or Notion. The markdown is rendered beautifully, and I can use slash commands to do headings, to do list, dividers.

02:21It's actually nicer to write in than most dedicated writing apps. Now let's say I'm working on a PDF or Word doc. I can actually open all of these here as well.

02:31There's no jumping to another app. PDFs, Word, Excel, all open inside of Versus Code and images as well. I can use Gemini plugged into to create my thumbnail.

02:40And when I'm working on them, I can review them right here without having to go into Finder. Everything is in one place, and this is actually where I spend my entire workday. Now the funny thing is Versus Code markets itself as a great IDE and coding app, but and it is.

02:54But it's also the best AI workspace I found for knowledge work. And if you download Versus Code right now without doing any of the setup, you'll just get the vanilla version, which means that by default, Microsoft Copilot agents load in. There's no Claude code to be seen, and the folders and files are hard to see.

03:09And if I open up a markdown file, it's just raw text, super tricky to read and edit. PDFs and Office Docs are unreadable because Versus Code is showing you the binaries instead of the file. And out of the box, it's just pretty ugly and hard to use.

03:22But with the right extensions, you can literally copy my entire setup. There's only really a handful of extensions that turn Versus Code from my blank canvas into the setup that I use every single day, but two of them do the real heavy lifting. First one is Claude Code, the official Anthropic extension, which is what lets me put Claude in the right hand side panel, and then Codex, which is OpenAI's coding agent, and this lets me run a second AI alongside Claude in that exact same window like I showed you back at the start of this video.

03:48Rest are really quality of life. They're a set of file viewers, so markdown, word, excel, PowerPoint, and pdfs all open natively. Excali draw is there as well for diagrams, and there's live preview for landing pages and dashboards, and a clean icon set and custom theme so the whole workspace looks the way you see it here.

04:06Now you don't need to install any of these by hand because I've packaged the entire thing into a Versus Code profile with my exact setup. The extensions, settings, everything's included, and it's built specifically for people doing non coding work, not developers. Here's how it works.

04:21There's a link in the description below, and that will take you to my full setup guide. Inside, you can grab the import link. Once you've clicked that, it will open up Versus Code in your browser where you can hit import profile.

04:32That will open Versus Code automatically and install everything. The whole thing takes about thirty seconds and it lands as its own separate profile, so it never touches anything else you've got installed in Versus Code. You can switch between the profiles in the top right hand side using the gear icon, and that guide also has a full list of all the extensions and what each one does.

04:50So that one link gets you everything. And that's the whole setup done. So now I wanna show you my framework for building out your file structure because it's really the backbone of your entire workspace.

05:00The panel on the left is showing us everything I saved inside of my OS folder. Now if you've used projects in the Claudette before, this is the exact same idea because a project is a workspace with its own files and its own instructions. The difference here is that your projects can nest inside of each other, and you're never capped at five of them.

05:16Files are always live, and Claw can see all of them at once instead of one at a time. It comes down to really three steps to get all this set up, and you can steal this shape no matter what kind of work you do. Step one is make one high level folder.

05:29This is where everything else is stored. Mine is literally called OS, but you could call this anything.

05:34This is the folder that you'll open inside of Versus Code. Step two is inside of that OS folder, create a folder for each independent thing that you work on. Let me walk you through mine.

05:43First, I've got brand where I keep all of my shared files, things like fonts, logos, and testimonials. These are the things that I keep coming back to again and again and are referenced across other projects. Then I've got my content folder.

05:55More on this in a second. My context farming folder where automated agents pull everything from my Slack meetings and emails, and this goes straight into my OS. And lastly, I have my sales folder with a subfolder for all the prospects and one for clients.

06:09Now, if you run more than one business, you'd wanna add a top level folder for each one and build the same shape inside of it. And each of those folders can get its own Clawds. Md.

06:19That's just project instructions for each business or concept. Step three is that inside of each of those folders, you add a subfolder for whatever that area needs. So let's break down my content folder as an example.

06:31It splits into YouTube, Instagram, and lead magnets. When I open up YouTube, every video gets its own folder, a workspace folder for the messy drafts, and then a final folder for the finished script and thumbnail.

06:42And here's the folder for the video you're watching right now. The structure should follow exactly how you work. Set up your folders like this, and every part of your work has its own home.

06:50If you're a business owner who wants help building out this kind of AI OS for yourself, I do free AI strategy calls and there's a link in the description to book one. Spots are limited and I keep them that way on purpose. So if that's you, go and book now.

07:03Subscribe if this was useful and remember that context farming folder I skipped a little bit earlier, that's where this really comes alive and it's how I get everything from my Slack, meetings, and emails automatically pulled straight into my OS. So Claude knows exactly what's happening across my entire business and life.

07:19I show you exactly how I build this in this video right here. Thanks for watching.

The Hook

The bait, then the rug-pull.

The pitch is blunt: the desktop app is slow, sandboxed, and won't let you touch the files it's helping you with. What follows is a seven-minute argument that VS Code — a free code editor most non-developers ignore — is actually the better AI workspace, and a step-by-step build of the folder structure that makes it work.

Frameworks

Named ideas worth stealing.

00:24model

The 3-Panel AI Workspace

Right panel: Claude Code extension — multiple sessions, model switching, long-running agent tasks
Center panel: Live file — co-edit with Claude in real time, make small edits by hand without token waste
Left panel: OS folder — all projects, context files, brand assets, custom instructions

A spatial layout that treats the file you're working on as the shared object between you and Claude, rather than something Claude can only read.

Steal forAny knowledge worker who wants to structure their Claude workflow around files rather than chat sessions

04:52list

The 3-Step AI OS Folder Structure

Step 1: Create one root folder (e.g. 'OS') and open it in VS Code
Step 2: Add sub-folders for each independent area of work — brand, content, context-farming, sales
Step 3: Add sub-sub-folders per workflow within each area (YouTube, Instagram, lead magnets within content)

A file system pattern that mimics Claude Desktop's projects concept but removes the 5-project cap and enables nesting.

Steal forReplacing Claude Desktop projects with a local file structure that scales to any number of work areas

CTA Breakdown

How they asked for the click.

VERBAL ASK

06:37product

“If you're a business owner who wants help building out this kind of AI OS for yourself, I do free AI strategy calls and there's a link in the description to book one.”

Positioned as a free call — soft sell. Low friction but clearly designed to qualify leads for a paid offer. Preceded by a subscribe ask and followed immediately by a next-video tease, so it does not feel like a hard close.

MENTIONED ON CAMERA

00:48toolClaude Code (VS Code extension) ↗

03:25linkProfile install guide (free) ↗

06:37linkAI Strategy Call ↗

FROM THE DESCRIPTION

PRIMARY CTAWhere the creator wants you to go next.