VS Code — built-in Chat

VS Code's built-in Chat view can bring your own models through a *custom endpoint*. Add RouterPlex once and every model below shows up in the Chat model picker. The steps are the same on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Add RouterPlex as a custom endpoint #

1. Open the Chat view, click the model dropdown, and choose "Manage Models…".

2. Click "Add Models", then choose "Custom Endpoint".

3. Name the group "RouterPlex" and press Enter.

4. Paste your RouterPlex API key and press Enter.

5. Choose "Chat Completions" as the API type.

6. VS Code opens chatLanguageModels.json — add one entry per model, then save.

That file lives at:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/chatLanguageModels.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Code\User\chatLanguageModels.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Code/User/chatLanguageModels.json

7. Added the provider by editing the JSON directly? If you created the RouterPlex group by hand instead of the wizard above, VS Code doesn't have your key yet. Right-click the group in the Language Models list, choose Update API Key, and paste your RouterPlex key.

Example configuration #

Every model points url at RouterPlex (https://api.routerplex.com/v1). Add as many entries to models as you like:

[
  {
    "name": "RouterPlex",
    "vendor": "customendpoint",
    "apiKey": "${input:chat.lm.secret.-8cc97ea}",
    "apiType": "chat-completions",
    "models": [
      {
        "id": "claude-opus-4-8",
        "name": "Claude Opus 4.8",
        "url": "https://api.routerplex.com/v1",
        "toolCalling": true,
        "vision": true,
        "maxInputTokens": 1000000,
        "maxOutputTokens": 64000
      },
      {
        "id": "qwen3.7-plus",
        "name": "Qwen3.7 Plus",
        "url": "https://api.routerplex.com/v1",
        "toolCalling": true,
        "vision": true,
        "maxInputTokens": 1000000,
        "maxOutputTokens": 128000
      }
    ]
  }
]

Leave apiKey as the ${input:…} placeholder VS Code generated in step 4 — it references the key you pasted, so you never store the raw key in the file.

Models #

Every entry uses "url": "https://api.routerplex.com/v1". Copy the id, maxInputTokens, and maxOutputTokens for each model you want:

The Copy all button sets "vision" on the models that accept image input and "toolCalling": true on all of them — adjust either per model if you like. Give this key its own budget so editor usage is capped and shows up separately in your logs.