Quickstart Publish your first site with Claude Code

Step 2 · Set up your agent

Trusted folders: how the agent works in your folder

The folder you open is the agent's workspace. Trust only folders you made or got from people you trust, and read what the agent asks before you approve it.

Time: 3 minVS Code path

Two trust questions

The first time you open a folder, you trust it twice: once for VS Code, and sometimes once for the agent.

  1. VS Code checks first

    A folder you haven't trusted opens in Restricted Mode. A banner across the top says so, and AI agents and the terminal are turned off. The Claude Code extension doesn't work there. Click Manage in the banner, then Trust.

    Some setups ask up front instead: Do you trust the authors of the files in this folder? Yes, I trust the authors trusts it. No, I don't trust the authors keeps Restricted Mode.

  2. Then the agent may ask

    The first time it works in a folder, the agent may ask its own version, such as whether you trust the files in this folder. The same rule applies.

How the agent works in your folder

The agent works inside your trusted project folder A large dashed box labeled Your computer contains a box labeled Your project folder, trusted, for example Projects/history-of-st-pete. Inside the project folder is the agent. Arrows run from the agent to four things it does there: reads files, to learn the project; edits files, which you can undo; runs commands, such as a build or Git; and commits and pushes to GitHub, when you say so. Below the project folder, still on your computer, is a box for everything else on your computer: the agent may read files there, and changes there are checked or asked first. YOUR COMPUTER YOUR PROJECT FOLDER · TRUSTED e.g. Projects/history-of-st-pete The agent Reads files to learn the project Edits files you can undo Runs commands such as a build or Git Commits & pushes to GitHub, when you say so Everything else on your computer It may read files here. Changes are checked or asked first.
The folder you open is the agent's workspace. It may still read files elsewhere on your computer, and it checks or asks before changing anything outside the folder.

When the agent needs your OK to run a command, it shows a permission prompt. Read the command before you approve it. Pushes, deletes and installs deserve a careful look. To see a plan before any change, add this to your request:

Say this
Plan this first. Don't change anything until I say go.

See the agent's world

Say this
Which folder are you working in? List what's in it, and don't change anything.

If it goes wrong

VS Code says Restricted Mode, and the agent doesn't work

Click Manage in the Restricted Mode banner, then Trust. Or open the Command Palette (Ctrl + Shift + P, or Cmd + Shift + P on Mac), run Workspaces: Manage Workspace Trust and trust the folder.

The agent asks about a folder I didn't expect

Say no. Then check that VS Code opened your project folder, not a folder above it. The folder's name shows at the top of the Explorer view. Use File → Open Folder… to open the right one.

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