The OptiTech extension puts your compliance program where engineers work. Available for VS Code, Cursor, and other VS Code-compatible editors, it shows findings assigned to your team, runs checks against the code you're editing, and validates custom control definitions, without leaving your editor.
What you can do
With the OptiTech extension, you can:
- See findings in your editor
A findings panel lists your team's open items; findings tied to code (an exposed resource in a Terraform file) appear as inline diagnostics on the exact lines. - Run checks on save
The same checks that gate CI run against your working tree as you edit, powered by OptiTech Local. - Validate control definitions
Schema validation, autocomplete, and dry-run testing for custom check YAML in your repository. - Act on findings
Acknowledge or snooze a finding, or open its Jira ticket, from the editor. - Enable AI-powered features
Automatically configure the OptiTech MCP Server so coding agents can query controls, findings, and evidence in natural language.
Requirements
- VS Code 1.85.0+, Cursor, or other VS Code-compatible editor.
- An OptiTech account with access to your workspace.
- The OptiTech CLI installed, for local check runs.
Sign in to OptiTech
- Open the OptiTech panel in the sidebar (look for the OptiTech logo).
- Click Sign in.
- Complete OAuth authorization in your browser.
Once signed in, the extension configures the OptiTech MCP server for AI features and connects to your workspace. Sign-in respects your organization's SSO policy.
Select your scope
The extension scopes what it shows to keep the noise down:
- Workspace: your organization's workspace (MSPs and groups with multiple workspaces pick one per editor window).
- Team: defaults to the teams you belong to, which filters findings to controls your team owns.
- Paths: which folders in the repository the on-save checks evaluate, usually inherited from the repo's
optitech.toml.
Findings panel
The Findings view in the sidebar lists your team's open findings, the same items you'd see in Jira, Slack, or Teams routing:
- Grouped by control, with severity, age, and affected resources.
- Code-linked findings deep-link to the file and line where the violating configuration lives.
- Actions on right-click: acknowledge, snooze with reason (logged, like everywhere else), open in the Console, or open the linked ticket.
- Live updates: closed findings disappear when the re-check passes, so the list reflects current state.
On-save checks
With on-save checks enabled, the extension runs the scoped checks against changed files, using the same rules and path scoping as CI:
- Violations show as warnings or errors in the Problems panel, on the exact lines.
- The status bar shows the last run's result per file.
- Everything stays advisory in the editor; blocking happens in CI, where branch protection enforces it.
This is the shortest possible feedback loop: the security-group mistake gets flagged before you even commit, instead of after CI or, worse, after the daily cloud sweep.
Control definition support
For teams that manage custom controls as code, the extension makes check YAML a first-class file type:
- Schema validation and autocomplete for check definitions.
- Hover documentation for rule types and parameters.
- Dry-run testing: run a definition against the sandbox workspace from a CodeLens above the definition, and see what it would flag before it goes anywhere near the live program.
AI agent integration
The extension includes built-in support for AI coding agents through the OptiTech MCP Server:
- Automatic MCP Server configuration at sign-in.
- Natural-language queries from your coding agent: "which controls does this Terraform file map to?", "what open findings does the platform team have?"
- Grounded answers: the MCP server reads your live workspace data, and answers cite the controls and findings they reference, consistent with how OptiTech's AI works generally.
Extension settings
| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
optitech.mcpServer.autoConfigEnabled | Automatically configure the OptiTech MCP server on sign-in | true |
optitech.checks.runOnSave | Run scoped checks when files are saved | true |
optitech.findings.teams | Which teams' findings the panel shows | your teams |
Available commands
You can run any command by opening the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P or Ctrl+Shift+P) and typing "OptiTech".
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| OptiTech: Sign In | Sign in to your OptiTech account |
| OptiTech: Sign Out | Sign out from your OptiTech account |
| OptiTech: Run checks | Run scoped checks against the working tree |
| OptiTech: Show findings | Open the findings panel |
| OptiTech: Test control definition | Dry-run the current check YAML against the sandbox |
| OptiTech: Refresh | Refresh findings and control status |
Troubleshooting
Connection errors
- Verify your OptiTech account has access to the selected workspace.
- If your organization enforces SSO, complete the browser sign-in flow fully; a half-finished SSO session is the usual cause.
- Check your network connection.
Checks not running on save
- Confirm the OptiTech CLI is installed and on your PATH.
- Check the path scoping in
optitech.toml; files outside the scoped paths are deliberately skipped.
MCP Server not working
- Check the MCP Server panel status in the extension.
- Try disabling and re-enabling the MCP server.
- Reload the window after configuration changes.
Next steps & resources
- OptiTech Local: the CLI behind local check runs.
- Compliance checks with GitHub Actions: the CI side of the same checks.
- Manage OptiTech with Terraform: configuration as code.
Need help?
Join our Discord Server to ask questions or see what others are doing with OptiTech. For paid plan support options, see Support.