Roo Code
AI coding agent for VS Code with Code, Architect, Ask, and Debug modes (DISCONTINUED May 2026)
Retired
Roo Code appears to be discontinued or shut down — discontinued May 2026; repo archived This page is kept as an archive record and is excluded from search engines.
About
⚠️ DISCONTINUED — the Roo Code extension, Cloud, and Router were shut down on May 15, 2026, and the RooCodeInc/Roo-Code repository is now archived read-only. The company pivoted to a cloud product called Roomote; the team points former users to the community fork ZooCode or back to Cline (the project Roo Code was forked from).
Historically, Roo Code was one of the most popular open-source VS Code coding agents (~24k GitHub stars, 1.5M+ marketplace installs): a bring-your-own-model agent with specialized modes (Code, Architect, Ask, Debug, plus custom modes), MCP support, checkpoints, and broad provider support. It remains listed here only as a historical reference — do not install it for new projects, since there will be no security updates, model API fixes, or extension-platform compatibility work.
What it can do
- • Specialized agent modes: Code, Architect, Ask, Debug, plus custom modes with per-mode tool/file restrictions
- • Bring-your-own-model across many providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenRouter, local models)
- • MCP server support and `.roo/rules/` + `.roomodes` project instructions
- • Task checkpoints and diff review inside the editor
- • Historically strong: 1.5M+ marketplace installs, 24k GitHub stars
Setup
- Do not install for new projects — Roo Code is discontinued; this section documents the historical install for reference only.
- The VS Code Marketplace listing still exists, and the final release (v3.54.0) can be installed from there, or as a VSIX from the archived GitHub releases page.
- When active, configuration was: open the Roo Code sidebar panel → settings → choose an AI provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter, local models, etc.) and enter your API key (keys were stored locally).
- Pick a mode (Code, Architect, Ask, Debug) from the mode dropdown and start a task.
- Migration path: switch to Cline or Kilo Code (Kilo reads
.roomodesand.roo/rules/for a smoother transition) or the community-maintained ZooCode fork.
Prerequisites
VS Code (or a compatible editor); an API key from a supported model provider if you run the archived final release. Note: no maintained backend services remain — Roo Code Cloud and the Router are offline.
Use cases
Works with
Trust score — 4/10
Scored 4/10 (metrics tier, metrics-v1). Evidence: 24,281 GitHub stars (log-scaled vs catalog peers); repository is archived — no future fixes expected; capped at 4: product discontinued May 2026 — historical reference only. Manual review: DISCONTINUED: shut down 2026-05-15 (extension, Cloud, Router); repo archived read-only; team pivoted to Roomote; '3M installs' provider-claimed. License: Apache-2.0.
★ 24,281 GitHub stars
How the trust score is built
Full methodology →- Adoption · stars/downloads, log-scaled vs peers
- 8.2/10
- Maintenance · recency, releases, issue load
- 2.0/10
- Openness · license + docs
- 10.0/10
- Manual review · sanity read + red-flag check
- 3.0/10
- · 24,281 GitHub stars (log-scaled vs catalog peers)
- · repository is archived — no future fixes expected
- · manual review: DISCONTINUED: shut down 2026-05-15 (extension, Cloud, Router); repo archived read-only; team pivoted to Roomote; '3M installs' provider-claimed
- · capped at 4: product discontinued May 2026 — historical reference only
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these sources. Where a claim comes from the provider and couldn't be independently verified, the text says so.