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Agent Chat (ACP)

⚠️ EXPERIMENTAL FEATURE - On by default; turn it off with abapfs.acp.enabled. Please report any issues.

Agent Chat lets you use external coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot's CLI agent from a chat panel inside VS Code, working on your SAP systems through ABAP FS.

It uses the Agent Client Protocol (ACP), an open standard for connecting editors to coding agents. ABAP FS is the ACP client: it starts the agent as a local process, shows its conversation, answers its file and terminal requests, and hands it the ABAP FS tools.

Use this if you prefer another agent over GitHub Copilot, but want to work inside VS Code with live SAP access, instead of switching to a separate terminal or app.

Don't need this if you only use GitHub Copilot Chat. All ABAP FS tools are already available there natively.

Pages in this guide

Page What it covers
Setup Enable the feature, add an agent, connect
Using Agent Chat The panel, context, history, modes, permissions, edit review
Settings Reference Every abapfs.acp.* setting and related settings
ABAP FS Tools for Agents (MCP) How agents get the ABAP FS tools, HTTP vs stdio, manual setup
Troubleshooting What to check when something doesn't work

How it works

┌──────────────── VS Code ────────────────┐
│                                         │        stdin/stdout (ACP)       ┌──────────────┐
│  Agent Chat panel ◄──► ABAP FS ACP client ◄──────────────────────────────► │ Agent process│
│                          │      │       │                                 │ (Claude Code,│
│                          │      │       │      MCP (HTTP or stdio bridge) │  Codex, ...) │
│                          │   ABAP FS MCP server ◄─────────────────────────┤              │
│                          │      │       │                                 └──────┬───────┘
│                    ABAP FS file system  │                                        │
│                    + 40 SAP tools       │                                        ▼
│                          │              │                                  Agent's own AI
└──────────────────────────┼──────────────┘                                  provider
                           ▼
                       SAP system
  1. The agent runs locally. When you connect, ABAP FS starts the agent's command (for example npx -y @agentclientprotocol/claude-agent-acp@latest) as a child process and talks ACP to it over stdin/stdout. Closing the panel's connection or VS Code stops the process.
  2. Your prompt goes to the agent. The agent sends it to its own AI provider with its own login or API key. ABAP FS does not see or choose the model; it only shows what the agent reports.
  3. The agent reads files through ABAP FS. ABAP FS announces that it can read and write files and run terminals. When the agent reads a file, the request comes back to VS Code, so it gets the live SAP source, including unsaved changes in open editors.
  4. The agent uses the ABAP FS tools. With abapfs.acp.provideMcpServer on, ABAP FS gives the agent its MCP server for each session, with the same tools Copilot has: search objects, read source, edit, activate, run unit tests, query tables, and more.
  5. Edits go to SAP. ABAP source edits are saved to SAP immediately as inactive versions, with locking and transport handling done by ABAP FS. Turn on edit review to see and undo them.

How SAP objects appear to the agent

Agents only understand local file paths. ABAP FS maps every adt://<system>/<path> resource to a path under a private folder of the extension (.../acp-workspace/adt/<system>/<path>). Requests for those paths are routed to the ABAP FS file system; nothing is stored on your disk.

With its first prompt, the agent gets a short note explaining this, listing the connected systems and their folders, and telling it to use the ABAP FS tools to find and edit objects.

Because the folders are virtual:

  • The agent's shell commands, grep, glob and "does this file exist" checks do not see SAP objects.
  • Agents' built-in edit tools often check the local disk before editing, and then fail with "file does not exist". The replace_string_in_abap_object tool works for every agent, so ABAP edits should go through it. See ABAP FS Tools for Agents.
  • Local files in your workspace work normally.

Limitations

  • VS Code must stay open. The agent, the MCP server and the SAP connection all live in VS Code.
  • One active conversation at a time in the panel. You can switch between past conversations from history.
  • Agent features vary. History, modes, model selection, slash commands and images only appear when the agent supports them.
  • Edits are not in Copilot's "changed files" list. Use edit review instead.