Looker's VS Code extension moves LookML onto your disk — with a proxy holding your agent until the sync lands

At a glance

What arrives in the editor

How a file travels between your disk and Looker

The agent, and the proxy in front of it

A first workflow, end to end

1. Install the extension from the Marketplace or from Open VSX. 3
2. Open a folder and run Looker: Show Onboarding Walkthrough, then enter your instance URL. Choose OAuth if your administrator has registered the extension as an OAuth client, or paste API credentials if you generated your own. 3
3. Select your LookML project. If your workspace is empty, the walkthrough offers to populate it from the instance. 3
4. Fill in the workspace settings, which the walkthrough writes for you and which you can also edit directly:

    {
      "looker.instanceURL": "https://your-instance.looker.com",
      "looker.oauthClientId": "YOUR_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID",
      "looker.projectId": "your_project_name"
    }
    ```

5. Turn on Development Mode in Looker, open a `.lkml` file, change a dimension, and save. The change lands in your development branch and the validator reports anything it rejects. <MarkdownCitation index="6" title="Managing LookML files and Git with the Looker extension for VS Code" url="https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/manage-lookml-files-git-vscode" />
6. Point your agent at the proxy. In Claude Code the entry goes in `.mcp.json`; in VS Code it goes in `.agents/mcp_config.json`, and the walkthrough writes it for you. <MarkdownCitation index="3" title="Getting started with the Looker extension for VS Code" url="https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/getting-started-vscode-extension" />

```json
    { "mcpServers": { "Looker": { "type": "http", "url": "http://127.0.0.1:5050/mcp" } } }
    ```

7. Ask for a change in plain language — Google's codelab opens with `Create a Customer Lifetime Value measure.` — then read the agent's diff, run **Looker: Validate LookML**, and commit. <MarkdownCitationGroup><MarkdownCitation index="8" title="AI-assisted development (vibe coding) with Looker" url="https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/ai-assisted-development-vscode" /><MarkdownCitation index="11" title="Author LookML with Agentic Coding Tools" url="https://codelabs.developers.google.com/next26/looker-agentic-lookml" /></MarkdownCitationGroup>

## Compatibility and sharp edges {#compatibility-and-sharp-edges}

The extension needs **Looker 26.6 or later** on the other side, and the `develop` permission gates every change to the model. <MarkdownCitation index="3" title="Getting started with the Looker extension for VS Code" url="https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/getting-started-vscode-extension" />

OAuth, the recommended flow, depends on an administrator registering one client ID before your first sign-in, and that ID gets distributed to every LookML developer who wants to use it. <MarkdownCitation index="3" title="Getting started with the Looker extension for VS Code" url="https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/getting-started-vscode-extension" /> The API-credential route works from credentials you generate yourself, and the 1.0.0 release moved the client secret into the editor's secure storage. <MarkdownCitation index="1" title="Looker release notes" url="https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/release-notes" />

The managed MCP server carries preview status, and its tools arrive switched off, so the agent half may wait on an administrator even after the editing half works. <MarkdownCitation index="9" title="Looker-managed MCP server" url="https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/mcp" />

LookML development also stays a Looker activity. The extension edits a project that must already exist on an instance, validated against a database connection somebody else configured. <MarkdownCitation index="11" title="Author LookML with Agentic Coding Tools" url="https://codelabs.developers.google.com/next26/looker-agentic-lookml" />

## Install or skip? {#install-or-skip}

Install the extension when your team runs a hosted Looker instance, you hold `develop` on a project, and you already keep the browser Looker IDE open for hours. The first workflow costs one walkthrough and one setting block, and the payoff is your own editor, your own Git commands, and validation that runs on save.

Skip the extension when your organization runs Looker on its own infrastructure and you came for the managed MCP server, when the OAuth client and the agent tools have to wait on your administrator, or when your team works in IntelliJ IDEA or PyCharm, which sit outside the extension's editor list. <MarkdownCitationGroup><MarkdownCitation index="3" title="Getting started with the Looker extension for VS Code" url="https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/getting-started-vscode-extension" /><MarkdownCitation index="9" title="Looker-managed MCP server" url="https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/mcp" /></MarkdownCitationGroup>

[Install Looker by Google Cloud](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=Google.vscode-looker-official) or [read the setup guide](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/getting-started-vscode-extension) before you ask your administrator to register a client ID.