Choose what
you share.
Earn from
better matches.

Install now How it works
npx
npx -y @kickbacksai/install
Click to copy
$ $ * *

Choose how V2 matches ads

Private Mode

Basic, pseudonymous information only. Your work never leaves your machine.

  • ✓Ad shown, visible time, clicks
  • ✓Pseudonymous UID, hashed email
  • ✓Truncated IP address & device basics
  • ✓Approximate location

Privacy Policy §6

Boosted Mode

Share more, earn more — this mode shares a lot (everything below).

  • ✓Everything shared in Private Mode
  • ✓Your recent prompts & conversation
  • ✓The model's replies & generated output
  • ✓Titles & recent prompts of your other open sessions on this machine
  • ✓File types & repo name
  • ✓Your recent work topics — kept as a rolling interest profile on our servers

Partners get a cleaned copy, not your raw text. Privacy Policy §6

How it works

The useful version.

Pick your lane. V2 builds a small context payload, attempts to strip obvious sensitive material, replaces identifying details with limited IDs, and sends only that reduced version into the ad marketplace. If a paid developer ad wins, the extension shows a tiny sponsored line and you earn from qualifying views.

We ask our ad partners for the highest-earning ads that make sense next to a coding session — developer tools, AI infrastructure, APIs, cloud services.

01 Choose your lane Private keeps matching broad. Boosted is the explicit opt-in lane for richer context.
02 Minimize payload Only matching and measurement fields make the trip. No full-workspace firehose.
03 Scrub and anonymize Secrets, tokens, env vars, and PII are targeted for removal or redaction (best-effort), and identifiers are replaced before matching.
xSecrets xPII information
04 Match VS Code demand We asked partners for higher-earning developer ads first, not random web leftovers.
05 Show the tiny ad The extension swaps in a small sponsored line. No modal ambush.
06 You earn Qualifying views credit your earnings at an estimated 50% of net ad revenue, subject to the Terms.

Warnings

In plain English, here's the deal.

Here is the short version of what Kickbacks.ai V2 does and what you agree to. The Terms of Service are what actually bind you, so read those before you install.

1
It changes your editor when you install it.

To show the sponsored line, Kickbacks.ai edits the part of Claude Code and VS Code that draws the status line. The patch is built to be fully reversible and is checked against your editor version so it does not disrupt your work. It is still a real change to software on your machine, not a cloud setting, and we cannot promise it will never conflict with something else.

2
We're not affiliated with your editor's makers.

Kickbacks.ai is a third-party extension, not built, endorsed, or partnered with Anthropic, Microsoft, OpenAI, or GitHub. Their terms may not allow this, and they can block or break it at any time.

3
You earn from qualifying ads, never a guaranteed amount.

What an ad pays is set by live bidding, not by us, so it differs for everyone and some periods you may earn nothing. Only genuine human views during a request you started count — automated or farmed activity earns nothing and can void earnings. See the FAQ; Terms §6 and §9 control.

4
You must be 18 or older and allowed to install it.

If this is a work machine, make sure your employer is fine with software that changes your editor and shows ads. That part is on you.

This is a short summary, not the contract. If anything here is different from the Terms of Service or Privacy Policy, those documents win.

Limitations

Two limits, up front.

Better you know them now than after you install.

Getting paid Stripe Connect, in supported countries.

We transfer earnings through Stripe Connect, so you need to complete its onboarding and be in a country it supports. If yours isn't covered yet, earnings still accrue and become payable if that changes.

Check whether your country is supported →
Regions Boosted Mode is paused in GDPR regions for now.

In the EEA, the UK, and Switzerland we don't share context with outside ad partners, so Boosted Mode is paused there and only first-party ads serve. We plan to open these regions once we can do it properly.

Install

Install the V2 VSIX.

Paste the command into Claude or run it in your terminal. It downloads the signed VSIX, checks it, and installs it into every editor it finds (VS Code, Cursor, VSCodium). Reload each editor, then run Kickbacks: Sign in. To target just one, add --editor code, --editor cursor, or --editor codium.

npx
npx -y @kickbacksai/install

No Node, or npx acting up? Use the traditional curl method instead. These commands call your editor's own binary — on macOS the code shim on PATH can belong to Cursor and quietly install into the wrong editor. On Linux or WSL, use the npx command above.

macOS — VS Code
curl -fsSL https://kickbacks.ai/v2-vsix -o kickbacks-v2.vsix && "/Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/bin/code" --install-extension kickbacks-v2.vsix --force
macOS — Cursor
curl -fsSL https://kickbacks.ai/v2-vsix -o kickbacks-v2.vsix && "/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/bin/cursor" --install-extension kickbacks-v2.vsix --force
Windows
curl.exe -fsSL https://kickbacks.ai/v2-vsix -o kickbacks-v2.vsix; if ($?) { & "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\bin\code.cmd" --install-extension kickbacks-v2.vsix --force }