Editor Integration

Editor integration runs the full Kolega Code agent — models, tools, permissions, skills, plan/build modes, sub-agent fan-out — inside your editor. The editor spawns kolega-code acp, a small server that speaks the Agent Client Protocol (ACP) over stdio, and renders the agent’s work natively.

How it works

• kolega-code acp is one process per editor connection, owned by the editor’s agent-server lifecycle.
• Each editor thread is an ordinary Kolega Code session: it persists to the same session store as the TUI, so editor threads replay in the TUI, in kolega-code sessions, in exports, and in /share like any other session.
• Tool permissions, model selection, and plan/build mode are per-session. The agent’s tool set, skills, MCP servers, hooks, and project configuration behave exactly as they do in the TUI.

usage: kolega-code acp [--debug] [--acp-log PATH] [--permission-mode {auto,ask}]

Flag	Effect
--permission-mode ask (default)	Tool approvals are prompted through the editor.
--permission-mode auto	Approve every tool call without prompting.
--debug	Debug logging to stderr.
--acp-log PATH	Append a JSON traffic log of every protocol frame to PATH.

Zed

Zed hosts ACP agents natively — no plugin needed.

1. Open ~/.config/zed/settings.json and add an agent_servers entry:

{
  "agent_servers": {
    "Kolega Code": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/bin/kolega-code",
      "args": ["acp", "--permission-mode", "ask", "--acp-log", "/tmp/kolega-acp.log"]
    }
  }
}

Use an absolute binary path

A bare kolega-code resolves to whatever is on Zed’s PATH, which is often a different binary than the one you think you are using — an installed release can shadow a dev checkout. Point command at the exact binary you want: which kolega-code (or /path/to/checkout/.venv/bin/kolega-code for a checkout).

2. Restart Zed, open the agent panel, select Kolega Code, and start a thread.

Zed remembers changes you make through the session option selectors (model, permissions, mode) as its own defaults, and restores open threads across restarts by replaying the session.

VS Code

VS Code has no native ACP support; use the community ACP Client extension.

1. Install it (code --install-extension formulahendry.acp-client).
2. Add Kolega Code to your VS Code user settings:

{
  "acp.agents": {
    "kolega-code": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/bin/kolega-code",
      "args": ["acp", "--permission-mode", "ask", "--acp-log", "/tmp/kolega-acp.log"]
    }
  }
}

3. Reload the window, open your project folder, and connect to the agent from the ACP panel in the Activity Bar.

Note

Setting acp.agents replaces the extension’s built-in agent list while present; delete the setting to restore them.

What the editor shows

• Conversation — streamed responses and collapsible thinking blocks, with durable threads: reopening a thread restores the full transcript, including tool calls.
• Tool calls — read/edit/execute cards; file edits render as diffs in Zed.
• Permissions — approval prompts for commands, edits, and MCP tools. Allow once, allow always, or deny; saved rules persist across sessions. Sub-agents always run auto-approved, exactly as in the TUI.
• Session options — a model selector, a permissions selector (Ask / Auto-approve), and a plan/build mode selector, applied per session.
• Plan mode — plan-mode turns end in an approval prompt (Implement plan / Clear context and implement plan / Discuss further) with the full plan text. Approving switches the session to build mode and starts the implementation turn automatically.
• Task list — the agent’s shared task list renders in the editor’s plan view with checkbox status, kept in sync as the agent checks items off.
• Slash commands — type / for autocomplete:

Command	Effect
/help	List available commands.
/compress	Compress the conversation history.
/clear	Clear message history.
/reset	Alias of /clear.
/context	Show the current context token count.

• User questions — when the agent calls ask_user_choice, Zed renders a native question form. Clients without elicitation support get a tool error and the model asks in chat instead.
• Sub-agents — Gigacode fan-out and dispatch_agent show as tool cards with live progress in the card title. In Zed, reopening a thread expands each dispatch into a nested transcript card containing the sub-agent’s full conversation.
• Compaction — when the conversation is compressed, the editor shows a collapsible block with the summary, and restored threads replay the last one.
• Usage — the context-window meter updates after each turn.

Client differences

Feature	Zed	vscode-acp
Terminal output	Not rendered in the panel (client-owned terminals planned)	Rendered
Diff rendering	Yes	Text results
Session option selectors	Yes	Yes
Elicitation forms	Yes	No — falls back to chat
Nested sub-agent transcripts	Yes (on thread reopen)	Flat tool cards

Troubleshooting

• Nothing renders, or the wrong agent behavior: check which binary the editor is actually launching (the shadowing caveat above) and restart the editor after changing its config.
• Zed traffic: --acp-log /tmp/kolega-acp.log writes every protocol frame; --debug adds server-side detail to stderr.
• VS Code traffic: the extension logs all frames to the ACP Traffic output channel (acp.logTraffic).
• One turn at a time: a second prompt while a turn is running is rejected; cancel the running turn first.