Agent chat

Talk to coding agents that can read, edit, test, commit, and help create PRs inside a lane.

Agent chat is the fastest way to get work done in ADE. Open a chat in a lane, describe the task, and watch the agent use files, shell commands, Git, tests, and PR actions.

When to use chat

Use chat for:

• Small features and bug fixes.
• Codebase questions that need real file inspection.
• Test failures and CI failures.
• PR description and review follow-up.
• Iterating on an agent’s first pass.

For broader coordination across lanes, use the CTO and workers.

Providers

ADE can run chat through several backends depending on your setup:

Provider	Typical setup
Claude / Claude Code	API key or authenticated CLI
Codex	Codex CLI or OpenAI-backed setup
Cursor	Cursor API key through the Cursor SDK
OpenCode	Local OpenCode configuration

Switch provider and model from the chat header.

Chat scope

Every chat has a scope:

Scope	What it means
Lane chat	Edits files and runs commands in one lane. This is the normal coding flow.
CTO chat	Looks across the project and can delegate to workers.
PR-linked chat	Focuses on a PR, its CI, comments, and review tasks.

What you see

• Streaming agent responses.
• Expandable tool calls.
• Terminal output.
• File changes in Files.
• Questions when the agent needs input.
• Proof artifacts when the agent captures evidence.

Keep the first prompt specific. “Fix the failing auth redirect test” works better than “clean up auth.”

Chat capabilities

See what chat agents can do.

Context and artifacts

Learn how context, transcripts, and attachments work.