Basic Usage

1. Select an Agent

TermMate supports four agent backends. Switch between them using the agent selector in the chat panel.

Agent	Backed by	CLI binary
Claude	Anthropic Claude	`claude`
Codex	OpenAI	`codex`
OpenCode	OpenCode by Anomaly	`opencode`
Pi	Pi Coding Agent by Earendil (pi.dev)	`pi`

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Switch agents by clicking the Agent tag above the chat input, or run TermMate: Agent from the Command Palette. Each entry shows the detected CLI path as an annotation so you can confirm which binary will be used. The choice is stored per window and persists with your project. To set a model per agent, click the Model tag above the chat input or run TermMate: Model. Models are remembered separately for each agent (e.g. gpt-5.4 for Codex, google/gemini-3.1-flash for Pi). TermMate automatically searches common binary paths across your environment (e.g., ~/.opencode/bin/opencode, ~/.local/bin/pi, ~/.npm-global/bin/). To override the detected binary path for any agent, set <agent>_command in your TermMate settings:

{
  "claude_command":   "/path/to/claude",
  "codex_command":    "/path/to/codex",
  "opencode_command": "/path/to/opencode",
  "pi_command":       "/path/to/pi"
}

VS Code

Use the AGENT dropdown in the chat input panel. Your selection is remembered per workspace.

2. Tool Use Permissions

Agents are “agentic” because they call tools. Before any destructive action, TermMate asks for your approval:

File Edits — review a diff before changes are written to disk.
Terminal Commands — see the exact shell command before it runs.
Bash / MCP tools — approve or deny individual tool calls inline.

You can control permission levels using Approve Mode (TermMate: Approve Mode):

default — prompt before every tool action.
allow-edit — auto-approve safe read and edit operations, while still prompting for shell commands.
accept-all — auto-approve everything, including shell execution.

3. Plan Mode

For complex tasks, enable Plan Mode so the agent reasons before it acts:

The agent analyzes the task and writes a detailed step-by-step plan.
You review the plan before anything is executed.
The agent carries out each step with your oversight.

This prevents the agent from going off-track on large refactors or multi-file changes.

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Toggle Plan Mode per session by clicking the PlanMode tag above the chat input, or run TermMate: Plan Mode from the Command Palette: choose planning (make plan and todo-list before execute) or fast (execute directly, the default).

VS Code

Use the plan mode selector in the chat panel: choose planning (make plan and to-do list before executing) or fast (execute directly). Under the hood, TermMate maps Plan Mode to each agent’s native mechanism:

Agent	Mechanism
Claude Code	`--permission-mode plan` CLI flag
Codex	Dynamic runtime collaboration mode (`collaborationMode: {mode: "plan"}`)
OpenCode	Switches between native `plan` and `build` agent roles
Pi Agent	Read-only exploration phase restricted to safe tools until approved

4. Split Chat Window & Dedicated Pane

Keep your code and agent chat side-by-side:

Run TermMate: Split Chat Window from the Command Palette, or right-click the chat tab and select TermMate: Split Chat Window.
TermMate sets up a dedicated pane layout.
The dedicated_chat_pane setting (default true) ensures files opened elsewhere in the editor will never replace or overwrite the chat view tab.

Introduction

Setup TermMate

Using TermMate Agent

Integrations

1. Select an Agent

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VS Code

2. Tool Use Permissions

3. Plan Mode

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VS Code

4. Split Chat Window & Dedicated Pane

​1. Select an Agent

​Sublime Text

​VS Code

​2. Tool Use Permissions

​3. Plan Mode

​Sublime Text

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​4. Split Chat Window & Dedicated Pane

1. Select an Agent

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VS Code

2. Tool Use Permissions

3. Plan Mode

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VS Code

4. Split Chat Window & Dedicated Pane