ACP

Symbiotic Code supports the Agent Client Protocol or (ACP), allowing you to use it directly in compatible editors and IDEs.

For a list of editors and tools that support ACP, check out the ACP progress report.

ACP is an open protocol that standardizes communication between code editors and AI coding agents.

Configure

To use Symbiotic Code via ACP, configure your editor to run the symbiotic acp command. The command starts Symbiotic Code as an ACP-compatible subprocess that communicates with your editor over JSON-RPC via stdio. The project directory is provided by your editor when it opens a session. If you aren’t logged in, the editor offers a Login with symbiotic option, which runs symbiotic auth login. Below are examples for popular editors that support ACP.

Zed

Add to your Zed configuration (~/.config/zed/settings.json):

~/.config/zed/settings.json

{
  "agent_servers": {
    "Symbiotic": {
      "command": "symbiotic",
      "args": ["acp"]
    }
  }
}

To open it, use the agent: new thread action in the Command Palette. You can also bind a keyboard shortcut by editing your keymap.json:

keymap.json

[
  {
    "bindings": {
      "cmd-alt-o": [
        "agent::NewExternalAgentThread",
        {
          "agent": {
            "custom": {
              "name": "Symbiotic Code",
              "command": {
                "command": "symbiotic",
                "args": ["acp"]
              }
            }
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }
]

JetBrains IDEs

Add acp.json to your JetBrains IDE according to the documentation:

acp.json

{
  "agent_servers": {
    "Symbiotic Code": {
      "command": "symbiotic",
      "args": ["acp"]
    }
  }
}

To open it, use the new ‘Symbiotic Code’ agent in the AI Chat agent selector.

Support

Symbiotic Code works the same via ACP as it does in the terminal. The following features are supported:

Built-in tools (file operations, terminal commands, etc.)
Custom tools and slash commands, including skills, MCP prompts, and /compact
MCP servers configured in your Symbiotic Code config, plus MCP servers sent by your editor
Project-specific rules from AGENTS.md
Custom formatters and linters
Agents and permissions system: primary agents appear as session modes, and permission prompts are shown by your editor with Allow once, Always allow, and Reject options
Model and variant selection, and loading, resuming, and forking previous sessions

Slash commands that only exist in the TUI, like /undo, /redo, and /security-mode, are not available. Sessions use the agent’s configured security_mode, or Balanced by default.

The question tool is disabled by default in ACP. Set SYMBIOTIC_ENABLE_QUESTION_TOOL=1 in the command’s environment if your editor supports interactive question prompts.

Basics

Customize

Security

Configuration

Configure

Zed

JetBrains IDEs

Support

​Configure

​Zed

​JetBrains IDEs

​Support

Configure

Zed

JetBrains IDEs

Support