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Getting started

The first five minutes inside Kadro ADE: sign in, subscribe, create a workspace, launch a pane, send a prompt. This assumes the app is already installed — if not, start with Install.

Updated 2026-06-12

1. Sign in

Kadro ADE doesn’t embed a sign-in form — authentication happens in your browser, on kadrotools.ai.

  1. Click Sign in with Browser, or Create account if you’re new.
  2. Finish sign-in or sign-up in the browser tab that opens.
  3. Switch back to the app — the app picks up the sign-in automatically and continues. No copying codes, no manual steps.

If the app doesn’t unlock after you finish in the browser, see Troubleshooting.

2. Subscribe to Pro

After sign-in, ADE checks your plan. With an active Pro subscription you land straight in the app. Otherwise you see a subscription screen with two links:

When you’re done in the browser, click Sync access on the same screen and the app lets you in.

3. Create your first workspace

A workspace is where your sessions live: one window for one project, split into panes that can each run an agent, a shell, or sit next to the built-in browser.

  1. Press ⌘K, type new workspace, and run it — or use New Workspace in the sidebar.
  2. Pick a layout: a preset from Deep Focus (one pane) up to Mothership (sixteen), or build a custom grid.
  3. Choose the project directory — every pane opens there.

4. Launch your first pane

Each empty pane offers a picker. Start with one of:

  • Shell — a normal terminal in your default shell.
  • Claude Code — runs claude (install with npm i -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code).
  • Codex — runs codex (install with npm i -g @openai/codex).
  • opencode, Aider, Qwen Code, and more — every launcher ADE ships is listed in Agents & launchers.

If a CLI isn’t installed yet, ADE shows you its install command in Settings → Providers. Each agent signs in inside its own pane, through that CLI’s normal flow — Kadro ADE never touches your provider accounts.

5. Send your first prompt

Type at the agent’s prompt exactly as you would in a terminal — these are real terminals, and full-screen agent UIs render the way they’re meant to. Three habits worth picking up on day one:

  • Drag a file from Finder onto a pane — the path lands at the cursor, already escaped.
  • Right-click a pane header for split, duplicate, rename, fullscreen, and more.
  • ⌘K works everywhere — @ jumps to a pane, # to a workspace, > runs any action.

6. Two minutes in Settings

Open Settings from the profile row in the sidebar. Worth a first visit:

  • Appearance — pick one of the seven themes.
  • Providers— see which agent CLIs ADE found, with install commands for the ones it didn’t.
  • Keybindings — remap any shortcut.
  • Privacy — crash diagnostics are off by default; nothing leaves your machine unless you opt in.

The full tour of every tab is in Settings.

Where to go next