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Agents & launchers

Kadro ADE launches coding agents into real terminal panes. Built-in launchers cover the major CLIs; custom commands cover everything else.

Updated 2026-06-12

Built-in launchers

When you fill a pane, the picker offers launchers for the major agent CLIs, including:

AgentCommandInstall
Claude Codeclaudenpm i -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
Codexcodexnpm i -g @openai/codex
opencodeopencodeshown in Settings
Grokgrokshown in Settings
Goosegooseshown in Settings
Aideraidershown in Settings
Qwen Codeqwenshown in Settings

Each launcher starts the agent through your default shell, in the workspace’s project directory. When an agent exits, the pane drops to a live shell prompt instead of going dead. ADE also recognizes 20+ more agent CLIs on your system, and the list grows with releases — check Settings → Providers in the app for the current set.

Shell panes

A plain Shell pane is always available — your default shell, in the project directory. Use it for tests, dev servers, git, or anything else you’d run in a normal terminal next to your agents.

Custom commands

If your tool isn’t in the list, add a custom command: name it, give it the command to run, and it appears in the picker like any built-in launcher. Good for your own agents, scripts, and repeatable local workflows.

How install detection works

Settings → Providers shows a card per agent answering one question: is this CLI installed? ADE only checks that the command exists on your PATH— it never runs your CLIs in the background or reads their configuration. If something’s missing, the card shows the exact install command.

Two practical notes when installing a new CLI:

  • Run the install command in a terminal, then fully quit and relaunch the app so it sees your updated PATH.
  • Use the refresh button on the Providers page to re-check without relaunching, once the binary is in place.

Where sign-in happens

Each agent signs in inside its own pane, through that CLI’s normal flow — exactly as it would in any terminal. Kadro ADE never stores or touches your provider credentials; your Anthropic, OpenAI, and other accounts stay between you and those CLIs.

Usage meters

For supported providers, ADE shows per-account usage right in the status bar — session and weekly meters with reset timers — so you can see how much runway each plan has before it bites. The same information lives in Settings → Usage.