How To Use OpenCode AI

📋Official Docs: opencode

Installation

The easiest way to install opencode is through the install script.

curl -fsSL https://opencode.ai/install | bash

You can also install it with the following:

Using Node.js

npm install -g opencode-ai

Using Homebrew on macOS and Linux

brew install sst/tap/opencode

Using Paru on Arch Linux

paru -S opencode-bin

Setup

You can use whichever AI Model you prefer.

It’s recommended to sign up for Claude Pro or Claude Max for the most cost effective way of using OpenCode.

To get started run:

opencode auth login

Then follow the steps for the chosen provider you’d like to use.

For details on different providers click here.

Initial Setup

Now that you’ve configured your provider, navigate to your project:

cd  path/to/your/project

Then run:

opencode

And initialize opencode for the project:

/init

This will create a AGENTS.md file in the root of your project that will help opencode understand the project structure and coding patterns being used.

Theme

You can change the theme used by OpenCode by running:

/themes

Or pressing Ctrl+x + t.

Ask Questions & Make Changes

You can know ask any question you want about your code or ask OpenCode to make changes to it as if it were a Junior Developer you’re working with.

There are two primary agents OpenCode uses.

You have the Plan agent, which will not make any changes to your code.

You also have the Build agent, which will actually apply changes to the code.

To switch between agents, press the Tab or Ctrl+x + a.

You should first use the Plan agent to evaluate changes you want to make & then use the Build agent to actually apply those changes.

You can also drag and drop images onto opencode to add further information to your query.

To undo the last changes made from the previous prompt execute:

/undo

Or type Ctrl+x + u.

To redo the changes execute:

/redo

Or type Ctrl+x + r.

Modifying Config

You can add a config file to modify how OpenCode works.

You can create a global config file in ~/.config/opencode/opencode.json or a project specific config in the project root with a opencode.json file.

To see all of the changes you can make to opencode, learn more here

Custom Commands

You can also create custom commands to easily ask OpenCode to do something you need to do often.

To create a new command, in your project root add the following directory structure: .opencode/command

Under the /command directory you can add files for different commands you want to create.

For example:

Create a new file called .opencode/command/component.md with the following:

---
description: "Create a new svelte component"
---

Create a new component called $ARGUMENTS with typescript & have an empty Props interface.

Use $ARGUMENTS to be able to pass arguments to the command.

Now you can use the command in the OpenCode prompt with the name of the file & provide an argument to it:

/component NewComponent

You can modify the agent and model used by providing them in the frontmatter. For example:

---
description: "Create a new svelte component"
agent: build
model: anthropic/claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022
---

Create a new component called $ARGUMENTS with typescript & have an empty Props interface.