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Zide Zide Zide

Quick start

You can use the following guide to quickly set up and use Zide. You can connect your Git host accounts, connect a CLI agent, open your first repository or folder, and navigate the Zide interface.

Connect your Git provider accounts to Zide

You can connect your GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket accounts to Zide. Zide supports other Git providers through Git Credential Manager for basic Git operations only. To connect a Git host account, complete the following steps.

  1. Open Settings.
  2. In Settings, click Git Accounts.
  3. In Git Accounts, click Connect account.
  4. In the Connect a Git hosting account dialog, select a provider.
  5. Follow the on-screen instructions to connect your GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket account to Zide.

The DevOps tab is available once your provider account is connected to Zide. For more information about connecting a GitHub account, see GitHub authentication. For more information about connecting a GitLab account, see GitLab authentication. For more information about connecting a Bitbucket account, see Bitbucket authentication.

Add a local repository or folder

To add a local repository or folder at any time by completing the following steps.

  1. Click File > Open Folder….
  2. Select a repository folder. Zide creates a project tab that contains information such as files, branches, and commits of the selected repository.

You can open multiple repositories and folders in Zide, with each appearing in a separate project tab.

You can also create a new folder, clone a repository, or create a project with the help of Zide Assist. For more information about adding repositories and folders, see Add a repository or folder.

Zide uses a multi-pane layout with two types of tabs, project tabs and content tabs. Project tabs represent each open folder, repository, and Git worktree. Click on a project tab to switch between tabs. For more information about project tabs, see Project tabs.

Content tabs are located inside each project tab. They hold the detail, configuration, chat, and terminal views you work with, such as an individual issue, file, commit, branch configuration, or terminal. For more information about content tabs, see Content tabs.

The activity panel contains browsing lists such as Files, Commits, Issues, and Staging. Selecting an item opens its detail in a content tab in a pane. For more information about the activity panel, see Activity bar.

Content tabs are displayed in panes across the Zide layout. You can drag any content tab to the edge of a pane to have multiple tabs open at the same time. For example, you can review an issue while editing code, or compare branches while viewing the commit history. For more information about pane management, see Panes and layout.

Find help in Zide

Open Docs using the ? button. Click Docs beside the book icon in the breadcrumb to explore the grouped guide list, or type in Search all docs… to search titles and page text across the bundled documentation. In the separate Docs window, the guide list and search field are already visible.

In the docked panel, the guide dropdown appears below the breadcrumb. Click Docs again, press Escape, select a guide, or click outside to close it. Closing keeps your search query. Use the search field’s clear button to clear the query. Escape returns keyboard focus to Docs.

Search keeps the guide list’s categories and shows only categories with matches, expanded automatically. Each result shows the guide title and a short excerpt, with title matches first within each category. Clearing search restores your previously expanded and collapsed categories. Select a result to open the guide at the highlighted passage. A result that matches only the title opens at that title.

To search the page you are reading, use Find in page or press Ctrl+F (Cmd+F on macOS) while Docs has focus. Find highlights matches on that page and lets you move between them. Its query is separate from Search all docs….

Make and commit changes

You can make changes to files in a repository and commit those changes with Zide. To edit and commit files, complete the following steps.

  1. Click Tools > File Browser.
  2. In the Files activity, click a file to open it in a content tab.
  3. In the File view, click Edit.
  4. After you make your edits, click Git > Staging.
  5. In the Staging activity, click the Stage icon next to each unstaged file to stage the file.
  6. Enter a commit message and click Commit.

Work with issues

You can navigate and manage issues from your repositories. To see all issues in a repository, click DevOps > Issues. To create a new issue, click DevOps > New Issue.

Use Zide Assist

Zide Assist is a built-in AI assistant that can answer questions about your repository, edit files, and run commands as part of your workflow. To start a Zide Assist conversation, complete the following steps.

  1. Click Assist > New Session Tab.
  2. In the Zide Assist tab, enter a prompt in the message box.
  3. Click Send.

You can open multiple Zide Assist conversations at the same time, each in its own tab. To select an AI model, click the Model dropdown in the Zide Assist toolbar. The picker shows each model’s ratings, specifications, and pricing. For more information, see Zide Assist.

Connect your CLI agent to Zide

To connect a Command Line Interface (CLI) agent to Zide, complete the following steps.

  1. Click Tools > CLI Agent Profiles….
  2. In the CLI Agent Profiles dialog, click Auto-detect. If a CLI agent is not detected, ensure that your CLI agent is configured and active on your local machine.
  3. Click Done.

For more information about connecting CLI agents, see Connect a CLI agent.