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Zide Assist vs. your own AI tools

Zide gives you two ways to work with AI. Zide Assist is the AI agent built into Zide. CLI Agent tabs run your own command-line agents (such as Claude Code, Codex, or Gemini CLI) inside your Zide workspace. They are independent features, and you can use both side by side in the same folder.

What each one is

Zide Assist is built into Zide and runs through your Zide subscription. There is nothing to install and no separate account to sign into: open a Zide Assist tab and start working. See Zide Assist.

A CLI Agent tab runs a command-line agent that you have already installed and signed into on your machine. Zide hosts the session in a tab inside your workspace instead of a separate terminal window. See Chat with CLI Agents.

What only Zide Assist does

Because Zide Assist is part of Zide, it offers integration that an external tool cannot match:

  • Model choice with practical specs. Explicitly pick an individual model or curated Zide tier, and review pricing, context and output limits, and image support in the model picker. See Model picker.
  • Crosscheck. Have a second model independently review every commit Zide Assist makes.
  • Session control. Redirect a turn while it is running, queue follow-up messages, edit and resend, fork a session into a new tab or worktree, and roll back to an earlier point.
  • Richer Session Watch states. Session Watch lists both Zide Assist and CLI Agent tabs across every open folder. Assist can report trustworthy approval, paused, working, and unread-reply states. CLI Agent sessions expose only honest PTY states such as output, process running, idle, and saved.
  • Session history. Sessions can be saved locally and restored later.
  • Ask Zide. The read-only docs helper in the docs panel runs on the same subscription by default, or on your own API key or a local model if you set its row in Settings → App Services to one.

What a CLI Agent tab adds over a plain terminal

You can always run your CLI agent in a Zide terminal tab. A CLI Agent tab adds Zide’s awareness of the session:

  • Sessions launch from saved profiles (click Tools > Chat With CLI Agent) and start in the current folder with the profile’s configuration applied.
  • The tab header shows which agent and profile the session runs on, and sessions in unrestricted mode carry a persistent warning badge.
  • Session Watch includes the tab by default, aggregates split panes into one tile, and can jump to it from any open folder. CLI Agent footer alerts are off by default and require an actual terminal bell when enabled.
  • Zide asks before you close a tab whose agent is still working, so an active session is not lost to a stray click.

If you run a CLI agent inside a plain Zide terminal, Zide recognizes it and offers to set up a profile for you.

How billing differs

  • Zide Assist is billed through your Zide subscription and uses AI credits. Charges appear in the credits dropdown as you work.
  • CLI agents are billed by the tool’s own provider through the account you signed into that tool with. Zide adds no charge for hosting the session.

Using both together

Nothing about the two is exclusive. A common pattern is to keep a Zide Assist tab for work that benefits from the deep integration (Crosscheck, forking to worktrees, model switching) while a CLI agent you already pay for handles other tasks in its own tab. Both can run at the same time in different panes, and QuickTree can start a Zide Assist session in a fresh worktree alongside them.