Write and debug code with AI

Getting AI help to write, explain, fix and refactor code in your editor or terminal, from autocomplete to an agent that makes changes across a codebase. Building an app without writing code yourself is a different job.

Tools that achieve this

Aider
Core fit
An AI pair programmer in the terminal that edits code in a new or existing codebase and commits the changes to git.
Aider brings
- Code Generation
- Debugging
- Repository Understanding
Last verified September 8, 2026
Augment Code
by Augment Computing, Inc
Core fitFrom $20/mo
Augment Code runs coding agents that take a ticket or task description and write the code change through to a merged pull request.
Augment Code brings
- Agent Creation
- Agent Memory
- Code Generation
- Code Review
- Debugging
- Repository Understanding
- Tool Use
- Workflow Automation
Last verified September 8, 2026
Claude Code
by Anthropic
Core fit
An agentic coding tool that reads a codebase, edits files, runs commands and tests, and fixes bugs from the terminal, IDE, web or Slack.
Claude Code brings
- Code Generation
- Code Review
- Computer Use
- Debugging
- Repository Understanding
- Tool Use
- Workflow Automation
Last verified September 8, 2026
Cline
by Cline Bot Inc.
Core fitFree
Developers who want an open source AI agent to write and refactor code in their editor or terminal should see Cline.
Cline brings
- Agent Creation
- Code Generation
- Debugging
- Repository Understanding
- Tool Use
- Workflow Automation
Last verified September 8, 2026
CodeGPT
Core fit
CodeGPT is an AI coding agent inside VS Code and JetBrains editors.
CodeGPT brings
- Code Generation
- Multi-Model Access
- Repository Understanding
- Tool Use
Last verified September 21, 2026
Codex
by OpenAI
Core fit
People who want an AI agent to fix bugs, refactor code or build features should see Codex, OpenAI's coding agent.
Codex brings
- Code Generation
- Code Review
- Repository Understanding
- Workflow Automation
Last verified September 8, 2026
Cursor
by Anysphere
Core fitFree
Developers who want an AI coding agent to write, change and debug code in their editor or terminal should see Cursor.
Cursor brings
- Code Generation
- Code Review
- Debugging
- Repository Understanding
- Tool Use
- Workflow Automation
Last verified August 16, 2026
Devin
Core fit
Devin is an autonomous AI coding agent that plans features, fixes bugs and opens pull requests across a team's repositories.
Devin brings
- Browser Automation
- Code Generation
- Code Review
- Computer Use
- Debugging
- Repository Understanding
- Workflow Automation
Last verified September 18, 2026
Freebuff
Core fit
Freebuff is a free AI coding agent offered as a CLI, desktop app and cloud IDE.
Freebuff brings
- Code Generation
- Full Stack Generation
- Multi-Model Access
- Sandboxed Execution
Last verified September 21, 2026
GitHub Copilot
by GitHub
Core fitFree
GitHub Copilot is an AI coding assistant and agent that completes, explains and edits code in the editor, terminal and on GitHub.
GitHub Copilot brings
- Agent Creation
- Code Generation
- Code Review
- Repository Understanding
- Tool Use
- Workflow Automation
Last verified September 8, 2026
Google Antigravity
Core fit
Google Antigravity is an agentic development platform with an IDE, CLI and SDK for working with autonomous coding agents.
Google Antigravity brings
- Agent Creation
- Browser Automation
- Code Generation
- Workflow Automation
Last verified September 20, 2026
goose
Core fit
goose is an open-source AI agent on desktop, command line and API that is marketed first for code.
goose brings
- Agent Creation
- Code Generation
- Multi-Model Access
- Tool Use
Last verified September 21, 2026
Kilo
Core fit
Kilo is an open-source AI coding agent for VS Code, JetBrains, the terminal and the cloud.
Kilo brings
- Code Generation
- Code Review
- Debugging
- Multi-Model Access
- Repository Understanding
- Sandboxed Execution
Last verified September 21, 2026
Kiro
Core fit
Developers who want an AI agent to plan and implement code changes across a codebase should see Kiro.
Kiro brings
- Agent Creation
- Code Generation
Last verified September 18, 2026
omp
Core fit
Developers who want a terminal coding agent to investigate, edit and test code in their repository should see omp.
omp brings
- Browser Automation
- Code Generation
- Code Review
- Computer Use
- Debugging
- Multi-Model Access
- Repository Understanding
- Tool Use
Last verified September 21, 2026
OpenHands
Core fit
Open-source platform and SDK for running AI software agents that work on code, through a browser client, CLI or hosted cloud.
OpenHands brings
- Agent Creation
- Code Generation
- Code Review
- Debugging
- Multi-Model Access
- Sandboxed Execution
- Test Generation
- Tool Use
Last verified September 21, 2026
Ouroboros
Core fit
An open-source AI agent that works on external code projects, coordinating specialist agents to investigate, implement and verify changes.
Ouroboros brings
- Agent Creation
- Agent Memory
- Code Generation
Last verified September 21, 2026
Pi
Core fit
Pi is a minimal, extensible coding agent that runs in the terminal and can be scripted or embedded.
Pi brings
- Agent Creation
- Code Generation
- Multi-Model Access
Last verified September 21, 2026
Visual Studio Code
Core fit
People who want an AI-assisted code editor where agents plan, write and debug code should see Visual Studio Code.
Visual Studio Code brings
- Agent Creation
- Code Generation
- Debugging
- Multi-Model Access
- Repository Understanding
- Tool Use
Last verified September 20, 2026
ZCode
Core fit
ZCode is a desktop AI coding application where multiple agents plan, write and verify code for complex goals.
ZCode brings
- Agent Creation
- Browser Automation
- Code Generation
- Repository Understanding
- Tool Use
Last verified September 21, 2026
Zed
Core fit
Zed is a code editor with built-in AI: agentic editing, an inline assistant and edit prediction.
Zed brings
- Code Generation
- Multi-Model Access
- Team Workspace
- Tool Use
Last verified September 21, 2026
Zoo Code
Core fit
A code-editor extension with AI agent modes that generate, refactor and debug code and answer questions about a codebase.
Zoo Code brings
- Code Generation
- Debugging
- Multi-Model Access
- Repository Understanding
- Tool Use
Last verified September 21, 2026
ChatGPT
by OpenAI
Strong fitFree
People who want AI help writing code can use ChatGPT, which markets coding among its main uses.
ChatGPT brings
- Code Generation
- Conversational QA
- Data Analysis
- Data Visualization
- Deep Research
- Document QA
- Image Editing
- Multimodal Input
- Reasoning
- Speech to Speech
- Summarization
- Text Generation
- Text to Image
- Tool Use
- Translation
- Workflow Automation
Last verified August 15, 2026
Claude
by Anthropic
Strong fitFree
Developers can also use Claude to write and debug code, through Claude Code in the desktop app, terminal and editors.
Claude brings
- Code Generation
- Data Analysis
- Data Visualization
- Deep Research
- Document QA
- Multimodal Input
- Reasoning
- Summarization
- Text Generation
- Web Search
Last verified August 15, 2026
Grok
Strong fit
People who want AI help writing code can use Grok, whose description lists writing code among its uses.
Grok brings
- Code Generation
- Conversational QA
- Image Editing
- Image to Video
- Reasoning
- Text to Image
- Text to Video
- Web Search
Last verified September 24, 2026
LM Studio
Strong fit
Its Bionic agent also handles coding tasks with local or open frontier models.
LM Studio brings
- Agent Creation
- Code Generation
- Computer Use
- Speech to Text
- Text Generation
- Workflow Automation
Last verified September 9, 2026
Mistral Vibe
by Mistral AI
Strong fitFree
Also an AI coding agent that writes, tests and refactors code in the terminal, IDEs and remote agents.
Mistral Vibe brings
- Agent Creation
- Code Generation
- Deep Research
- Repository Understanding
- Test Generation
- Text Generation
- Tool Use
- Workflow Automation
Last verified October 1, 2026