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Coding tools let Alter start and manage persistent local coding sessions on your Mac. Ask in natural language from the Hub, QuickHub, or a custom action — Alter launches the session in the background and brings the result back into the same conversation when the turn finishes.
Alter does not replace your coding agent. It orchestrates the tools you already use — ChatGPT (Codex), Cursor Agent CLI, OpenCode, and Claude Code — so you can plan, delegate, steer, and review from one place.

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What you can do

  • Start a coding task against a project folder or a detached scratch session
  • Continue the same session across follow-up messages in one Alter chat
  • Steer, stop, or answer approval prompts for running tasks (provider-dependent)
  • Scope coding tools per action in the Action Editor
  • Route coding requests through Flow when you have several integrations enabled

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Prerequisites

Install and sign in to the providers you want before running a coding agent.
Alter detects these tools from standard install locations (/Applications, ~/.local/bin, Homebrew, and your login shell PATH). If a provider is missing, open its app detail page in Tools Manager for install guidance.
Alter publishes specialized coding agents on the Alter Marketplace. Each agent is a pre-built Alter Action scoped to one coding provider — system prompt, tool links, and defaults included — so you do not have to wire up coding tools yourself.
1

Open Marketplace

Press ⌘⇧T and select Browse under Marketplace, or open a listing at alterhq.com/marketplace.
2

Download the agent

Choose the agent for your coding tool and click Download. Alter imports it as an enabled action under Installed.
3

Run it once

Click Try Now or run the action from the Hub. On first use, Alter opens Set Up Tools and enables the required coding integration when you confirm.
4

Start coding

Describe the task — include a project path when Alter does not already have workspace context.

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Marketplace coding agents

ChatGPT Agent

Available — Programming agent for ChatGPT (Codex). Includes ChatGPT Settings, Run/List/Read/Control/Manage ChatGPT Task.

Cursor Agent

Coming soon — Cursor Agent CLI sessions from Alter.

Claude Agent

Coming soon — Claude Code CLI sessions from Alter.

OpenCode Agent

Coming soon — OpenCode CLI and terminal sessions from Alter.
The live ChatGPT Agent listing is in the Programming category. It ships with these tools pre-linked:
  • ChatGPT Settings — list models and read or set defaults
  • Run ChatGPT Task — start or continue a Codex session
  • List ChatGPT Tasks — find sessions in this conversation or across ChatGPT
  • Read ChatGPT Task — inspect status, activity, or output
  • Control ChatGPT Task — steer, stop, or answer approval prompts
  • Manage ChatGPT Task — rename or archive sessions
After the first successful run, the ChatGPT coding integration stays enabled in Tools Manager → Local Tools → Coding for other actions and Hub chats.
Prefer a custom workflow? Duplicate a Marketplace agent in the Action Editor, or enable coding tools manually below and scope them per action. See Alter Actions.

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Enable manually in Tools Manager

Use this path when you want coding tools in Ask Anything, a custom action, or Flow without installing a Marketplace agent.
1

Open Tools Manager

Press ⌘⇧T or choose Tools Manager from the menu bar.
2

Open Local Tools

In the sidebar, select Local Tools.
3

Connect providers

Under Coding, connect ChatGPT, Cursor, OpenCode, and/or Claude. Turn on only the providers you use.
4

Test with one prompt

From the Hub, ask something small like “List the README headings in this repo” and confirm the task card appears.
Flow can discover enabled coding providers automatically. Enable Flow under Local Tools → Alter if you want Alter to pick the right coding tool for mixed requests. See Use Flow for Tool Orchestration.

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How a coding task runs

1

You ask in Alter

Describe the change, bug, or review you want — include the project path when Alter does not already have workspace context.
2

Alter starts a background session

The provider runs asynchronously on your Mac. Alter shows a coding task card in the conversation with status, task ID, and an Open in… link when available.
3

Alter waits for the turn to finish

You do not need to poll ChatGPT, Cursor, OpenCode, or a terminal. Keep working in Alter or elsewhere on your Mac.
4

Result returns to this chat

When the session completes, fails, or needs input, Alter inserts an external task message in the same conversation and continues the thread so the model can summarize or act on the output.
Keep Alter running while coding tasks are active. If you quit with ChatGPT or Cursor tasks still running, Alter warns you because it must stay in the menu bar to deliver results and approval requests.

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Workspace permissions

Coding tools use a constrained permission profile mapped from your active workspace permission. They can edit and test an authorized project directory without requiring Alter Full Access. This is separate from Alter’s direct workspace_bash tool, which still requires Full Access on the workspace. Prefer coding tools when you want a dedicated agent to implement changes; use workspace file tools for lighter in-chat edits. When Alter needs access to a folder for the first time, it prompts you to authorize the project path for that session.

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Provider comparison

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ChatGPT (Codex)

Best when you already use the ChatGPT desktop app for agentic coding. Alter talks to the app’s Codex runtime, syncs tasks started elsewhere in ChatGPT when possible, and can steer or answer ChatGPT approval prompts from the Hub.

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Cursor

Best when you live in Cursor and want Alter to delegate to the Agent CLI (agent). Alter can steer running turns, handle approval questions, and open the session in Cursor’s agent UI. In Tools Manager → Cursor, Run without confirmations lets Cursor execute commands without per-step approval on writable projects (read-only projects stay limited to questions and planning).

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OpenCode

Best for OpenCode CLI users who want Alter to continue sessions started in a terminal or pick up existing OpenCode server sessions. OpenCode’s model variants map to effort on each run.

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Claude Code

Best when you standardize on claude in Terminal. Alter launches print-mode turns with the permissions Claude needs; you authenticate with claude auth login. Claude turns cannot be steered safely mid-flight — let the turn finish, then ask Alter to continue the same session with a follow-up prompt.

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Tools available to the model

Each connected provider exposes a consistent tool set to Alter’s model: You rarely call these yourself — describe the outcome in natural language and let Alter or Flow choose the right tool.

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Use with workspaces and actions

Workspaces — Attach a workspace when the task spans a codebase Alter should reference. Coding tools honor the workspace’s authorized roots and permission level. Actions — In the Action Editor Tools tab, enable only the coding providers that action needs. For example, a “Ship patch” action might enable Cursor and Flow but disable ChatGPT. Ask Anything — The default action does not enable coding tools automatically. Install a Marketplace coding agent, enable providers in Tools Manager, or duplicate Ask Anything and add coding tools to the Tools tab.

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Example prompts

  • “Use Cursor to add unit tests for UserStore in /Users/me/code/myapp.”
  • “Continue the OpenCode session we started for the auth refactor.”
  • “Ask ChatGPT to fix the TypeScript errors in this workspace and summarize what changed.”
  • “Run Claude Code on the docs folder — update the README install section only.”

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Task cards and inspector

While a session runs:
  • The conversation shows a coding task card with provider, title, status, and links
  • Open the Tool Inspector (Hub inspector rail) to see arguments, live status, and Open in… actions
  • Notifications appear when a task completes, fails, or needs input
When a task needs approval or answers, respond in the same Alter conversation — Alter forwards your choice to the running session.

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Troubleshooting

Confirm you clicked Enable in the Set Up Tools panel when the action first ran. If you skipped a tool, open Tools Manager → Local Tools → Coding and connect the provider manually, or re-run the action and accept the setup prompt.
Install the desktop app or CLI for that provider, then restart Alter. Confirm the binary is executable from Terminal (agent --version, opencode --version, claude --version, or open ChatGPT.app).
Approve the project path when prompted. Coding tools only touch directories you authorize for that workspace or task.
Refer to the earlier task in plain language (“continue the Cursor task for the API refactor”). Alter reuses task_id when the topic matches; if several sessions exist in one chat, it lists tasks scoped to the conversation first.
Expected behavior. Wait for the Claude turn to finish or stop it, then send the next instruction as a continuation of the same session.
Confirm Alter is still running in the menu bar and the originating conversation is open. Quitting Alter stops undelivered background work for ChatGPT, OpenCode, and Claude; Cursor tasks are stopped on quit as well.

ChatGPT Agent

Download the live Marketplace coding agent

Tools Manager

Connect integrations and manage the Coding category

Use Flow

Route coding requests without loading every tool

Alter Actions

Scope coding tools per action

Workspaces

Index codebases and set permission levels

Integrations overview

How coding tools fit with Mac Apps and external integrations

Tools not working

General integration troubleshooting