# Use Styx alongside your editor

Keep working in VS Code, Cursor, Zed or a JetBrains IDE while agents work on their own branches, and move between the two in one click.



Styx doesn't ask you to give up your editor. Agents work in their own copies of the repo, so you can keep coding in
your usual editor while they run, open any task's files there in one click, and use Styx's built-in editor and
terminal for quick looks and small fixes.

## Connect your editor [#connect-your-editor]

The first step of onboarding, **Your editor**, lists the editors Styx found on this machine: VS Code (and Insiders),
Cursor, Windsurf, Zed, JetBrains IDEs (WebStorm, IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, GoLand, Rider and the rest) and Neovim. Tick the one you use and it is marked **Fallback · Open in**: that's where **Open in** sends
you from then on.

Under the list are five options. Styx only reads your editor's files; nothing in your editor changes.

* **Import recent folders (feeds next step):** your editor's recent projects become suggestions on the next step,
  **Your projects**. Styx reads them from VS Code, Cursor and Windsurf (recent folders and workspaces), from JetBrains
  IDEs (recent projects) and from Neovim (the git repos holding your recently opened files). Zed's history isn't read.
* **Also look where Claude Code and Codex have worked:** adds the folders those agents' own session history mentions.
* **Import keybindings:** reads `keybindings.json` from VS Code, Cursor or Windsurf.
* **Import theme & font:** reads the colour theme and editor font from VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf or Zed.
* **Install "Open in Styx" command:** see [below](#open-a-folder-in-styx-from-your-terminal).

<Callout type="note" title="Keybindings and theme are saved, not applied yet">
  Styx stores the keybindings and theme it imports, but the built-in editor doesn't use them yet: it keeps
  Styx's own look and keys. Recent folders and Open in work today.
</Callout>

Skipped the step, or changed editors? Pick a different one under **Settings** › **Editor** › **Fallback editor**.
To add more projects from your editor's recents later, open the command palette (<Keys k="Mod+K" />) and choose
**Add from recent projects…**.

## Your checkout stays yours [#your-checkout-stays-yours]

Every task runs in a git worktree: a separate folder with its own branch, next to your project rather than inside it.
For a project at `~/code/shop`, a Claude task's folder is `~/code/.styx/worktrees/shop/agent-claude-1`, on the
branch `agent/claude-1`.

So the folder you have open in your editor is never touched while agents work. They don't switch your branch, write
to your files or leave half-finished edits in your working tree. You can keep coding on your own branch while three
agents work on theirs.

There is one point where Styx does use your folder: **landing**. Land merges a task's branch into `main` in the
project folder you added to Styx, so that folder has to be on `main` with nothing uncommitted at that moment. If it
isn't, Land says so and does nothing. Commit or stash your own work first, or work on your own branch in a separate
worktree. See [Land, publish and deploy](/docs/using/land-publish-deploy).

## Open a task's files in your editor [#open-a-tasks-files-in-your-editor]

<Steps>
  1. **Pick the task** in the project nav.
  2. **Open the Code tab.** The file tree shows the task's folder, with changed files marked.
  3. **Click Open in.** The button at the foot of the file tree is named after your editor (**Open in VS Code**, **Open
     in Cursor**, and so on). It opens the task's folder in your editor, or just the open file if one is open in the
     Code tab.
</Steps>

Your editor now has the agent's branch open in its own window, separate from your main checkout, and you can read,
run or change anything there. Edits you make in a task's folder show up on its **Changes** tab under **Changes not
tied to a turn**, so they're never confused with the agent's work, and they land with the task.

Two habits keep this smooth. Avoid editing a file while the agent is mid-turn on it; wait for the turn to finish, or
tell the agent what you changed. And let Styx manage the task's branch: commit there if you like, but don't switch
branches or rebase in a task's folder, because Styx keeps it in step with `main` for you.

On the **Lanes** page (**Lanes and branches** in the project nav), **Open** on the row for your main folder opens it
in your editor too.

## Use the built-in Code tab and terminal [#use-the-built-in-code-tab-and-terminal]

For a quick look or a one-line fix, you don't need to leave Styx:

* **Code** is an embedded Monaco editor, the editor inside VS Code, on the selected task's folder. Edits save on their
  own as you type. Binary files and files over 1 MB open read-only. Turn on **Settings** › **Editor** › **Track agent
  edits (diff review)** to see the agent's changes highlighted in the editor as it makes them.
* **Terminal** is a shell already in the task's folder, on its branch. Run the tests, check `git log`, or try the
  agent's change by hand.

The other tabs cover the rest of a task: **Changes** for reviewing what it did turn by turn, **Preview** for the
running app. See [Working with an agent](/docs/using/working-with-an-agent).

## Open a folder in Styx from your terminal [#open-a-folder-in-styx-from-your-terminal]

If you ticked **Install "Open in Styx" command** during onboarding, run this in any project folder:

```sh
styx .
```

Styx comes to the front and asks **Add this folder as a Styx project?** before adding it. On macOS the command goes
in `/usr/local/bin`, or `~/.local/bin` if that isn't writable (add it to your `PATH` if it isn't there already). On
Windows it goes in your user `PATH` (open a new terminal to pick it up), and you also get **Open in Styx** when you
right-click a folder in Explorer.