---
title: "intentic vs OpenCode · or rather, OpenCode inside intentic"
description: "OpenCode is a harness; intentic is the environment one runs in. Install the OpenCode ACP capability and it becomes a provider in the chat picker, inside your sandbox."
url: "https://intentic.dev/compare/opencode/"
---

[Compare](https://intentic.dev/compare/) Agent CLIs · intentic runs these

# You do not have to choose. OpenCode is a capability here.

OpenCode is an open-source agent that speaks the Agent Client Protocol, so it becomes one more provider in the chat picker: its own models, its own tools, its own config.

> “The open source AI coding agent”: a terminal, desktop and IDE agent with LSP integration, parallel sessions and 75+ model providers.

*OpenCode · [opencode.ai](https://opencode.ai/)*

[Get started free](https://app.intentic.dev) [See the product](https://intentic.dev/product/)

The short answer

OpenCode is a harness, in the same category as Claude Code and Codex: it holds the agent loop and talks to whichever model you point it at. intentic is the environment a harness runs in.

So the honest answer is not a comparison. Install the OpenCode capability and “opencode acp” becomes a provider row alongside Claude Code and Codex, inside the sandbox.

## Where we agree

Both are open source and mean it: OpenCode's agent, and the intentic sandbox and CLI, MIT on GitHub. Both run on your own accounts, and neither sits between you and your model provider.

## Where they differ

01

### A harness, not a workplace

OpenCode gives you the agent: the loop, the LSP integration, the model routing. It does not give the agent a machine of its own, credentials, or an event that wakes it.

02

### What ACP buys you here

Any ACP agent becomes a chat provider in a sandbox: OpenCode and Gemini CLI have preset cards, and the custom card takes any command from the registry. Tool calls and inline diffs stream into the same chat surface.

03

### Model freedom, from two directions

OpenCode's answer to lock-in is 75+ providers behind one agent. intentic's is five native harnesses plus every ACP agent as a capability. Installed together you get both.

## Head to head

| Dimension | intentic | OpenCode |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What it is | the environment an agent works in | the agent itself |
| Can run the other | runs OpenCode as an ACP provider | not applicable |
| Model providers | 5 native harnesses, plus any ACP agent as a capability | ▸ 75+ providers behind one agent |
| Where it runs | a Docker sandbox on your hardware | your machine: terminal, desktop or IDE |
| Interface | a browser workspace over a private tunnel | TUI, desktop app, IDE extension |
| Reviewing changes | a diff reader over an isolated worktree, then land or discard | git, and your editor's diff |
| Credentials for your systems | capabilities, stored sandbox-side, injected per turn | your shell environment |
| Starts on an event | automations: cron, webhook, push, alert, email, chat | you start it |
| Licence | MIT sandbox and CLI; the hosted platform is closed | ▸ open source throughout |

Not either/or

## How to add it

Capabilities → OpenCode (ACP). The card pre-fills the command, you supply the credentials its providers need, and it appears in the picker next turn. Same binary, running in the sandbox instead of your shell.

## Pick OpenCode when

You want one open-source agent you can read end to end, pointed at any of seventy-five providers, and you need no sandbox, capabilities, fleet or browser around it.

Every claim above is checkable on [opencode.ai](https://opencode.ai/) and in this repo. Where we have it wrong, [open an issue](https://github.com/intentic/intentic/issues) and it gets fixed in the next build.

[Next comparison vs Nimbalyst → Visual artefacts around the agent, or the machine under it](https://intentic.dev/compare/nimbalyst/)

[Get started free](https://app.intentic.dev) [All comparisons](https://intentic.dev/compare/)