Why We Built Clixad as a Terminal AI Coding Agent

A lot of AI coding tools live inside an IDE.

That's a natural fit. You're already writing code there, so having AI next to the editor makes sense.

But we decided to build Clixad as a terminal AI coding agent instead.

The reason is that an agent has a slightly different job from an AI autocomplete or coding assistant.

When an agent gets a task, it may need to inspect the whole project, read multiple files, run terminal commands, install or inspect dependencies, run tests, find errors and make several changes before the task is actually finished.

The terminal is a good environment for that kind of workflow because the agent can interact with the same tools developers already use.

With Clixad, the workflow is essentially:

Give the agent a task → inspect the project → edit files → run commands → test → fix → repeat

You don't have to manually move every suggested code change from a chat window into the project.

This also makes the tool less tied to a particular IDE.

Someone using VS Code can use a terminal agent. Someone using another editor can use the same agent. You can also work on projects that don't have a conventional graphical development environment at all.

The cloud-based setup is another part of the design.

The AI models run remotely, so users don't need to run an LLM locally or own expensive hardware. They also don't need to manage their own model API key.

Clixad uses free credits instead of requiring a mandatory monthly subscription, and users can earn additional credits through advertiser-funded offers, forms and surveys.

We also made the five cheapest models free within their daily limits, so smaller tasks can be handled without spending credits while the free allowance is available.

This doesn't mean an IDE-based AI coding tool is the wrong approach. IDE integrations are useful when you want the AI tightly integrated with editing and navigation.

We chose the terminal because we wanted the product to behave more like an AI developer that can operate your development environment, rather than an assistant that only helps while you type.

For us, the interesting question isn't whether the terminal or an IDE is universally better.

It's whether the interface matches what you're asking the AI to do.

When the AI is expected to inspect, execute, test and iterate, the terminal makes a lot of sense.