Driving SimpleEdit from your agent
Every agent session in SimpleEdit gets a set of SimpleEdit tools. This works for Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode. Your agent can show you things in the app, start and park work, talk to other agents, ask you for a review and run a workflow.
You do not need to learn the tools. Ask in plain words, and the agent picks the right one. This guide shows what you can ask for.
Before you start
The tools run on the Node.js on your PATH. Install Node.js 20 or later. Nothing else is needed: SimpleEdit adds its tools to each session it starts, and only to that session. Your own agent settings stay as they are.
Show me
| Ask | What happens |
|---|---|
| ”Show me what you changed.” | The diff opens in your workspace: uncommitted changes, the whole branch, or one commit. |
| ”Switch to the worktree for the parser fix.” | Your file tree, git log and diffs follow the agent to that worktree. |
| ”Summarize the test run.” “Let me pick between the two options.” | The agent shows a panel: a summary, a file list, a diff, or a decision card with buttons you select. |
Comment on code
Threads work in both directions. You comment on lines, and the agent answers in the thread (Getting started shows how). The agent can also start a thread on a line itself, for an assumption or a risk you should see while you read that code.
| Ask | What happens |
|---|---|
| ”Flag anything you are unsure about on the lines themselves.” | Threads appear next to those lines, in the editor and the diff. |
Start and park work
| Ask | What happens |
|---|---|
| ”Start a new Codex session to write the migration.” | A new session starts with a brief the agent writes. It opens in the background, so your view stays where it is. |
| ”Hand this off to a fresh session.” | A new session continues with a short summary instead of the full history. |
| ”Add the docs update to our backlog.” | The agent adds an item to the project’s backlog, with a prompt and optionally a provider and model. It keeps working on its own task. |
Agents can add, change and reorder backlog items. They cannot start one: you decide when work runs.
Talk to other agents
| Ask | What happens |
|---|---|
| ”Ask the session on the API branch which fields it renamed.” | The agent finds that session and sends it a message. An idle agent reads it at once; a busy one reads it when its turn ends. The answer comes back to the agent that asked. |
| ”Did the other session reply yet?” | The agent checks its inbox. |
The other session can run Claude Code, Codex or OpenCode, in any worktree of the project.
Ask for a review
| Ask | What happens |
|---|---|
| ”Ask me to review this PR.” “Ask me to review this branch.” | The review opens as a tab in the session’s workspace, and the header shows Review ready. The agent attaches a briefing: what changed, why, a reading order, open questions, and the commands it ran as evidence. |
Each thread has a recipient: the Companion (a read-only agent that didn’t write the change; your conversation with it stays private), the Author (the agent that wrote the change, while its session runs; asking it interrupts its work), or the PR (your comment, sent when you submit). When you submit, the agent gets your comments and works on them. See Reviewing a PR stack.
Run a workflow
| Ask | What happens |
|---|---|
| ”Turn this plan into a workflow.” | The agent becomes the lead and creates a task graph. You read it in the Workflow tab and select Start. |
| ”Retry the failed task with a clearer brief.” “Add a task for the changelog.” | The lead patches the running graph. You see each patch under Show patches. |
See Running a Workflow.
What agents cannot do
SimpleEdit keeps you in charge. An agent cannot:
- post, approve or merge anything on GitHub through SimpleEdit
- start a backlog item
- start a workflow, unless you turn on Leads may start workflows in Settings → Workflows
- pass a review gate
- take over your screen: sessions and reviews an agent opens arrive in the background
Tips
- Name the result you want, not the tool: “show me”, “ask the other agent”, “save this for later”.
- Use “add this to our backlog” for work that would collide with what is running now.
- Ask for a review when the agent thinks it is done. You get its briefing and evidence with the diff.