OpenCode Essentials

OpenCode is an open source AI coding agent — a terminal-based interface, desktop app, and IDE extension used by over 7.5M developers a month. It's notable for its privacy posture (it doesn't store your code or context data) and its model flexibility: 75+ LLM providers through Models.dev, including local models, plus your existing GitHub Copilot or ChatGPT Plus/Pro account.

Setup

The easiest install:

curl -fsSL https://opencode.ai/install | bash

Or via npm/Homebrew:

npm install -g opencode-ai
brew install anomalyco/tap/opencode

Then configure a provider. The /connect command walks you through it — you can sign in with an OpenAI or GitHub account, use OpenCode Zen (a curated set of models tested for coding agents), or add your own API keys.

Initialize

In your project, run /init. OpenCode analyzes the project and creates an AGENTS.md file in the root. Commit that file — it helps OpenCode (and other agents) understand the project structure and coding patterns.

cd your-project
opencode
/init

The core workflow

The workflow that maps almost 1:1 onto interview best practices:

1. Ask questions — use @ to fuzzy-search files and reference them directly in a prompt:

   How is authentication handled in @packages/functions/src/api/index.ts
   

2. Create a plan — hit Tab to enter Plan mode (the agent proposes how it'll implement without changing anything):

   When a user deletes a note, flag it as deleted in the database. Then create a screen that shows recently deleted notes where a user can undelete or permanently delete.
   

   Iterate on the plan — you can drag and drop images, add detail, ask for changes.
3. Build the feature — hit Tab again to switch to Build mode, and approve execution:

   Sounds good! Go ahead and make the changes.
   

Give OpenCode plenty of context and examples — the docs recommend talking to it like a junior developer on your team, which is exactly the framing interviewers use.

Undo and share

• /undo reverts the last change and restores your original message. You can undo multiple times; /redo replays them. This is your rollback discipline — when the agent goes off the rails, a clean undo beats manual repair.
• /share creates a link to the current conversation (conversations aren't shared by default). For practice, exporting your session this way is a tidy transcript to review or submit.

Interview-relevant habits