Back to the Future: Let me tell you about the ACP protocol

First there was the ChatGPT website with a copy paste button, then there was Cursor, now there’s the Claude or Codex CLI. The ACP protocol promises to be the next step in this evolution. Lets have a look.

Transcript

1. Ben Terhechte Engineer at IRON.XYZ MOONPAY x.com/terhechte 
 bsky.app/terhechte 
 mastodon.social/terhechte
2. Show of Hands • Cursor • Claude Code • Codex • Gemini Code • Copilot • “I just copy paste” • Other
3. IRON Stablecoin API to move large sums of money internationally • Tx can easily be 100m • High security requirements • Bugs can have catastrophic outcomes • Can’t just yolo vibe code everything
4. Let me tell you about the ACP protocol
5. The Dark Ages
6. ChatGPT, Nov 2022
7. • can you write a javascript function that encrypts a string using the web crypto api? • How do I con fi gure a NSTextField to be multiline How we worked back then
9. Vibe Continuum Full Control No Control
10. Enlightenment
12. Cursor • “Apply Changes” • Multi Turn Conversations • Agent Mode • Abstract away the model
14. In Control
15. Vibe Continuum Full Control No Control
16. Agentic Editor Wars Cursor, Windsurf, PearAI, Kilo, Zed, Continue, Codeium, Cline, Roo Code, Kiro, Codel, Cody, Trae, Void, Aide
20. “Vibe Benchmark: Sonnet” Average Social Media Opinion 1. Claude Code 2. Cursor
 
 3. Copilot …
21. Why could Claude Code succeed against Cursor that was already entrenched?
22. • Cost Structure: OpenAI API wants to make money, so does Cursor • Cursor & Copilot might be using quantized models • Both can’t optimize prompts & retrieval as well as the owners of the models can • => Source > Third Party Economic Incentives https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.02355 Quantization (compression) E ff ect on Model Performance
23. The Now
26. Vibe Continuum Full Control No Control
27. The Cli Wars • Claude Code • Gemini Code • Codex • Crush • OpenCode • Qwen Code • Z.ai • Cursor Code
28. However
29. Vibe SOTA is continuously shifting
35. https://www.qodo.ai/blog/deepcodebench-real-world-codebase-understanding-by-qa-benchmarking/ DeepCodeBench
36. I want choice
37. Also • The Cursor model of adding small bits of context can bene fi cial • Being able to easily see the changes is great • The actual Cursor editing experience is still very good
38. I’d like to have the best of both worlds? Choice + Quality + UX
39. The Next
40. Agent Client Protocol ACP • The Agent Client Protocol standardizes communication between code editors and coding agents. • Replace the agent (e.g. Z.AI instead of Codex) but all your work fl ows, shortcuts, commands and con fi gurations stay the same • Additional abstraction between editor & agent • Build tools that abstract over agents
41. ELI5 • Keep all the editing facilities of your editor • Integrate CLI agents including • AI Context support • Editor Pane access • Di ff access
42. Demo
43. Zed.dev • Written in Rust • Lightweight & Fast • Collaborative • Tab Completion • Free • ACP
46. Zed • Zed.dev • Free • Uses your existing Claude or ChatGPT (etc) subscription
47. Agent Support • Gemini • Claude Code • Codex • Qwen
48. Editor Support The Moot Point • Zed • Neovim • Emacs
50. Advantages • Better visualization of Agent Changes / di ff s • Less Vibe, more control • Full Transparency • Better interaction with codebase • Custom Slash Commands are supported
51. Disadvantages • Not all slash commands supported (e.g. / vim or /terminal-setup • Hooks are *not* supported • Checkpointing is not supported • Resuming threads from history is not supported
52. Build tools over any Agent
53. Libraries • Typescript • Rust • Python
55. Opcode nee Claudia
56. Verdict • Good solution if you need to work together with AI • Better than buying into a single Agent ecosystem as the SOTA changes so often • Easily mix and match between agents • Limited Editor Support
57. Alternatives • Codex VSCode Extension • Cline VSCode Extension (Can you Claude Max Subscription)
58. Questions? x.com/terhechte 
 bsky.app/terhechte 
 mastodon.social/terhechte 
 linkedin.com/in/benediktterhechte/
59. Links • https://zed.dev/ • https://agentclientprotocol.com/overview/introduction • https://github.com/cola-io/codex-acp • https://github.com/xenodium/acp.el •