Using the AI agent alongside your regular code editor

Some people think using an AI coding agent means giving up their regular editor. It does not. You can run both at the same time. The AI handles the big, multi-file changes that would take you an hour of clicking around. You handle the quick, precise edits where you already know exactly what needs to change. Best of both worlds.

Different tasks call for different tools. Rewriting a feature across ten files? The AI is faster and more consistent. Fixing a typo or tweaking a single value? Your editor is faster because you can just click and type. Fighting this split wastes time. Embracing it means each tool handles what it is best at, and you move faster overall.

Open your project in your code editor. Open the built-in terminal panel. Start the AI agent in that terminal. Now you can switch freely between talking to the AI and editing files yourself.

A good rule of thumb: use the AI for anything that touches multiple files or requires coordinating changes across your project. Use your editor for quick, surgical fixes where you already know exactly what to change. Use your editor's comparison view to review what the AI changed before accepting it.

Always, once you are comfortable with both tools. Most of my work goes through the AI -- maybe eighty percent. The remaining twenty percent is reviewing changes, checking how things look in a browser, and making tiny edits where typing is genuinely faster than describing what I want.