The New Coda

I built Coda because I wanted one dev tool for everything I run while I work: dev servers, AI agents and the browser, across all the projects I build under Simply Fluent. I wrote about how that started in Why I Built Coda. This post is about the new version.

The old version had become slow

The first version of Coda did what I needed, but it lagged. Switching between projects took long enough that I noticed it every time, and the browser panes had limits I kept running into. The interface was airy. That looked nice, but it took up space that I wanted for logs, agents and pages.

What I was using instead

For a while I moved more of my work to VS Code because I liked how it looked. Then I noticed I wasn't using any of its features. I barely opened the editor, and it kept crashing on me. So I went back to terminals. iTerm was fine, but I didn't enjoy it. Then I tried Warp, and I liked it a lot.

At some point I asked myself what Warp and VS Code had in common, since I liked both. The answer was the style: flat, blocky, with clear edges between areas and not much empty space. So I applied that to Coda.

What it looks like now

Coda now has a flat, dense interface. Panes have clear borders, and more of the window shows what is running. There are seven themes, and the app has a new icon.

It is also fast. Switching projects, opening panes and moving between views no longer lags. That was the main reason for the rework, and it is the change I notice most.

How I use it every day

When I start working on something, I move it into Focus (⌥1). Then I jump between the things in Focus as I go, and I remove them from Focus when I'm done with them. Focus can now have views of its own, so I can arrange those projects side by side.

Before the rework this was the part that hurt. Switching between projects was slow, so I avoided it. Now I switch all the time.

Agents use the browser every day

The browser is the part that improved the most. Agents in Coda use it every day: they take screenshots, navigate between pages, read the page and click through it. Coda gives them 21 browser tools over MCP. Clicking, typing, going to another site and running scripts ask for your approval first, and you can set rules per project in Settings → Browser Agents.

Each browser pane also has the Chrome DevTools panel beside the page (⌥⌘I). When something breaks, Send to agent pastes the console errors, the failed network requests or the selected element into an agent running in that project, so I don't copy them by hand.

A browser pane also no longer needs a service. You can open one for any URL.

Getting Started and the file drawer

The file drawer (⇧⌘E) lists a project's files and previews Markdown. I open it to read a plan or a README that an agent wrote without switching to an editor.

The old onboarding is gone. On first launch, Getting Started opens as the first tab in the file drawer: a checklist that walks you through adding a project, starting a service and connecting your agents. Help → Getting Started opens it again.

Everything else that changed

• •Split panes. ⌘D splits right and ⇧⌘D splits down. ⌘W closes a pane and ⇧⌘W reopens it. An empty pane asks what to open.
• •Command palette. ⌘P opens files, starts new agents, and starts, stops or restarts services.
• •More agents. Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Copilot CLI and pi are built in. You can add any other CLI agent with a JSON file, or import one in Settings → Harnesses.
• •Sessions. Pane headers show the session name, and you can fork a session into a new pane.
• •Services. Coda detects run commands when you add a project, and Add Service can start the service right away. A service that ignores Ctrl-C is now stopped instead of left hanging.
• •Process Manager. It moved to ⇧⌘M. The app menu also has Restart Coda.
• •Restore on relaunch. When you quit and reopen Coda, the services that were running start again, agents resume their sessions and browser tabs reopen.

What's next

I'm going to polish what is there and then launch. People who compare Coda with other tools often ask about git worktrees. I don't use worktrees myself because of how I work, but I'll look into it.

If you want to try the new version, download Coda. If something is broken or missing, tell me on Discord.

Coda is a native macOS app by Simply Fluent. Requires macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later.