ADE Guide
Guide

Getting started

Install ADE, open your first project and run an agent (or build and test a smart contract) in a few minutes.

Install

macOS

The quickest way is Homebrew:

brew install --cask alvin-reyes/tap/ade

Upgrade later with brew upgrade --cask ade. The cask clears the quarantine flag, so macOS won’t block the first launch.

You can also download the .dmg from the latest release: aarch64 for Apple Silicon, x64 for Intel Macs. If macOS says the app “is damaged” after a manual install, see Troubleshooting.

Linux

Download the .deb for Debian and Ubuntu, or the portable .AppImage, from the latest release:

sudo apt install ./Better.Terminal_*_amd64.deb
# or
chmod +x Better.Terminal_*.AppImage && ./Better.Terminal_*.AppImage

Install an agent

ADE works with any command-line agent. The agent picker has presets for:

  • Claude Code: npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
  • Codex, Gemini CLI and Ollama (local models)

The fleet view reads Claude Code’s own transcripts, so Claude Code gets the most out of ADE.

First launch

  1. ADE opens with one terminal in your home folder and a short tour. Skip it or step through it; it won’t show again.
  2. cd into a project. The file browser, the fleet view and the clickable file links all follow the terminal’s current folder.
  3. Start an agent: type claude, or press ⌘⇧A to open the agent picker and choose a profile.
  4. Open the scratchpad with ⌘J , write your prompt, and send it with ⌘↵ .
  5. When the agent writes a file, click its path in the terminal to see it.

The first time you open a project, ADE sets it up for agents: BMAD, the ADE methodology and a team of Claude Code sub-agents, adding only files that are missing. See Project setup.

Shortcuts on this site follow your platform. Switch between macOS and Linux with the buttons in the sidebar.

Where to go next