AI Coders

AI Coders is a Neovim plugin that gives you a right-side sidebar for chatting with multiple terminal-based coding agents such as Codex, Claude Code, or any other CLI-powered assistant. Sessions run in standard Neovim terminal buffers so you can see full streaming output, keep history per chat, and manage multiple conversations side-by-side with your code.

Features

• Toggleable sidebar pinned on the right (default width 50).
• Create as many chat sessions as you like, each backed by its own terminal buffer.
• Cycle between active chats or pick one from a quick selector.
• Visual session header in the sidebar winbar so you always know which chats are active.
• Fully configurable agent registry: give each agent a label and launch command.
• Sensible default keymaps that follow the requested <leader>a namespace.

Default Keymaps

Mapping	Action
<leader>af	Toggle the sidebar
<leader>ac	Create a new chat session
<leader>a]	Cycle to the next chat session
<leader>a[	Cycle to the previous session
<leader>ad	Close the current chat
<leader>ap	Pick a chat from a list

All mappings can be changed (or disabled) via setup.

Installation (AstroNvim example)

Add the plugin to your AstroNvim plugins/ specification (using lazy.nvim syntax):

return {
  {
    "yourname/ai-coders",
    lazy = false,
    config = function()
      require("ai_coders").setup {
        sidebar = {
          width = 60,
          auto_focus = true,
        },
        agents = {
          codex = {
            name = "Codex",
            cmd = { "codex", "--chat" },
          },
          claude = {
            name = "Claude Code",
            cmd = { "claude-code", "--chat" },
          },
          open_interpreter = {
            name = "Open Interpreter",
            cmd = { "open-interpreter", "--shell" },
          },
        },
      }
    end,
  },
}

Adjust the commands to match the CLIs you have installed. The plugin ships with placeholder commands for Codex (codex) and Claude Code (claude-code); if you do not have those binaries, replace them.

Usage

1. Press <leader>af to open the sidebar. A help buffer appears if no sessions are active.
2. Press <leader>ac, pick an agent from the menu, and a new terminal buffer launches that agent CLI.
3. Use <leader>a] / <leader>a[ to cycle through chats, or <leader>ap to pick from a list.
4. Close a chat with <leader>ad (or :AICodersClose). Close the sidebar with <leader>af; sessions keep running in the background, so reopening the sidebar restores the last active chat.

Configuration Reference

require("ai_coders").setup {
  sidebar = {
    width = 50,         -- sidebar width when opened
    auto_focus = true,  -- focus the sidebar after creating a session
    focus_back = false, -- reserved for future use
    stay_open = true,   -- keep sidebar visible after last session closes
    placeholder = true, -- show a helper buffer when no sessions exist
    header = true,      -- display session tabs in the winbar
  },
  mappings = {
    toggle = "<leader>af",
    new_session = "<leader>ac",
    next_session = "<leader>a]",
    prev_session = "<leader>a[",
    close_session = "<leader>ad",
    pick_session = "<leader>ap",
  },
  agents = {
    codex = { name = "Codex", cmd = { "codex" } },
    claude = { name = "Claude Code", cmd = { "claude-code" } },
  },
  session = {
    title_format = "%s #%d",
    on_session_created = function(session) end,
    on_session_closed = function(session, reason) end,
    on_session_activated = function(session) end,
  },
}

• Agents: keys are user-facing names for :AICodersNew {agent}. cmd accepts a string or list.
• Callbacks: optional hooks for integrating with status lines or logging.

Commands

• :AICodersToggle
• :AICodersNew [agent]
• :AICodersNext
• :AICodersPrev
• :AICodersClose
• :AICodersPick

Roadmap Ideas

• Persistent session history across Neovim restarts.
• Telescope integration for picking sessions and agents.
• Inline input prompt for sending commands without leaving current window.
• Optional floating-window layout.

Contributions and ideas are welcome—open an issue or pull request! 🌟