JetBrains Supports Agent Client Protocol Initiative

JetBrains has joined forces with Google and Zed Industries to adopt the Agent Client Protocol (ACP), a new standard for AI agents' interaction with code editors and integrated development environments (IDEs).

The ACP aims to enable coding agents to integrate automatically with editors. Without a standard, developers must create separate add-ins for each editor or rely on a command-line interface (CLI) that operates independently of specific editors.

Google has noted that using Gemini CLI alone forces developers to switch between the command line and their IDE, which disrupts workflow. This challenge led to collaboration with Zed, resulting in the ACP standard, which is designed to work with any compliant editor.

Zed, based on Rust, holds a small market share, while JetBrains ranks second to Microsoft, whose Visual Studio Code (VS Code) and Visual Studio are leading IDEs. JetBrains has announced its support for ACP and is collaborating with Zed on its development, emphasizing the benefit of 'no vendor lock-in.'

Microsoft benefits from a dominant market position with VS Code, used by over 75% of developers. While ACP won't resolve VS Code's extension lock-in by itself, it could aid competing IDEs in the area of coding agent support. The question remains whether VS Code will adopt ACP, with discussions ongoing.

ACP is in its early stages, described on GitHub as 'under heavy development.' Support exists for Emacs and Neovim through extensions, with progress on Eclipse integration.

Developers hope ACP will enhance the reliability of coding agent integration. The official VS Code plugin for Gemini Code Assist faces criticism for issues like frequent hangs and memory leaks. A new Gemini CLI extension in preview shows promise, albeit with limited features.