# Quanta.Ai.Code.Editor > Source: > Published: 2026-08-28 23:55:38+00:00 Quanta is a **local-first AI code editor** built on VS Code OSS, powered by a high-performance Rust backend. It gives you a complete agentic coding experience — reading files, writing code, running terminals, applying LSP fixes, and managing git — all driven by local LLMs through [Ollama](https://ollama.ai). Cloud providers (OpenAI, Anthropic) are supported as optional backends, but Ollama is the primary engine. Your code never has to leave your machine. Unlike cloud-first AI editors, Quanta is designed around local inference. The agent loop, tool execution, LSP integration, checkpoint system, and inline completions all happen locally through a Rust backend that communicates with the editor via JSON-RPC over TCP. [Key Features](#key-features)[Feature Comparison](#feature-comparison)[Architecture](#architecture)[Quick Start](#quick-start)[Installation](#installation)[Agent Tools](#agent-tools)[Agent Modes](#agent-modes)[LSP & Diagnostics](#lsp--diagnostics)[Checkpoint System](#checkpoint-system)[Edit History & Undo/Redo](#edit-history--undoredo)[MCP Integration](#mcp-integration)[Model Management](#model-management)[HuggingFace Integration](#huggingface-integration)[Engineering Skills](#engineering-skills)[Voice & TTS](#voice--tts)[Session Management](#session-management)[Plan Mode](#plan-mode)[Configuration](#configuration)[License](#license) **30+ built-in tools**— read/write/edit files, unified diffs, terminal, grep, glob, git operations, LSP actions, and more** ReAct agent loop**— Think, Act, Observe, Feedback pattern with anti-loop guards and automatic retries** 3 agent modes**— Code (full capability), Ask (read-only), Plan (read-only + plan writing)** Sub-agent spawning**— Delegate scoped tasks to parallel sub-agents with up to 3 levels of nesting** Persistent todo lists**— Track multi-step work across conversation turns **Ollama integration**— Auto-detects and lists all local models with metadata** Thinking/reasoning support**— Configurable think levels (Low/Medium/High) for reasoning models** Inline code completion**— FIM completions with LRU cache, debouncing, and in-flight cancellation** Local-first by design**— Ollama is the primary backend; cloud providers (OpenAI, Anthropic) are optional. Your code never has to leave your machine. **Shadow-git checkpoints**— Automatic workspace snapshots before every agent write action** Edit review system**— Accept/reject individual edits with diff previews** Stale-file detection**— Prevents edits to files that changed since last read** Terminal safety guards**— Blocks destructive commands (format, shutdown, force-delete)** Atomic writes**— All file operations use temp-file-and-rename for crash safety **Full LSP integration**— Diagnostics, go-to-definition, find references, code actions, rename symbol** 20+ engineering skills**— Built-in guidance for TDD, code review, security review, debugging, and more** MCP support**— One-click enable for GitHub, Jina AI, Brave Search, Postgres, Puppeteer, and more** HuggingFace model browser**— Search, download, and install GGUF models directly from the editor** Per-model configuration**— Override temperature, think level, edit format, tool call mode, and more per model** Voice support**— Speech-to-text via Whisper, text-to-speech via Piper Note:Competitor data is based on publicly available documentation as of 2025. Features change frequently — verify with each tool's official docs before relying on this table for decisions. A dash (—) means we could not verify the feature's presence or absence and chose not to guess. | Feature | Quanta | Cursor | Claude Code | Zed AI | Aider | Cline | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| Local LLM (Ollama) | Yes | Limited ¹ | Yes ² | Yes | Yes | Yes | Ollama as primary backend | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Built on VS Code | Yes | Yes | No (CLI) | No (Zed) | No (CLI) | Yes (extension) | Rust backend | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Persistent shadow-git checkpoints | Yes | No ³ | No | No | No | Yes | Edit review (accept/reject) | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | LSP diagnostics to model | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | LSP code actions to model | Yes | — | No | — | No | — | LSP rename symbol to model | Yes | — | No | — | No | — | Inline completion (local) | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Sub-agent spawning | Yes | No ⁴ | Yes | No | No | No | Plan mode | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | MCP support | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | HuggingFace model browser | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Per-model config overrides | Yes | No | No | Partial | No | No | Per-task model routing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Engineering skills | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Voice (STT + TTS) | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Session export (MD/JSON/PDF) | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Configurable thinking levels | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Tool call modes (parallel/sequential) | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Tree-sitter fallback diagnostics | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Custom skills (project + global) | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Todo list tracking | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | **Footnotes:** **Cursor**— Supports Ollama via OpenAI-compatible endpoint for chat and tab completion, but agent modes do not work with local LLMs as of May 2025 (community feature request open).**Claude Code**— Supports local Ollama models via Anthropic-compatible API endpoint (Ollama 0.14+). Cloud (Anthropic) is the default backend.**Cursor**— Has session-local checkpoints that do not persist across IDE restarts and do not use a shadow git repository. They capture file changes only, not terminal side effects.**Cursor**— Has parallel agents via git worktrees (Agents Window) and`/best-of-n` multi-model runs, but does not support spawning sub-agents from within an ongoing conversation. ``` ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Quanta AI Editor │ │ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ VS Code OSS (Electron Frontend) │ │ │ │ ┌───────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ Chat Webview │ │ Editor │ │ Inline Comp │ │ │ │ │ │ (TypeScript) │ │ (Monaco) │ │ (TypeScript)│ │ │ │ │ └──────┬────────┘ └──────┬──────┘ └──────┬───────┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ┌──────┴──────────────────┴────────────────┴───────┐ │ │ │ │ │ Quanta Extension (TypeScript) │ │ │ │ │ │ RPC Client · Diagnostics · LSP Bridge │ │ │ │ │ └──────────────────────┬───────────────────────────┘ │ │ │ └─────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┘ │ │ │ JSON-RPC 2.0 over TCP │ │ ┌─────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Quanta Backend (Rust) │ │ │ │ ┌─────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ Agent Loop │ │ Tool Registry│ │ Session Manager │ │ │ │ │ (ReAct) │ │ (30+ tools) │ │ (persistence) │ │ │ │ └──────┬──────┘ └──────────────┘ └──────────────────┘ │ │ │ ┌──────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ Checkpoint Service · MCP · LSP Reverse RPC │ │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ │ │ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ Ollama │ │ OpenAI API │ │ Anthropic API│ │ │ │ │ │ (localhost) │ │ (optional) │ │ (optional) │ │ │ │ │ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └──────────────┘ │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ``` **Key design principles:** - The extension is a thin UI layer — all agent logic lives in the Rust backend - Communication via newline-delimited JSON-RPC 2.0 over TCP (localhost only) - The backend manages tool execution, LSP reverse-RPC, checkpoints, sessions, and MCP - Cloud providers (OpenAI, Anthropic) are optional — Ollama is the primary inference engine - — Install and start the Ollama service[Ollama](https://ollama.ai) ``` # Install a model (example) ollama pull qwen2.5-coder:7b ``` - **Git**— Required for the checkpoint system **Download** the latest release from the[Releases](/ContegoCode/Quanta-Code-Editor/releases)page**Extract** the archive and run`Quanta.exe` **Open a project** folder (File > Open Folder)**Open the chat panel**— Click the Quanta icon in the activity bar** Select a model**— Click the model name in the chat header to pick from your Ollama models** Start coding**— Ask Quanta to build features, fix bugs, refactor code, or explain your codebase Tip:Use`@` in the chat input to mention files and inject them as context. Download the latest release from the [Releases](/ContegoCode/Quanta-Code-Editor/releases) page. Extract and run — no build tools required. Quanta's agent has access to **30+ tools** organized into functional groups: | Tool | Description | |---|---| `read_file` | Read file contents with line numbers (10MB limit, outline for large files) | `write_file` | Create or overwrite files atomically (auto-creates parent dirs) | `edit_file` | Find-and-replace edits with multi-strategy matching (exact, fuzzy, ellipsis) | `apply_diff` | Apply unified diffs with 7-strategy flexible patching | `list_directory` | List directory contents (dirs first, then files, alphabetical) | `find_path` | Glob-based file search (`**/*.rs` , respects .gitignore) | `grep` | Regex content search across files (with context lines, pagination) | `terminal` | Execute shell commands (safety guards, streaming output, sandbox support) | `create_directory` | Create directories recursively | `delete_path` | Delete files or directories (blocked in Code mode for safety) | `copy_path` | Copy files or directories recursively | `move_path` | Move or rename files (atomic when possible) | | Tool | Description | |---|---| `diagnostics` | Get LSP errors/warnings with freshness tracking and tree-sitter fallback | `go_to_definition` | Jump to symbol definition via reverse RPC to VS Code | `find_references` | Find all references to a symbol across the project | `get_code_actions` | Get available quick fixes and refactorings | `apply_code_action` | Apply a code action with edit tracking and staleness checks | `rename_symbol` | Rename a symbol across the entire workspace | | Tool | Description | |---|---| `git_status` | Show working tree status with branch info | `git_diff` | Show staged or unstaged changes | `git_commit` | Stage and commit changes (auto-creates .gitignore if missing) | `git_branch` | Create, switch, or list branches | `git_log` | Show recent commit history | `git_stash` | Stash, pop, or list stashes | | Tool | Description | |---|---| `spawn_agent` | Spawn synchronous or async sub-agents (up to 3 levels deep) | `create_thread` | Create independent background conversation threads | `check_subagent` | Check status and retrieve results from async sub-agents | `list_agents_and_models` | List available agents and models | | Tool | Description | |---|---| `fetch` | HTTP GET with HTML-to-Markdown conversion | `image_search` | Search the web for images (DuckDuckGo, no API key) | `skill` | Load engineering skills from project, global, or built-in sources | `tool_search` | On-demand deferred loading of MCP tools | `write_plan_file` | Write implementation plans in Plan mode | `undo_edit` | Undo the most recent accepted edit to a file | `todo_list` | Persistent task tracking across conversation turns | | Mode | Capabilities | Use Case | |---|---|---| Code | Full toolset (except `delete_path` ) | Building features, fixing bugs, refactoring | Ask | Read-only (no file writes, no terminal) | Understanding code, asking questions | Plan | Read-only + `write_plan_file` | Planning before implementing | Switch modes using the mode button in the chat header. Quanta provides deep LSP integration that feeds real-time diagnostics to the model: **Push-based diagnostics**— VS Code sends diagnostics to the backend cache as they change** Per-file version tracking**— Ensures diagnostics are fresh and correctly scoped** Deduplication**— Merges diagnostics from multiple sources (LSP, tree-sitter)** Auto-refresh**— Diagnostics are re-fetched after agent file edits** Tree-sitter fallback**— Syntax-based diagnostics for languages without an LSP** Language-specific configuration**— Auto-configures LSP servers for 20+ languages **Supported LSP features:** - Diagnostics (errors, warnings, info, hints) - Go to definition - Find references - Code actions (quick fixes, refactorings) - Apply code action (with edit tracking) - Rename symbol (workspace-wide) **Auto-configured languages:** C#, TypeScript/JavaScript, Rust, Python, Go, Java, Kotlin, Dart, Ruby, F#, Erlang, Haskell, D, R, LaTeX, and more. Quanta creates automatic **workspace-level snapshots** using a shadow git repository — completely separate from your project's own git repo. **Automatic**— A checkpoint is saved before every agent write action** Works without git**— Your project doesn't need to be a git repo** Workspace-level**— Covers edits, deletes, moves, and terminal-generated changes** Browseable**— View checkpoint timeline with messages and timestamps** Restorable**— Revert the entire workspace to any checkpoint** Diffable**— Compare any checkpoint against current state or another checkpoint** Deletable**— Select and delete individual checkpoints or all at once** Safe**— Checkpoints are stored in`~/.quanta/checkpoints/` and never touch your project Every agent edit is tracked in a per-edit history with full undo/redo support: **Diff preview**— See exactly what changed before accepting** Accept/reject individually**— Review each edit one at a time** Accept/reject all**— Bulk operations for multi-file changes** Undo**— Revert specific edits after they've been applied** Redo**— Re-apply undone edits** Full diff view**— Open a complete diff in a separate editor panel** Edit history panel**— Timeline of all edits in the current session Quanta supports the [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) for extending the agent with external tools: | Server | Tools | Description | |---|---|---| Jina AI | 20 | Web reading, search, screenshots, academic search (arXiv/SSRN), image search, reranking, classification, PDF extraction. Requires Jina API key. | GitHub | 7 | Search repositories, read files, create issues, list issues, create PRs, create branches, push files. Requires GitHub token. | Filesystem | 6 | Read, write, list, create, move, and search files on the local filesystem. No API key required. | Fetch | 1 | Fetch web pages and convert HTML to markdown. Requires uvx (Python). No API key required. | Git | 5 | Git status, diff, log, commit, and branch management. Requires uvx (Python). No API key required. | Sequential-thinking | 1 | Structured step-by-step reasoning with branching, revision, and dynamic thought count. Recommended for Plan mode. | Memory | 4 | Persistent knowledge graph — create entities, relations, search nodes, read graph. | HuggingFace | 4 | Search models, get model info, list model files, download models. Requires HF token. | Serena | 7 | Semantic code analysis via LSP — find symbols, references, get details, replace symbol bodies, insert code before/after. Requires uvx. | Playwright | 6 | Browser automation — navigate, click, fill, screenshot, evaluate JS, select options. Official Microsoft server. | Arxiv | 5 | Search arXiv papers (free-text, author, category), get full metadata, list subject categories. | Augments | 7 | Coding research — API docs, code examples, version comparisons, migration guides, error diagnosis, dependency scanning. Optional GitHub token. | PlantUML | 4 | Generate UML diagrams (sequence, class, activity, and more) from text descriptions. | Context7 | 2 | Up-to-date library and framework documentation fetched live from the source. | **On-demand tool loading**— MCP tools are deferred until needed, reducing context overhead by ~85%** Custom server configuration**— Add any MCP-compatible server** API key management**— Securely store credentials for MCP servers** Server status monitoring**— See connection status at a glance** Tool search**— The agent can search for and load MCP tools by keyword Route different models to different tasks for optimal performance: | Task | Config Setting | Description | |---|---|---| | Main chat | `quanta.defaultModel` | Primary model for agent conversations | | Sub-agents | `quanta.subagentModel` | Model for spawned sub-agents | | Summarization | `quanta.summarizationModel` | Model for auto-generating conversation titles | | Inline completion | `quanta.inlineCompletion.model` | Coder model for FIM completions | Fine-tune each model individually via the Local Model Override Settings panel (`~/.quanta/model_overrides.json` ): | Setting | Options | Description | |---|---|---| | Think level | Low / Medium / High | Reasoning depth for thinking models | | Temperature | 0.0–2.0 | Sampling temperature | | Top-p | 0.0–1.0 | Nucleus sampling threshold | | Top-k | 1–100 | Top-k sampling | | Num predict multiplier | 1x–10x | Scale max output tokens | | Tool call mode | Parallel / Sequential | How the model calls tools | | Edit format | WholeFile / UnifiedDiff / FindReplace | Preferred file editing strategy | | Context window | Custom | Override the model's context length | | Prefer write_file | On / Off | Prefer whole-file writes (with fallback to edit/diff) | | Preserve thinking | On / Off | Keep thinking content during context compaction | | Max empty retries | 1–10 | Retries for empty completions (thinking models) | | Max unfinished retries | 1–10 | Retries when LSP errors remain | **Override priority:** User override > Built-in profile > Baseline defaults Browse and install models directly from HuggingFace without leaving the editor: **Search**— Find GGUF models by name, filter by pipeline tag and size** Sort**— By downloads, likes, or relevance** Download**— GGUF files or safetensors directories with progress tracking** Auto-register**— Downloaded models are automatically registered with Ollama** Hardware specs**— Detects CPU, RAM, GPU VRAM to help you pick the right model** Cleanup**— Tracks and removes orphaned blobs from cancelled downloads** Model management**— View and delete locally installed models Quanta includes **20+ built-in engineering skills** that provide structured guidance for common development tasks: | Skill | Description | |---|---| `help` | Get help with Quanta features and commands | `implement` | Implementation guidance for features | `init` | Initialize a new project with Quanta | `setup-project` | Configure project with issue tracker | `wayfinder` | Navigate and understand a codebase | `triage` | Triage and prioritize issues | `to-spec` | Convert requirements to specifications | `to-tickets` | Convert specifications to tickets | `grill-with-docs` | Validate code against documentation | `improve-codebase-architecture` | Systematic architecture improvement | | Skill | Description | |---|---| `tdd` | Test-driven development with mocking | `code-review` | Structured code review | `security-review` | Security vulnerability review | `diagnosing-bugs` | Systematic bug diagnosis | `deep-research` | Deep research methodology | `research` | General research approach | `prototype` | Prototyping (logic + UI) | `domain-modeling` | Domain modeling with ADRs | `codebase-design` | Architecture design (Design-It-Twice) | `simplify` | Code simplification | `verify` | Verification strategies | `resolving-merge-conflicts` | Merge conflict resolution | `webapp-testing` | Web application testing | `grilling` | Code quality grilling | Create your own skills in: **Project-local:**`.agents/skills/{name}/SKILL.md` **Global:**`~/.agents/skills/{name}/SKILL.md` - integration (tiny.en, base.en, small.en models) - Configurable language - Dictation toggle: `Ctrl+Shift+M` - Audio buffer processing with temporary file handling - integration with voice model downloads from HuggingFace - Configurable voice (e.g., `en_US-lessac-medium` ) - Speed control - Read aloud toggle: `Ctrl+Shift+L` - Markdown cleaning for natural speech - Voice listing (installed and available) - Create, list, load, and delete sessions - Auto-generated conversation titles - Search sessions by content - Per-session and cumulative token usage tracking - Session persistence to disk - Cascade delete for sub-agent sessions **Export** to Markdown, JSON, or PDF**Import** from JSON or Markdown- Exports include thinking content, tool calls, and timestamps Plan before you build: - Switch to **Plan mode** in the chat header - Ask Quanta to create an implementation plan - Review the rendered markdown plan in the plan panel - Click **Implement Plan** to switch to Code mode and execute - Edit the plan at any time via **Edit Plan** Plan files are saved to `.quanta/plans/` and persist across sessions. | Setting | Default | Description | |---|---|---| `quanta.serverHost` | `127.0.0.1` | Backend server host | `quanta.serverPort` | `8080` | Backend server port | `quanta.serverPath` | `""` | Custom path to backend binary | `quanta.autoStartServer` | `true` | Auto-start backend on activation | | Setting | Default | Description | |---|---|---| `quanta.defaultModel` | `""` | Default model (empty = first available) | `quanta.subagentModel` | `""` | Model for sub-agents | `quanta.summarizationModel` | `""` | Model for title generation | | Setting | Default | Description | |---|---|---| `quanta.inlineCompletion.enabled` | `true` | Enable inline completions | `quanta.inlineCompletion.model` | `""` | Override completion model | `quanta.inlineCompletion.debounceMs` | `300` | Debounce delay | `quanta.inlineCompletion.maxContextLines` | `100` | Context lines to send | `quanta.inlineCompletion.minPrefixChars` | `3` | Minimum prefix to trigger | | Setting | Default | Description | |---|---|---| `quanta.autoApproveEdits` | `false` | Auto-approve without diff preview | `quanta.terminalSandbox` | `false` | Terminal sandbox mode | | Setting | Default | Description | |---|---|---| `quanta.treeSitterFallback` | `true` | Tree-sitter syntax linting fallback | `quanta.diagnosticsWaitMs` | `2000` | LSP diagnostic wait time | | Setting | Default | Description | |---|---|---| `quanta.speechToText.enabled` | `false` | Enable speech-to-text | `quanta.speechToText.language` | `en` | Language code | `quanta.textToSpeech.enabled` | `false` | Enable text-to-speech | `quanta.textToSpeech.speed` | `1.0` | Speech speed | MIT License — see [LICENSE](/ContegoCode/Quanta-Code-Editor/blob/main/Extension/LICENSE) for details. Copyright (c) 2026 Quanta AI **Quanta AI** — Local-first AI coding, powered by Rust and Ollama.