AI Agents

Use prebuilt or create custom AI agents (we also call them Zen Agents) that can be called for selected code or entire files directly in your IDE

Understanding AI Agents

AI Agents are customizable, sharable agents that can be invoked on selected code or entire files in your IDE. Use prebuilt agents or create your own with specific instructions, tools, and commands.

Navigating Agent Categories

At the top of the AI Agents screen, you’ll find tabs that help you filter and navigate between different types of agents:

All

Shows all available agents

Zencoder

Displays prebuilt agents created by Zencoder (with the number indicating how many are available)

Custom

Shows your custom agents (with the number indicating how many you’ve created)

This categorization makes it easy to distinguish between default agents and your own custom creations.

Creating an Agent

From scratch

1. Adding a New Agent

   1. Click the three dots menu (⋮) at the top right corner.
   2. Select Agents
   3. Click the Add custom agent button in the top right
2. Configuring an Agent

   When adding or editing an agent, you’ll need to set these properties:

   Basic Settings:

   • Name: A descriptive name for your agent (required)
   • Share: Control who can see and use this agent
     • Personal: Visible only to you
     • Shared: Visible to your entire organization (all users within your organization can share agents with others)

   Configuration:

   • Command/Alias: The chat command to invoke your agent (required)
   • Instructions: Detailed prompt instructions that define your agent’s behavior (required)
   • Tools: Enable specific tools your agent can access
3. Instructions Format

   Define clear instructions for your agent that explain its purpose and how it should operate. Here’s an example of instructions for a Repository Analyzer agent:

   Consider the currently open project and repository. 
   Understand its structure, mutual relations between files, folders, dependencies, and more. 
   Please provide me with an in-depth structured understanding of this repo
   

   Your instructions should be specific enough to guide the agent’s behavior, but also flexible enough to work across different contexts.

4. Tool Selection

   Agents can access various tools to enhance their capabilities:

   • git
   • File Search
   • Full Text Search
   • Web Search
   • Fetch Webpage Content
   • Semantic Code Search
   • File Editor
   • Execute Shell Command
   • Gather Requirements
   • …

   Simply click on the tools your agent should have access to in the Tools section.

   
5. Sharing Agents

   If you’re an admin, you can share agents with your organization:

   1. When editing an agent, find the Share dropdown
   2. Choose between:
      • Personal: Visible only to you
      • Shared: Visible to the whole organization

From Marketplace

The Agents Marketplace contains prebuilt agents for various development tasks (bug prevention, documentation generation, code review, etc.).

1. Browse Agents

   Visit our Agents Marketplace to explore available agents. Browse through the list and select the one that best suits your development needs.

2. View Agent Details

   Click on the agent to view its details, including:

   • Name
   • Description
   • Instructions
   • Tools required
3. Create a Custom Agent

   1. Open the Zencoder extension in your IDE.
   2. Click the three dots menu (⋮) at the top right corner.
   3. Select Agents to open the custom agent creation page.
   4. Click Add Custom Agent.
4. Configure the Agent

   • Name: Give your agent a unique name.
   • Instructions: Copy the instructions from the agent’s detail page on the Marketplace and paste them into the “Instructions” field.
   • Tools:
     • Open the Tools section in the extension.
     • Navigate to Manage Tools.
     • Search for the tools listed in the agent’s details and install them if needed.

   Tool configuration is case-by-case. Follow the guidance provided in the agent’s description. There are no standardized patterns yet.

5. Finalize and Test

   • After configuring the agent with the name, command, instructions, and tools, save it.
   • You can now use this custom agent directly in your IDE for coding assistance.

Contributing Your Own Agents

You can submit custom agents to the marketplace via the zenagents-library GitHub repo.

Using Agents in Your Workflow

Once configured, you can use agents by:

1. Selecting code in your editor or focusing on an entire file
2. Invoking the agent using its command (e.g., /unittests, /review)
3. The agent will perform its specialized task on the selected code

Related Agents and Capabilities

Core agents and features that work alongside your custom AI agents:

Coding Agent

The primary development agent that your custom agents can complement

Web Dev Agent

Build web UIs and extend web development workflows with specialized web dev agent

Unit Testing Agent

Generate tests for code created by your custom agents

E2E Testing Agent

Create comprehensive test scenarios for applications built with custom agents

Ask Agent

Quick questions and explanations for your custom agent development

Repo Info Agent

Provides project context that enhances all custom agents