Installing Open Code Desktop with Winget
Open Code is a Coding Harness or Coding Agent that access AI models and performs tasks and functions. I can access the operating system and run commands, etc.
The Desktop version is install and go. It just works. Lots of settings are available but unnecessary to use it an try things.
These commands install the same thing.
winget install SST.OpenCode
or
winget install SST.OpenCodeDesktop
Why would any normal human want Open Code Desktop installed? Many things but one is it can interact with your system. I just installed it last night and wondered what I would do with it. Today I tried to print something. I'm on a laptop that was not used after we installed fiber so the printer configs were all wrong. I asked Open Code to fix it. It reset the printer and all jobs in the print spooler printed. Sure, you could do it yourself but where's the fun in that?
It works in Linux just fine. I had installed Mint on an old laptop. I download the .deb file and installed it. Num Lock was not enabled. A num lock function needed to be installed and Open Code didn't have access to the sudo or maybe just the password so it had me install it and tell it when I was done. Then it enabled the settings.
If you have X Premium Grok can be connected. And you get the most recent version 😎
To cut down on token usage (even when using free access)
Always open a new session or clear the session or the stale material is included in the request.
Ctrl+X opens new session
/new clears the current session an start new
Workflow habits:
Keep sessions short and scoped (cost grows non-linearly with depth)
Use the plan agent for exploration, not the build agent
file-settings-Show agent turn it on. This allows selecting Plan of Build
Break work into subagents (they spawn with empty context)
Learning Places
https://opencode.school/lessons/skills/
https://codesignal.com/learn/courses/foundation-getting-started-with-opencode/lessons/getting-started-with-opencode
https://github.com/wesammustafa/opencode-primer
Use Plugins to limit tokens
This is the opencode.jsonc where plugins go (skills go in SKILL.md)
{
"$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
"plugin": [
"openslimedit@latest",
"@tarquinen/opencode-dcp@latest",
"opencode-snip@latest"
]
}
The snip skill is here https://github.com/edouard-claude/snip/releases
To register it do this after putting snip.exe in "C:\Users\George\.local\bin"
In Powershell do this:
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable
"Path",
[Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path","User") + ";C:\Users\George\.local\bin",
"User"
)
To check, close terminal, reopen and type "snip --version"