Plandex (15,571 Stars) AI Coding Agent 2026: Plan, Apply and Review Large Code Changes in the Terminal

Plandex (15,571 stars) is an open-source AI coding agent built for large, real-world tasks: it plans changes, applies them safely, and lets you review diffs before committing.

💡 What You Will Learn

Plandex (15,571 stars) is an open-source AI coding agent built for large, real-world tasks: it plans changes, applies them safely, and lets you review diffs before committing.

## The short answer **plandex-ai/plandex** (15,571 stars, Go) is an open-source AI coding agent designed for large projects and real-world tasks. Unlike simple autocomplete, Plandex reads your whole codebase, builds a plan across multiple files, applies changes incrementally, and shows you each diff for review - all from the terminal. ## How it works 1. **Plan mode**: Plandex analyzes the repo and proposes a multi-file plan 2. **Apply**: it implements changes file by file, compiling/testing between steps 3. **Review**: inspect diffs, revert individual files, or iterate with follow-up prompts 4. **Track**: every change is recorded and can be rolled back ## Install and first run ```bash # macOS / Linux curl -L https://plandex.ai/install.sh | bash # Then plandex ``` Set your API key, then start a session: ```bash cd my-project plandex tell "refactor the auth module to use async, and update all callers" plandex diff # review proposed changes plandex apply # apply them ``` ## Practical tips - Break big asks into focused prompts; Plandex handles multi-file changes best when the goal is clear. - Use `plandex log` to see the full history of changes for a session. - It works with your existing git workflow - review with `plandex diff` before committing. ## FAQ **Which models does it support?** OpenAI, Anthropic, and others via configurable providers. **Is it safe to use on production code?** The diff-first workflow is designed for safe review; always inspect before pushing. **Is it free?** The CLI is open source (MIT); you pay only for the underlying model API usage.