A deep dive into the architecture, agent loop, tool system, and more behind the 100k-star open-source AI coding agent
As AI coding agents rapidly evolve, open-source projects that let you study their internals are invaluable. OpenCode is an open-source AI coding agent with over 100,000 GitHub stars. It supports multiple client surfaces — terminal (TUI), web browser, desktop app, and IDE extensions — and works with 75+ LLM providers out of the box.
In this article, we take a deep dive into OpenCode's documentation and source code to identify 10 critical technical elements that engineers building their own coding agents should understand. Rather than a feature overview, we focus on the "why" behind each design decision and how you can apply these patterns to your own agent.
By the end of this article, you will understand: