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Next Termthe IDE for your AI agents

Next Term vs JetBrains IDEs

JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ IDEA, WebStorm, GoLand, PhpStorm, PyCharm, Rider, RubyMine, CLion, RustRover and DataGrip) are full IDEs for Windows, macOS and Linux, with code inspections, refactoring, debuggers, a plugin Marketplace and remote development. For AI they offer AI Assistant, with Junie, Claude Agent, Codex and GitHub Copilot in one chat and more agents through the Agent Client Protocol; a terminal that starts Claude Code, Codex or Junie from its toolbar; a built-in MCP server that outside agents can use; and Air, in early access, for running several agents in parallel. Next Term is not an IDE. It is a small, free macOS terminal and editor for running command-line agents side by side, with each agent’s status on its tab and an MCP server through which one agent runs the others. Keep your JetBrains IDE for writing, navigating, refactoring and debugging code, and add Next Term if you run several terminal agents at once. There are dedicated pages for PhpStorm and PyCharm.

At a glance

Section titled “At a glance”
FeatureNext TermJetBrains IDEs
PlatformsmacOS 13 or laterWindows, macOS, Linux
PriceFree, MITSubscriptions; WebStorm, Rider, CLion, RustRover, RubyMine and DataGrip are free for non-commercial use; IntelliJ IDEA and PyCharm have free core features
Code inspections and refactoring—✓
Debugger—✓
Plugins—✓ The JetBrains Marketplace
AI of its own— Runs the agents you install✓ AI Assistant and Junie; AI Free comes with IDE subscriptions, AI Pro and AI Ultimate are paid plans
Agents from other vendors✓ Any agent that runs in a terminal; 20 recognised by name✓ Claude Agent, Codex and Copilot in AI Chat; ACP agents; Claude Code, Codex and Junie from the terminal
Several agents at once, with their status✓ Tabs and split panes, with status on every tabPartly: Air, in early access, shows parallel sessions across projects
MCP✓ An MCP server for orchestration: start, prompt, wait for and read agents✓ An MCP server that gives agents the IDE’s tools, and an MCP client in AI Assistant
Claude Code’s IDE link✓ Built in, also for Gemini CLI and Qwen Code✓ Anthropic’s plugin: diffs in the IDE’s viewer, selection, diagnostics
Reviewing changes✓ Side-by-side diffs; stage, unstage or revert per hunk; the Git Log and blame✓ The IDE’s diff viewer; commit chosen chunks and lines
Remote developmentPartly: terminal tabs on your servers over ssh, kept running in tmux or herdr; the editor opens your Mac’s files✓ SSH, dev containers, WSL, JetBrains Gateway
Real-time collaboration—Partly: Code With Me is being retired; its service ends in the first quarter of 2027
The appNative Swift and AppKit, about a 16 MB downloadFull IDEs

Choose a JetBrains IDE if…

Section titled “Choose a JetBrains IDE if…”
  • You want an IDE that understands your code: inspections, refactoring, navigation and a debugger for your language and framework.
  • You work on Windows or Linux, on remote machines, in dev containers or in WSL.
  • You want agents inside the IDE. Junie, Claude Agent, Codex and Copilot share AI Chat, ACP brings in others, and Air, in early access, runs several in parallel with worktrees.
  • Your team already works in JetBrains IDEs and shares their settings and inspections.

Choose Next Term if…

Section titled “Choose Next Term if…”
  • You run Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI or other agents in a terminal and want them side by side, each with its status on its tab and a notification that quotes its question.
  • You use several IDEs, or none. Next Term works next to any editor, and its agents work on any project folder.
  • You want one agent to orchestrate the others across projects, through Next Term’s MCP server.
  • You want something small and free for the agents: about a 16 MB download, MIT-licensed, no account and no subscription.

Use both

Section titled “Use both”

For most JetBrains users this is the setup that makes sense: the IDE for code, Next Term for the agents.

  • Open the project in both. nxtrm . in the IDE’s terminal opens the folder as a Next Term project; run your agents there.
  • Keep your keymap. Next Term › Import Settings and Shortcuts… offers a JetBrains shortcut set and reads the keys you changed in your keymap, showing each change first. In that set, ⌘P still opens Go to File. See Switching to Next Term.
  • Give the agents in Next Term the IDE’s tools. JetBrains IDEs have a built-in MCP server that Claude Code, Codex and other agents can use to build the project, read the problems the IDE found in a file and rename symbols, and the IDE can configure detected agents for you. A configured agent has those tools in a Next Term tab too.
  • Let Junie drive Next Term. Junie reads ~/.junie/mcp/mcp.json, in the IDE and in its CLI. Next Term adds its own server there when that file exists or the Junie CLI is installed, so Junie can start agents in Next Term tabs, give them tasks and read the results.
  • Review where you like. A claude started in Next Term connects to Next Term, and proposed edits open in Next Term’s diff view. To use the IDE’s diff viewer for a session instead, run /ide in Claude Code and pick your JetBrains IDE (with Anthropic’s plugin installed).

Questions

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Can’t I run Claude Code in the IDE’s own terminal?

Section titled “Can’t I run Claude Code in the IDE’s own terminal?”

Yes. The IDE’s terminal has a menu that starts Claude Code, Codex or Junie and can split into panes, and Anthropic’s plugin shows Claude’s edits in the IDE’s diff viewer. What Next Term adds is an overview of many agents from different vendors at once: a status mark on every tab, notifications that quote each question, and an MCP server through which one agent runs the others.

How is Next Term different from JetBrains Air?

Section titled “How is Next Term different from JetBrains Air?”

Air is JetBrains’ new way to run several agents in parallel inside its IDEs, with every session in one place, across projects, and temporary worktrees; it is in early access as a plugin and in the 2026.3 EAP builds. Next Term is a separate, MIT-licensed Mac app that works next to any editor and runs agents as plain terminal programs.

Do I need a JetBrains AI subscription to use agents?

Section titled “Do I need a JetBrains AI subscription to use agents?”

Not for every agent. IDE subscriptions include AI Free, AI Pro and AI Ultimate add more, and agents connected through ACP work without a JetBrains AI subscription. Next Term needs no subscription of its own; each agent uses its own sign-in.

Read more

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Sources

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Checked October 2026 against JetBrains’ own site, help and blog, and Anthropic’s Claude Code documentation. Products change quickly; if something here is out of date, please open an issue.

Next Term is free and open source under the MIT licence. Made by Mishuk Adhikari. This site uses no cookies, no trackers and no third-party requests.