Next Term vs PyCharm

PyCharm is JetBrains’ Python IDE for Windows, macOS and Linux, “built for web, data, and AI/ML professionals”. Since 2025.1 it is one product: free core features, including a debugger, test runners, Git, Docker and basic Jupyter notebooks, with PyCharm Pro adding full notebooks, Django, Flask and FastAPI support, databases and remote interpreters over SSH, in Docker or in WSL. For AI it offers Junie and AI Assistant, agents from other vendors through the Agent Client Protocol, a terminal that starts Claude Code, Codex or Junie, and a built-in MCP server that agents can use. Next Term is not a Python IDE: it has no Python code intelligence or debugger, and it opens notebooks read-only, without a kernel. It is a free macOS terminal and editor for running agents such as Claude Code and Codex side by side, with each agent’s status on its tab. For Python work, keep PyCharm and run your agents in Next Term next to it.

At a glance

Feature	Next Term	PyCharm
Platforms	macOS 13 or later	Windows, macOS, Linux
Price	Free, MIT	Free core features; PyCharm Pro is a subscription
Python code intelligence	— Highlighting only: Python, Jinja, prompt templates inside strings and 109 more grammars; traceback links	✓ Inspections, navigation, refactoring
Debugger	—	✓ In the free core features
Jupyter notebooks	Partly: read-only, with the outputs saved in the file; nothing runs	✓ Basic for free; full, local and remote, in Pro
Django, Flask, FastAPI	—	✓ Advanced support in Pro
Remote interpreters	—	✓ SSH, Docker, WSL, in Pro
AI of its own	— Runs the agents you install	✓ Junie and AI Assistant; the free AI tier is not included when PyCharm is used for free
Agents from other vendors	✓ Any agent that runs in a terminal; 20 recognised by name	✓ ACP agents, without a JetBrains AI subscription; Claude Code, Codex and Junie from the terminal
Several agents at once, with their status	✓ Tabs and split panes, with status on every tab	Partly: Air, in early access, shows parallel sessions
MCP	✓ An MCP server for orchestration: start, prompt, wait for and read agents	✓ An MCP server that gives agents the IDE’s tools
Claude Code’s IDE link	✓ Built in, also for Gemini CLI and Qwen Code	✓ Anthropic’s plugin supports PyCharm
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

Choose PyCharm if…

You write Python every day and want inspections, refactoring, navigation and a debugger that understand it, free in the core version.
You work in notebooks or with data, or build with Django, Flask or FastAPI.
Your code runs somewhere else: remote interpreters over SSH, in Docker or in WSL.
You want agents inside the IDE, in AI Chat or, in early access, in Air.

Choose Next Term if…

You hand more of the work to agents. Run Claude Code in one tab, Codex in another and pytest in a split pane, each with its status on its tab, and a notification that quotes any agent’s question.
You want to read every change before it lands. Claude Code’s, Gemini CLI’s and Qwen Code’s proposed edits open as diffs to accept or reject, and ⌥⌘G shows any file’s changes side by side, with per-hunk stage, unstage and revert.
You build RAG or agent projects. {context} placeholders and {{ question }} templates inside Python strings get their own colour, ⌘-click opens a traceback’s line, or the definition behind a graph.py:graph reference as langgraph.json writes it, and a tab running langgraph dev shows its port.
You want one agent to coordinate the others across projects, through Next Term’s MCP server.
You want a light window for agent work that opens next to PyCharm and costs nothing.

Use both

PyCharm for code, Next Term for agents: the two do not compete for the same job.

Open the project in both. nxtrm . in PyCharm’s terminal opens the folder as a Next Term project. Run your agents, test watchers and dev servers in Next Term tabs.
Debug and explore in PyCharm. When an agent’s change fails, step through it with PyCharm’s debugger, or try it in a notebook.
Give the agents PyCharm’s tools. PyCharm’s built-in MCP server lets Claude Code, Codex and other agents use the IDE’s tools. A configured agent has those tools in a Next Term tab too.
Send code to an agent from Next Term. ⌥⌘K types a reference to your selection, such as @app/models.py#L10-20, into the agent’s prompt in its own syntax.

Questions

Does Next Term open Jupyter notebooks?

Yes, read-only. A notebook opens as cells with the outputs saved in the file, and follows the file when Jupyter or an agent saves it, but nothing runs: Next Term has no kernel, debugger or Python language intelligence. To run cells, use PyCharm or Jupyter. See Jupyter notebooks.

Is PyCharm free?

Its core features are, including the debugger, test runners and basic Jupyter notebooks. PyCharm Pro, a subscription, adds full notebooks, web frameworks, databases and remote interpreters. JetBrains’ free AI tier is not included when PyCharm is used for free. Next Term is free under the MIT licence.

Can Claude Code connect to PyCharm and Next Term?

To one at a time. A claude started in a Next Term tab connects to Next Term. Run /ide in Claude Code to connect it to PyCharm instead, with Anthropic’s plugin installed there.

Agents and the IDE link
Code editor (the languages, including Python and Jinja)
Next Term for LangChain and LangGraph
Layouts and split panes
Orchestrate agents (MCP)
Next Term vs JetBrains IDEs

Sources

Checked October 2026 against JetBrains’ own site and help, 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.