What is ZCode?
ZCode is Z.ai's desktop coding agent, tuned for GLM-5.3, that runs multi-agent goals and can be driven from a chat app. GLM-5.3-Flash is bundled alongside it for multimodal work such as reading a screenshot or analysing an image. It sits in the Autonomous Coding Agents category of the AI Coding tools and is licensed Proprietary (commercial subscription).
Overview
ZCode is Z.ai's own desktop coding agent, which the product page describes as "next-gen vibe coding for complex goals—with multiple agents and control from anywhere". It is built around GLM-5.3, Z.ai's flagship model, which the company says is tuned for ZCode so that agentic coding runs faster and more steadily. GLM-5.3-Flash is bundled alongside it for multimodal work such as reading a screenshot or analysing an image.
The app is a native download rather than a terminal tool. Z.ai ships installers for macOS on both Apple Silicon and Intel, for Windows on x64 and ARM64, and a beta Linux build as .deb, .rpm and AppImage packages for x64 and ARM64. Work is organised into Goals, the unit ZCode uses for long-running tasks, and a bot-control feature lets you steer a running goal from WeChat, Feishu or Telegram instead of sitting at the machine.
ZCode is a paid subscription with three tiers: Lite at $12.60 a month with 10,000 credits a week, Pro at $56 a month with about 60,000, and Max at $117.60 a month with about 140,000. Every tier includes rolling access to Z.ai's latest flagship models. In September 2026 a developer publishing as ferstar documented that ZCode's checkpoint feature packages the whole workspace, including the complete .git directory, encrypts it and uploads it to Aliyun object storage under a key only Z.ai holds — worth reading before pointing it at a private repository.
What it does
- Goals: a unit of work for long-running tasks that several agents can work on together
- Deep GLM-5.3 integration, which Z.ai says is tuned specifically for ZCode's agentic coding loop
- GLM-5.3-Flash built in for multimodal jobs such as screenshot understanding and image analysis
- Bot control that lets you drive a running goal from WeChat, Feishu or Telegram
- Native installers for macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows (x64 and ARM64) and Linux in beta
- Three subscription tiers with weekly credit allowances, from 10,000 on Lite to about 140,000 on Max
Getting started
ZCode is a downloadable desktop app, so setup is an installer plus a Z.ai account rather than a package-manager command.
Download the build for your platform
Pick the installer from zcode.z.ai: macOS Apple Silicon or Intel, Windows x64 or ARM64, or a Linux .deb, .rpm or AppImage (Linux support is marked beta).
Sign in and choose a plan
ZCode runs on Z.ai credits. Lite is $12.60 a month for 10,000 credits a week, Pro is $56 for roughly 60,000, and Max is $117.60 for roughly 140,000.
Open a project and create a Goal
Goals are how ZCode tracks long-running work, and several agents can run against one goal. GLM-5.3 drives the coding; GLM-5.3-Flash handles screenshots and other image input.
Decide what leaves the machine
ZCode's checkpoint feature uploads a snapshot of the workspace, including the full .git history, to Z.ai-controlled cloud storage. Review that against your policy before using it on a private or client repository.
Commands and code are distilled from the project's own documentation — always check the official docs for the latest.
When to use it
- Hand a multi-step refactor or feature to a goal and let several agents work it at once
- Stay on GLM-5.3 end to end instead of paying per-token for a third-party frontier model
- Kick off or check on a long build from WeChat, Feishu or Telegram while away from the desk
- Feed a screenshot of a broken UI straight into the agent via the bundled GLM-5.3-Flash
How ZCode compares
ZCode alongside other open-source autonomous coding agents tools AI/TLDR tracks, ranked by GitHub stars.
| Tool | Stars | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| opencode | ★ 224k | OpenCode is an open source AI coding agent that runs in your terminal, with built-in build and plan agents and an optional desktop app. |
| Claude Code | ★ 154k | Anthropic's agentic coding tool for the terminal, IDE and GitHub: it understands your codebase, executes routine tasks, explains code and handles git workflows from natural-language commands. |
| OpenAI Codex | ★ 133k | OpenAI's cloud and CLI coding agent that writes features, fixes bugs, and proposes code changes across a repo, running tasks in parallel. |
| Pi | ★ 120k | Minimal terminal coding agent harness with four built-in tools, extended through TypeScript extensions, skills and prompt templates instead of forks. |
| Orca | ★ 115k | Open-source desktop workspace that runs Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and other CLI coding agents in parallel, each in its own git worktree, with a mobile companion app. |
| Gemini CLI | ★ 109k | An open-source command-line AI agent from Google that connects your terminal to Gemini models for reading code, editing files, running shell commands, and searching the web. |
| autoresearch | ★ 99.2k | Karpathy's minimal harness that hands a coding agent a single-GPU LLM training script and lets it run fixed five-minute experiments, keeping or discarding each change on its own. |
| ZCode | — | Z.ai's desktop coding agent, tuned for GLM-5.3, that runs multi-agent goals and can be driven from a chat app |