Where to run your coding agent

A coding agent is the same assistant wherever it runs; what changes is the surface you work in. The sections below cover the options, from inside Studio to a plain terminal. Whichever fits how you already work is a fine choice, and switching between them is easy.

Inside Studio, in the Terminal Panel

Studio Desktop has a built-in terminal, the Terminal Panel, where the coding agent runs right next to the canvas. It is visible in current Studio versions, so a recent Studio build is the surest way to have it. As the agent edits files, the changes appear live in the designer, which gives you the "edit in Studio, drive with the agent" loop.

Important:

Editing happens in one place at a time, either the agent or Studio, so the two do not overwrite each other's changes.

In a code editor or IDE

A coding agent may run inside a code editor or Integrated Development Environment (IDE), whether as an extension you add to an editor like VS Code or a JetBrains IDE, or as an AI-native editor like Cursor or Google Antigravity. You work in the editor as usual, and the agent runs alongside your project. This suits coded workflows and mixed projects, where an editor is already where the work happens.

In the coding agent's own app

Some coding agents come as a dedicated desktop application. With one of these, the UiPath project folder opens in the app itself, and the experience is the agent's own. The UiPath skills and the uip CLI behave the same as on every other surface.

In your operating system terminal

A plain terminal works too, such as the macOS Terminal or Windows Terminal. The agent starts in the project folder and runs from there. This is the most portable option, and the one for scripted or automated runs.

Studio Desktop and Studio Web

Where your project lives shapes which surface fits:

Aspect	Studio Desktop	Studio Web
Where it runs	Installed on your machine	In a browser (Chrome, Edge, or Brave)
Where work is saved	Local files, saved as you go	Saved to your Local Workspace first
Where the agent runs	The built-in Terminal Panel, or your own terminal	Your own terminal or the agent's app, pointed at the Local Workspace folder

Whichever surface you choose, the agent connects to your UiPath organization through the same sign-in, and the UiPath skills behave identically. For the tooling, see Install and set up; for the agent itself, see Choosing your agent.