At a glance
| Capability | Chief | OpenCode |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | AI-native agent manager | Open-source multi-provider coding agent |
| Scope | All projects, agents, team members | One codebase per session |
| Decomposition | ✅ Goal → milestones → one-shot execution | ❌ Manual task scoping |
| Proactive planning | ✅ Proposes next steps from project state | ❌ Waits for prompts |
| Multi-project | ✅ Portfolio-wide visibility and dispatch | ❌ Single project per session |
| Multi-provider | ✅ BYOA — mix per task | ✅ Any LLM provider |
| Team coordination | ✅ Shared projects, unified visibility | ❌ Individual tool |
| Quality gates | ✅ Auto-review against criteria | ❌ Manual review of all output |
What is Chief?
Chief is an AI-native agent manager. It sits above coding agents like OpenCode and handles everything between "here's what I want" and "here's the shipped result" — planning what to build, figuring out what comes next, dispatching agents across your entire portfolio, and reviewing output before it ships.
You already use OpenCode to implement features with whatever LLM provider you prefer. Chief makes OpenCode productive at scale — across every project you manage, executing complex goals end-to-end without you manually breaking them down.
Chief uses a BYOA (bring-your-own-agent) model. You connect your existing coding agents — no lock-in, no migration.
What Chief adds on top
1. Plan and execute complex goals in one shot
OpenCode executes tasks — but complex goals still require you to manually break them into subtasks, sequence them, and prompt the agent for each one.
Chief provides one-shot execution of complex goals. Give it "implement Stripe billing with usage metering and team plans" and Chief decomposes it into dependency-aware milestones — the schema migration before the API endpoints, the webhook handler before the billing page. Each milestone has acceptance criteria, an implementation plan, and a review gate. You approve the plan once; Chief executes the entire sequence.
2. Proactive management that figures out what's next
OpenCode waits for you. Every session starts because you decide to start it. Between sessions, nothing happens.
Chief is proactive. It analyzes project state, understands what's been completed, what's blocked, and what's ready to start — then proposes the next milestones. You make decisions; Chief drives the pace.
3. Scale agents across your entire portfolio
OpenCode works in one codebase at a time. Five repos means five separate sessions with zero coordination between them.
Chief manages agents across all your projects simultaneously. Dispatch OpenCode to some repos, Claude Code or Codex to others, and see all progress in one dashboard. Chief tracks what's in flight everywhere, and sequences cross-project dependencies.
4. Mix the right provider for each task
OpenCode already supports multiple LLM providers — a genuine strength. Chief takes this further by mixing at the agent level: use OpenCode where it fits, Claude Code for complex refactors, and Codex for rapid prototyping. Chief manages the coordination across all of them from a single interface.
5. Team-wide visibility
Chief gives teams a unified dashboard with shared projects, role-based access, and real-time progress tracking. Everyone sees what's in flight across all team members and projects from one view.
6. Quality gates between agent output and merge
Chief reviews every completed milestone against its acceptance criteria before marking it done. At scale — five projects, multiple agents — this is the difference between drowning in PRs and having a managed review pipeline.
When to add Chief
Add Chief to your OpenCode workflow when:
- You want to scale across projects. Chief lets you run agents across your entire portfolio from one dashboard.
- You want one-shot execution of complex goals. Give Chief a goal, approve the plan, and it executes the full milestone sequence without you managing each step.
- You want proactive management. Chief figures out what to work on next based on project state — you stop being the bottleneck between tasks.
- You want to mix at the agent level. OpenCode gives you provider flexibility; Chief gives you agent flexibility — route OpenCode, Claude Code, and Codex to the tasks each handles best.
- You work in a team. Unified visibility shows what every agent is doing.
- You want quality gates at scale. Chief reviews agent output against acceptance criteria before it hits your inbox.
Chief doesn't replace OpenCode — it turns every session into part of a managed, portfolio-wide operation.
Getting started in 5 minutes
Already using OpenCode? Adding Chief takes minutes.
- Sign up for Chief — free trial, no credit card.
- Connect your coding agents — Chief uses a BYOA model. Bring OpenCode alongside Claude Code, Codex, or others.
- Import a project — give Chief a GitHub repo URL. It builds context automatically.
- Set a goal — describe what you want accomplished in plain language.
- Approve the plan — Chief proposes milestones with acceptance criteria. Review, adjust, approve.
- Watch it execute — Chief dispatches agents with the right context, executes the full plan, and reviews the output.
FAQ
Is Chief a replacement for OpenCode?
No. Chief manages coding agents; it doesn't replace them. OpenCode does the coding. Chief does the planning, dispatching, and reviewing. They're different layers — manager and engineer.
Can Chief manage OpenCode alongside other agents?
Yes. Chief's BYOA model supports multiple agents. Use OpenCode for some tasks and Claude Code or Codex for others — Chief dispatches the right agent for each milestone from a single interface.
How does Chief decide what to work on next?
Chief maintains persistent project context — completed milestones, in-flight work, project goals, codebase state. It uses this context to proactively propose the next milestones. You approve or redirect; Chief drives the pace.
Can I still use OpenCode directly for hands-on work?
Absolutely. Chief manages background agent work — it doesn't take over your terminal. Use OpenCode interactively anytime, and use Chief for the work you want to delegate.
Does Chief work with any IDE?
Chief is IDE-agnostic. It dispatches coding agents in the background — your editor choice doesn't affect Chief.