Kate Agent Plugin

An AI assistant integrated into Kate that replicates Zed Editor's agent functionality: LLM chat, tool execution, context from open buffers, and iteration loops.

✨ Features

🤖 LLM Chat with Real-time Streaming

• Type messages and receive AI responses as they stream in real-time
• Compatible with any OpenAI-compatible API (OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama, LM Studio, etc.)
• Model selection dropdown to switch between different AI models
• Agent profiles: Write (code changes), Ask (questions/debugging), Minimal (concise)
• Streaming text with proper word wrapping and formatting
• Keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl+Enter to send message, Enter for new line

🔧 Tool Execution

The AI can automatically execute tools based on your request:

Tool	Description
read_file	Reads file contents to understand your code
edit_file	Suggests code changes with diff preview
grep	Searches for patterns across the project
find_files	Lists files matching a pattern
terminal	Executes shell commands (sandboxed for safety)

Security: Terminal commands block dangerous operations (rm, curl, wget, sh, bash, cp, mv, python, perl, ruby).

📚 Automatic Buffer Context

• Files you're currently editing are automatically included in the AI's context
• Helps the AI understand your project without manual file mentions

🔄 Intelligent Agent Loop

• AI → Tool → Result → AI (automatic cycle)
• Maximum 20 iterations to prevent infinite loops
• Tool outputs displayed inline in the chat
• AI decides which tools to use based on your request

📋 Multiple Chat Sessions

• Create unlimited chat tabs with the + button
• Each tab maintains its own conversation history
• Close tabs with the × button
• Named automatically (Chat 1, Chat 2, etc.)
• All conversations persist across Kate restarts

@-Mentions for Quick File Reference

• Type @ to trigger file autocomplete
• Fuzzy search across your project files
• Files are automatically read and included in the AI's context
• Example: @src/main.cpp fix the null pointer issue

💾 Conversation Persistence

• All chat histories save automatically
• Survives Kate restarts
• Organized by project (git repository)

📦 Installation

Prerequisites

• Kate ≥ 23.08 (KTextEditor KF6)
• Qt 6.4+
• CMake 3.16+
• GCC/Clang with C++17 support

Build from source

cd kate-agent-plugin
cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build -j$(nproc)
sudo cmake --install build

Manual installation

# Copy the library
sudo cp build/libkateagentplugin.so \
  /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt6/plugins/kf6/ktexteditor/

# Copy the metadata file
sudo cp src/kateagentplugin.json \
  /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt6/plugins/kf6/ktexteditor/

Enable in Kate

1. Open Kate
2. Go to Settings → Configure Kate → Plugins
3. Enable Kate Agent Plugin
4. Restart Kate
5. Press Ctrl+Alt+A to open the panel

🚀 Usage

Chat with the Agent

1. Type your request in the input field
2. Use @ to mention specific files
3. Select the profile (Write/Ask/Minimal)
4. Press Enter

The agent will respond and can:

• Read files
• Execute searches
• Modify code (with confirmation)
• Execute safe commands

Accept Ghost Text Suggestions

When the agent proposes changes:

• Tab: Accept the suggestion
• Esc: Reject
• Shift+Tab: Accept line by line

⚠️ Known Limitations

LSP Integration (NOT available)

Problem: The plugin cannot access Kate's integrated LSP Client.

What's missing:

• Jump to definition (CTRL+click)
• Cross-file symbol search
• Hover information
• Intelligent completion based on LSP

Current fallback:

• Regex search on open files
• Works only for symbols in documents currently open in Kate
• Does not index the entire project

Temporary solution:

1. Enable Kate's "LSP Client" plugin (Settings → Configure Kate → Plugins)
2. Install appropriate language servers (clangd, rust-analyzer, pylsp)
3. Kate will handle them internally (but my plugin cannot use them directly)

Future plan:

• Wait for KTextEditor to expose a public API for the LSP client
• Or implement a standalone LSP client (complex, not priority)

Other Limitations

Feature	Status	Notes
Multi-file edit (batch)	⚠️ Partial	Diff preview works, batch editing no
Codebase indexing	❌ No	Only open files, not entire project
LSP hover	❌ No	Requires exposed LSP API
Go to definition	❌ No	Requires real LSP
Test UI/E2E	⚠️ Partial	3/3 unit tests passing (93%)

🧪 Testing

# Run all tests
cd build
ctest --output-on-failure

# Specific tests
./tests/test_configmanager
./tests/test_editorcontext
./tests/test_threadjsonstorage

🔧 Development

Build with debug

cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
cmake --build build -j$(nproc)

Local installation (without sudo)

# Install to ~/.local
cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$HOME/.local
cmake --build build
cmake --install build

# Manually copy to ~/.local/lib/qt6/plugins/ktexteditor/

Debug logging

Set environment variable:

export KATEAGENT_DEBUG=1
kate