What is ECA used for?

ECA, the Editor Code Assistant, is an editor-agnostic server that adds AI chat, rewrite and completion to editors like Emacs, VS Code, IntelliJ and Neovim. It is a good fit for using the same AI assistant in Emacs and VS Code, standardizing AI coding setup across a team, and adding AI features to a new editor integration.

Yes. ECA is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at editor-code-assistant/eca and is written mainly in Clojure.

Yes. ECA is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

What is ECA an alternative to?

ECA is an open-source alternative to Augment Code, Cursor, Amazon Q Developer and GitHub Copilot. Other open-source alternatives to Augment Code include Kilo Code, Aider and Tabby.

Is ECA actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to ECA was on 28 September 2026, and the latest release is 0.161.2, published on 25 September 2026. The project has 1k stars on GitHub.

ECA: open-source alternative to Augment Code, Cursor

About ECA

Editor Code Assistant, or ECA, is a free open-source tool that brings AI pair programming to many code editors through a shared server and a well-defined protocol. The server is written in Clojure and is heavily inspired by the Language Server Protocol, with editors starting it as a subprocess and talking to it over standard input and output.

Because the logic lives in the server, features such as tool call management, interaction with multiple models, usage telemetry and configuration work the same way in every editor. ECA offers chat, rewrite and completion, multiple agents and subagents with different models and tools, context including MCP resources and prompts, and login to providers such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Copilot and local Ollama models. It can export OpenTelemetry metrics.

Official integrations exist for Emacs, VS Code, IntelliJ and a desktop app, and the protocol makes it easier for other editors to integrate. ECA is licensed under Apache-2.0 and runs on your own machine with your own model access. It suits developers and teams who want consistent AI assistance across editors.

Key features

Editor-agnostic protocol inspired by LSP
Chat, rewrite, and completion
Agents and subagents with configurable models
MCP resources and prompts as context
Support for OpenAI, Anthropic, Copilot, and Ollama
OpenTelemetry metrics export

Good fit for

→Using the same AI assistant in Emacs and VS Code
→Standardizing AI coding setup across a team
→Adding AI features to a new editor integration

Built with: Clojure
Tags: ai-coding; code-assistant; editor-plugin; llm; mcp; clojure; emacs; vscode; protocol

ECA: questions and answers

What is ECA used for?: ECA, the Editor Code Assistant, is an editor-agnostic server that adds AI chat, rewrite and completion to editors like Emacs, VS Code, IntelliJ and Neovim. It is a good fit for using the same AI assistant in Emacs and VS Code, standardizing AI coding setup across a team, and adding AI features to a new editor integration.
Is ECA open source?: Yes. ECA is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at editor-code-assistant/eca and is written mainly in Clojure.
Is ECA free?: Yes. ECA is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
What is ECA an alternative to?: ECA is an open-source alternative to Augment Code, Cursor, Amazon Q Developer and GitHub Copilot. Other open-source alternatives to Augment Code include Kilo Code, Aider and Tabby.
Is ECA actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to ECA was on 28 September 2026, and the latest release is 0.161.2, published on 25 September 2026. The project has 1k stars on GitHub.