--- uid: how-to.make-your-first-change description: "Just installed Intent Architect? Get your first change from the AI, reviewed and committed: open your code or start something new, choose your coding agent, ask for the change, then check what it did in Change Review and commit it in Source Control." --- # Make your first change with the AI Just installed Intent Architect? Get your first change from the AI, reviewed and committed, without leaving the app: open your code or start something new, choose your coding agent, ask for the change, then check what it did and commit it. ## Sign in and open your code from the Home screen When Intent Architect starts, sign in with your Intent Architect account. If you don't have one yet, click **Create an account** on the sign-in screen. The Home screen opens next. Under **Get started**, pick whichever fits: - **Open a folder** opens code you already have, whether or not it has an Intent Architect solution. - **Clone a repository** clones a Git repository from its URL into a folder you choose, then opens it the same way. - **Open an existing solution** opens an Intent Architect solution, the `.isln` file your team may already have. - **Create a new solution** starts from nothing. Name it and click **Create solution**, then click **Create new application** and choose a template for your first application. The solution gets its own Git repository by default. ![The Get started options on the Home screen](images/home-get-started.png) _**Get started** on the Home screen, with the four ways to open or start your code boxed._ Each one opens your code in the [Solution Shell](https://docs.intentarchitect.com/docs-md/application-development/user-interface/agents-shell-and-solution-shell/agents-shell-and-solution-shell.md), with the AI chat docked on the right. > [!NOTE] > If the folder you open or clone contains an Intent Architect solution, open that solution with **Open an existing solution** before you ask for a change. When it's opened as a folder, the agent can change the solution's design but can't generate the code from it. ## Use your own coding agent in the AI Assistant The AI Assistant chat can use a coding agent you already have: Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot CLI, Cursor CLI, Kiro or OpenCode. The agent runs on your computer, signed in to your own account: 1. Install the agent's CLI and sign in to it from a terminal. If you haven't before, follow the [install steps for your agent](https://docs.intentarchitect.com/docs-md/integrated-ai/cli-agents/index.md#installing-an-agent). 2. In the **AI Assistant**, docked on the right of the Solution Shell (press `F8` if it's hidden), open the model picker below the message box and click the cog at the top of the list. **AI Configuration** opens on the **AI Providers** tab. 3. Check that your agent shows **Installed**, and turn on its power button if it's off. 4. Back in the model picker, pick one of the agent's models, such as **Claude Code Default**. ![The model picker in the AI Assistant, filtered to Claude Code](images/model-picker.png) _The model picker filtered to Claude Code, with **Claude Code Default** and the cog that opens AI Configuration boxed._ The chat may show a banner offering to **Enable auto sync** for the agent's skills and rules. You can leave it for now; it adds files to your repository. ## Ask for your first change in the AI chat Check that **Agent** is selected in the agent picker beside the model, then describe the change in plain words and press `Enter`. Start with something small that you can check yourself. In an Intent Architect solution, the agent changes the design first and generates code from it. Asked _"Add an optional date of birth to Customer, and let the customer endpoints set and return it."_, Claude Code added the field to the domain and service designs, generated the code, added the field to the two hand-written request handlers itself, then checked that the solution built, in just under three minutes. The agent asks before it edits files or runs a command. Click **Allow** to approve that one step, or **Allow all** to switch the chat to **Bypass all permissions**, so it stops asking for the rest of the chat and edits files and runs commands without checking with you. When it's done, **Agent’s Changes** above the message box lists everything it changed: the design changes in each designer, then the files. ![Agent's Changes in the AI chat](images/agents-changes.png) _The finished change, with **Agent’s Changes** expanded and boxed._ For a bigger change, plan it first. Pick **Plan** in the agent picker, or press `Shift+Tab` before you send: the agent asks its questions and writes a plan, and builds nothing until you approve it. To decide when to plan and when to just ask, see [Vibe coding, Plan Mode or Spec-Driven Development: when to use which](https://docs.intentarchitect.com/docs-md/how-to-guides/vibe-coding-plan-mode-or-sdd/vibe-coding-plan-mode-or-sdd.md). ## See what changed in Change Review The agent leaves its change uncommitted, so you can check it first. Open **Source Control** from the activity bar on the left, or press `Ctrl+Shift+G`, and click the flag button at the top of the pane. **Change Review** opens on everything you haven't committed yet: - Under your application, each designer lists its design changes. Click one to see them on a diagram, with what changed highlighted. - **Code** lists every changed file. Click a file to read its diff. - When files need a person's eyes, such as hand-written code nobody has approved yet, they're listed first under **Needs attention**. Click a file's tick once you're happy with it. For the date-of-birth change, that was four design changes in two designers, and seven code files, including the two handlers the agent edited by hand. ![Change Review for the date-of-birth change](images/change-review.png) _Change Review for the date-of-birth change, with the designers boxed and one handler's diff open._ ## Commit the change in Source Control In the **Source Control** pane (`Ctrl+Shift+G`), type a commit message, or click the wand in the message box to have the AI write one. Then click **Commit**, or press `Ctrl+Enter`. If you haven't staged any files, it asks whether to **Stage all and commit**; click that to commit the whole change. For the date-of-birth change, the AI wrote _"Add DateOfBirth to Customer"_, and the commit took the whole change. ![The commit message and Commit button in Source Control](images/source-control-commit.png) _Source Control with the AI-written message and **Commit** boxed, beside Change Review._ To share it, push from the **History** toolbar below the commit box. ## Related articles - [CLI Agents as AI Providers](https://docs.intentarchitect.com/docs-md/integrated-ai/cli-agents/index.md) - setting up Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot CLI and the other coding agents. - [Vibe coding, Plan Mode or Spec-Driven Development: when to use which](https://docs.intentarchitect.com/docs-md/how-to-guides/vibe-coding-plan-mode-or-sdd/vibe-coding-plan-mode-or-sdd.md) - when to just ask, when to plan first and when to write a spec. - [Change Review](https://docs.intentarchitect.com/docs-md/application-development/change-review/change-review/change-review.md) - everything Change Review shows. - [Source Control](https://docs.intentarchitect.com/docs-md/application-development/user-interface/source-control/source-control.md) - committing, pushing and pulling. - [Use Claude Code, Cursor or Copilot with Intent Architect](https://docs.intentarchitect.com/docs-md/how-to-guides/use-claude-code-cursor-or-copilot/use-claude-code-cursor-or-copilot.md) - working with the coding agent you already use.