Using goose in ACP Clients

Client applications that support the Agent Client Protocol (ACP) can connect natively to goose. This integration allows you to seamlessly interact with goose directly from the client.

Experimental Feature

ACP is an emerging specification that enables clients to communicate with AI agents like goose. This feature has limited adoption and may evolve as the protocol develops.

How It Works

After you configure goose as an agent in the ACP client, you gain access to goose's core agent functionality, including its extensions and tools. goose also automatically loads any configured MCP servers from your ACP client alongside its own extensions, making their tools available without additional configuration.

The client manages the goose lifecycle automatically, including:

• Initialization: The client runs the goose acp command to initialize the connection
• Communication: The client communicates with goose over stdio using JSON-RPC
• Multiple Sessions: The client manages multiple concurrent goose conversations simultaneously
• Session Isolation: Each session maintains its own isolated state, including conversation history, agent context, and extension configurations, allowing concurrent sessions to run without interference

Session Persistence

ACP sessions are saved to goose's session history where you can access and manage them using goose. Access to session history in ACP clients might vary.

Reference Implementation

The goose for VS Code extension uses ACP to communicate with goose. See the vscode-goose repository for implementation details.

Setup in ACP Clients

Any editor or IDE that supports ACP can connect to goose as an agent server. Check the official ACP clients list for available clients with links to their documentation.

Example: Zed Editor Setup

ACP was originally developed by Zed. Here's how to configure goose in Zed:

1. Prerequisites

Ensure you have both Zed and goose CLI installed:

• Zed: Download from zed.dev

• goose CLI: Follow the installation guide

  • ACP support works best with version 1.16.0 or later - check with goose --version.

  • Temporarily run goose acp to test that ACP support is working:

    ~ goose acp
    Goose ACP agent started. Listening on stdio...

    Press Ctrl+C to exit the test.

2. Configure goose as a Custom Agent

Add goose to your Zed settings:

1. Open Zed
2. Press Cmd+Option+, (macOS) or Ctrl+Alt+, (Linux/Windows) to open the settings file
3. Add the following configuration:

{
  "agent_servers": {
    "goose": {
      "command": "goose",
      "args": ["acp"],
      "env": {}
    }
  },
  // more settings
}

You should now be able to interact with goose directly in Zed. Your ACP sessions use the same extensions that are enabled in your goose configuration, and your tools (Developer, Computer Controller, etc.) work the same way as in regular goose sessions.

3. Start Using goose in Zed

1. Open the Agent Panel: Click the sparkles agent icon in Zed's status bar
2. Create New Thread: Click the + button to show thread options
3. Select goose: Choose New goose to start a new conversation with goose
4. Start Chatting: Interact with goose directly from the agent panel

Advanced Configuration

Overriding Provider and Model

By default, goose will use the provider and model defined in your configuration file. You can override this for specific ACP configurations using the GOOSE_PROVIDER and GOOSE_MODEL environment variables.

The following Zed settings example configures two goose agent instances. This is useful for:

• Comparing model performance on the same task
• Using cost-effective models for simple tasks and powerful models for complex ones

{
  "agent_servers": {
    "goose": {
      "command": "goose",
      "args": ["acp"],
      "env": {}
    },
    "goose (GPT-4o)": {
      "command": "goose",
      "args": ["acp"],
      "env": {
        "GOOSE_PROVIDER": "openai",
        "GOOSE_MODEL": "gpt-4o"
      }
    }
  },
  // more settings
}

Using MCP Servers from ACP Clients

MCP servers configured in the ACP client's context_servers are automatically available to goose. This allows you to use those MCP servers when using both native client features and the goose agent integration.

Example (Zed):

{
  "context_servers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem",
        "/path/to/allowed/dir"
      ]
    }
  },
  "agent_servers": {
    "goose": {
      "command": "goose",
      "args": ["acp"],
      "env": {}
    }
  },
  // more settings
}

To find out what tools are available, just ask goose while it's running in the client.

info

All MCP servers in context_servers are automatically available to goose, provided that they use stdio (command-based) or HTTP transports. goose doesn't support servers that use the deprecated SSE transport.

If a server in context_servers has the same name as a goose extension, goose uses its own configuration.

TUI Client

For terminal-based workflows, goose provides a TUI (Terminal User Interface) client that communicates with goose via ACP. This is useful for developers who prefer working entirely in the terminal or need a lightweight alternative to the desktop app.

Features

• Full terminal-based chat interface - Interactive conversation UI rendered directly in your terminal
• Real-time streaming responses - See goose's responses as they're generated
• Tool call visualization - View tool executions with status indicators, inputs, and outputs
• Permission dialogs - Approve or reject tool permissions inline
• Keyboard navigation - Navigate conversation history and scroll through responses
• Markdown rendering - Formatted output for code blocks, lists, and other markdown elements
• Message queuing - Queue messages while goose is processing

Installation

cd ui/text
npm install

Running the TUI

Option 1: Auto-launch server (recommended)

The TUI will automatically start the goose-acp-server if you have it installed:

npm start

Option 2: Manual server startup

Start the ACP server separately, then connect the TUI:

# Terminal 1: Start the server
cargo run -p goose-acp --bin goose-acp-server

# Terminal 2: Start the TUI
cd ui/text
npm start

Option 3: Connect to a custom server

npm start -- --server http://localhost:3284

Single Prompt Mode

Send a single prompt and exit (useful for scripting):

npm start -- --text "What files are in this directory?"

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Enter	Send message
↑ / ↓	Scroll current response
Shift+↑ / Shift+↓	Navigate conversation history
Tab	Expand/collapse tool call details
Ctrl+C or Esc	Exit (or cancel permission dialog)

Permission Dialog

When goose requests permission to use a tool, a dialog appears with these options:

Key	Action
y	Allow once
a	Always allow
n	Reject once
N	Always reject
↑ / ↓	Navigate options
Enter	Confirm selection
Esc	Cancel

Additional Resources

Intro to Agent Client Protocol (ACP) | Vibe Code with goose

Watch how ACP lets you seamlessly integrate goose into your code editor to streamline fragmented workflows.

VIDEO

Oct 16, 2025

50:23

Intro to Agent Client Protocol (ACP): The Standard for AI Agent-Editor Integration

Learn how to integrate AI agents like goose directly into your code editor via ACP, eliminating window-switching and vendor lock-in.

BLOG

Oct 24, 2025

7 min read