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This beginner tutorial introduces OpenCode as an open source terminal coding assistant and an alternative to Claude Code. The speaker installs it with a curl command, starts it in a project folder, and connects a model provider. The examples use hosted inference; this walkthrough does not demonstrate running a local LLM.
The first connection uses OpenCode Zen and Big Pickle, which the speaker presents as a free option. He warns that free providers may use prompts for training. He then signs in through a ChatGPT Pro or Plus subscription and selects GPT 5.5 with high reasoning effort. His preference for subscription access over token billing is advice for this workflow, rather than a general cost comparison.
Project setup covers skills from skills.sh, an AGENTS.md file for persistent rules, and a design.md file for UI conventions. The speaker recommends delegating implementation to subagents to limit the main agent's context use. He also saves the implementation plan so a fresh session can resume the work.
The example app is a Next.js project planner using Vercel AI SDK and Claude Sonnet 4.6 through OpenRouter. It excludes authentication, a database and payments. After a slow initial response, the speaker requests structured output streaming and editable cards. The final section configures Playwright MCP, restarts OpenCode to load it, and describes the agent operating the browser to test the app.
