Surfaces - Aster

Surface	How
Terminal	`aster`
Browser	`aster serve [--port 8080] [--host 0.0.0.0] [--no-open]`
VS Code / Cursor	The `editors/vscode` extension
Zed	`aster acp` as a custom agent server
Desktop	The Tauri app in `desktop/`

Browser

aster serve

Serves the chat UI at http://localhost:4187 and opens it. Off loopback, a token is required in the URL, so an exposed port is not an open door.

VS Code and Cursor

The extension embeds the chat in a sidebar, tab, or window.

cmd+shift+a opens Aster, cmd+alt+k the command menu, cmd+alt+n a new session, cmd+alt+r reopens a session
alt+a sends the current selection as an @-mention
Review findings land in the Problems pane
Settings: aster.binaryPath, aster.minConfidence, aster.publishDiagnostics, aster.extraArgs

Zed

aster acp speaks the Agent Client Protocol. Register it in Zed’s settings.json as a custom agent server:

{
  "agent": {
    "custom_servers": {
      "aster": {
        "command": "aster",
        "args": ["acp", "--permission-mode", "edit"]
      }
    }
  }
}

Flags: --permission-mode, --model, --no-mcp, --trace.

One config everywhere

All surfaces resolve model, provider, mode, and keys from the same aster.yaml, so aster provider use openai switches every surface at once.