# ADCode

> ADCode is a full IDE - Monaco editing, real terminals, git, four AI providers - that shows an occasional sponsored card and credits you for it. Every cent is on an append-only ledger you can audit.

ADCode is a free, ad-supported code editor for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It is
funded by advertisers rather than subscriptions, and it credits a share of advertising
revenue to the developer using it.

## Key facts

- Cost to the developer: free. No subscription, trial, or paid tier.
- Editor: Monaco editing surface, integrated terminals, git, workspace search, four AI
  providers, plain-English compiler errors, live collaboration.
- Ad format: one small sponsored card in the corner of the window.
- Ad targeting: a fixed vocabulary of 45 generic tags for language, framework, tool, and
  platform. File contents, paths, and project names are never transmitted.
- Revenue share: the developer receives 50% of the winning ad's clearing CPM.
- Earnings record: an append-only ledger. Entries are never edited or deleted; corrections
  are recorded as reversals that reference the original entry.

## Publisher

ADCode is published by Bluethenics (https://bluethenics.com/), an independent software studio.
The studio's page about this product is https://bluethenics.com/adcode.

## Pages

- [Home](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/): what ADCode is and how earnings work.
- [Download and releases](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/versions): one-line install for Windows, macOS, and Linux, and what changed in each release.
- [Advertise](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/#advertise): targeting, pricing, and verification for advertisers.
- [Documentation](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs): every feature, plus the explanations of how the system works.
- [Full text for machines](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/llms-full.txt): the complete text of every page in one file.
- [Privacy](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/privacy): what is collected and what is not.
- [Terms](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/terms): the terms of use.

## Guides and comparisons

- [A free AI code editor with no subscription and no trial](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/free-ai-code-editor): ADCode is a full desktop IDE with four AI providers built in, free permanently rather than free for fourteen days. Here is what it includes, what it costs, and how it is funded.
- [Get paid to code: how developers earn from an ad-supported editor](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/earn-while-you-code): An honest account of earning money while programming in ADCode - the auction, the revenue share, the arithmetic on a realistic working month, and why it is beer money rather than income.
- [ADCode vs VS Code](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/compare/vscode): A straight comparison of ADCode and Visual Studio Code: the shared Monaco editing surface, what ADCode adds, what VS Code's extension marketplace still does better, and who should stay put.
- [ADCode vs Cursor](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/compare/cursor): Cursor charges a monthly subscription for AI editing. ADCode gives you four providers on your own API key and pays you instead. A comparison of cost, model choice, and what Cursor still does better.
- [ADCode vs Idlen](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/compare/idlen): Both pay developers to see ads while coding. Idlen is a VS Code extension; ADCode is a complete editor with an auditable ledger. A comparison of what each one is, and which suits which situation.

## Documentation

### Start here

- [Installing ADCode from a terminal](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/installing-adcode): One command on Linux or Windows: what it verifies before it runs, where things land, and how to update or remove the editor afterwards.
- [Getting started with ADCode in five minutes](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/getting-started-with-adcode): From download to a running program: installing ADCode, opening a project, and finding every switch you will actually use. The long version of what the editor shows on first launch.
- [Every feature, explained: the full ADCode tour](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/every-feature-the-full-tour): All twelve feature areas in one walk-through - what each group does, why it exists, and where its documentation lives.

### How ADCode works

- [What an ad-supported editor owes you](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/what-an-ad-supported-editor-owes-you): Four commitments ADCode makes about when ads appear, what leaves your machine, and what you get paid — and how each one is enforced rather than promised.
- [Why the ledger is append-only](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/why-the-ledger-is-append-only): An administrator who can edit a balance is an administrator who can steal from you. Here is how ADCode makes that structurally impossible rather than merely discouraged.
- [How targeting works without reading your code](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/how-targeting-works-without-reading-your-code): Advertisers want to reach Rust developers. ADCode makes that possible with 45 tags and nothing else — no file contents, no paths, no project names.

### Earning and advertising

- [How you get paid, step by step](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/how-you-get-paid-step-by-step): The complete journey of one advertising dollar: serve, view, receipt, ledger row, balance - with the exact numbers at every step.
- [Publish your first campaign in ten minutes](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/publish-your-first-campaign-in-ten-minutes): Sign in, name the account, create the campaign, attach a creative, fund it, go live - the whole advertiser flow, with what each step costs and when.

### Comparisons

- [ADCode vs VS Code vs Cursor: an honest comparison](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/adcode-vs-vs-code-vs-cursor): Where ADCode matches the big editors, where it differs, and where it deliberately will not compete - written to be argued with.

### Editing

- [Accept suggestion with Enter](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/editing-accept-on-enter): With the suggestion list open, pressing Enter takes the suggestion instead of starting a new line.
- [Auto-rename paired tag](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/editing-auto-rename-paired-tag): Change the name of an opening tag and its closing tag changes to match, by itself.
- [Bracket pair colorization](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/editing-bracket-pair-colorization): Brackets get colours. The one that opens and the one that closes are the same colour, so you can see which goes with which.
- [Check spelling in comments](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/editing-spell-check): Misspelled words in comments get a wavy underline, and the fix is one click away on the lightbulb.
- [Close tags automatically](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/editing-auto-close-tags): Type the end of an opening tag and the closing one appears by itself. Type a closing bracket and it finishes the tag you still have open.
- [Code folding](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/editing-code-folding): Collapse a chunk of code down to one line, and open it again when you want it.
- [Colour comments by intent](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/editing-comment-tones): Start a comment with !, ?, or * and it takes a colour. Start one with a second // and it fades, because that is code you commented out.
- [Column selection mode](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/editing-column-selection): Dragging the mouse selects a rectangle of text - a straight column down the page - instead of following the words.
- [Explain errors in plain English](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/editing-plain-english-errors): Confusing error messages get rewritten into a sentence that says what actually went wrong.
- [Indent guides](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/editing-indent-guides): Faint vertical lines show how far in each line is pushed.
- [Inline error and warning lens](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/editing-inline-error-lens): When a line has a mistake, the message about it sits right at the end of that line.
- [Inline git blame](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/editing-inline-git-blame): Beside the line your cursor is on, it quietly says who last changed it and when.
- [Minimap](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/editing-minimap): A tiny picture of the whole file down the right-hand edge, that you can click to jump.
- [Multi-cursor](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/editing-multi-cursor): Put more than one cursor on the page and type in all those places at once.
- [Path autocomplete](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/editing-path-autocomplete): When you are typing the name of another file, it offers you the files that are really there.
- [Render trailing whitespace](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/editing-trailing-whitespace): Extra spaces left hanging at the end of a line are made visible.
- [Start new files from a template](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/editing-file-templates): A brand new file already has the boring first lines in it - the doctype for a web page, the main function for a C program.
- [Sticky scroll](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/editing-sticky-scroll): As you scroll down inside a long function, its name stays stuck at the top of the editor so you never lose track of where you are.
- [Suggest words already in the file](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/editing-word-suggestions): Even with nothing clever available, it will suggest words you have already used nearby.
- [Suggestions as you type](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/editing-suggestions): A little list pops up guessing what you are about to type, so you can pick it instead.
- [TODO and FIXME highlighting](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/editing-todo-highlighting): Notes you leave yourself in comments - TODO, FIXME, HACK - get a colour so they stand out.

### Finding your way

- [Breadcrumbs](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/navigation-breadcrumbs): A line above the editor showing the trail to where you are: the folder, the file, and the function your cursor is inside.
- [Fuzzy file open](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/navigation-fuzzy-file-open): Open any file by typing a few letters of its name. You do not have to get them right, or in order.
- [Global search and replace](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/navigation-global-search): Search every file in the project for some text, and change it everywhere at once.
- [Go to definition and references](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/navigation-go-to-definition): Click a name to see where it was made, or to see everywhere else it is used. A small preview opens under the line so you do not lose your place.
- [Outline](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/navigation-outline): A list of everything in the file you are looking at - its functions, classes, and sections.
- [Symbol search](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/navigation-symbol-search): Find a function, class, or variable by name anywhere in the project, without knowing which file it is in.

### Formatting

- [Built-in formatter](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/formatting-formatter): Tidies your code for you - puts the spaces, indents and line breaks in the same places every time.
- [Format on save](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/formatting-format-on-save): Every time you save, the file gets tidied first.
- [Lint diagnostics](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/formatting-lint-diagnostics): Underlines the things that are wrong, or look wrong, while you type.
- [Organize imports on save](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/formatting-organize-imports-on-save): When you save, the list of other files your file uses gets sorted, and any it no longer uses are removed.

### Understanding a project

- [Draw trees with connecting lines](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/structure-project-tree-lines): Little lines join each file to the folder it lives in, like a family tree, so you can see what is inside what.
- [Point out classes nothing defines](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/structure-missing-classes): Tells you when you have used a class name that no stylesheet actually defines.
- [Point out rules that style nothing](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/structure-unused-selectors): Tells you when a style rule does not match anything in your project any more.
- [Show the elements a rule styles](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/structure-selector-to-elements): Click a style rule and see the things on the page it actually affects.
- [Show the rules that style an element](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/structure-element-to-rules): Click something on the page and see every style rule that changes how it looks.

### Languages

- [Additional language servers](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/language-custom-servers): Tell ADCode how to start the helper program for a language it does not know about yet.
- [Debug adapter client](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/language-dap-client): Stop your program in the middle of running it, look at what every value actually is, and step through it one line at a time.
- [Language server intelligence](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/language-lsp-client): A helper program that really understands the language you are writing, so ADCode can offer accurate suggestions, spot mistakes, and know where things are defined.
- [Tree-sitter highlighting](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/language-tree-sitter-highlighting): Colours the code by properly reading it, rather than by pattern-matching the words - so the colours are right even in tricky code.

### The assistant

- [AI edit approval](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/ai-edit-policy): Choose whether each AI file change waits for your review or is applied automatically after a successful task turn.
- [AI Team](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/ai-team): Several assistants can divide one larger task, work in parallel, and bring their results back to one reviewed task.
- [AI workspace storage](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/ai-workspace-storage): Limits how much disk space task copies use and how long finished sandboxes and rollback checkpoints stay.
- [Chat history and memory](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/ai-sessions): Every conversation is kept, so you can go back to one. A strip at the top shows exactly what the assistant is remembering right now, and a button clears it.
- [Chat widget](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/ai-chat-widget): A small chat card you can call up to ask questions about the code you are looking at.
- [Connect a model](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/ai-connect): The screen where you tell ADCode which AI to use and give it your key. It checks the key works before saving it.
- [Continue terminal AI after limits](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/ai-auto-continue): A detected terminal assistant can receive a literal “continue” after it says a usage or rate limit has reset.
- [Custom endpoint](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/ai-custom-base-url): Point ADCode at any AI service by pasting its address - including one running on your own computer.
- [Inline completion](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/ai-inline-completion): Grey text appears ahead of your cursor guessing the rest of what you are writing. Press Tab to take it.
- [Isolated AI edits](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/ai-isolated-workspaces): The assistant works in a separate copy of your project. Your real files change only after you review them, with a way back kept first.
- [MCP server](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/ai-mcp-server): Lets AI tools outside ADCode - Claude Code, Codex, and others - read and write the same project notes.
- [Memory capture](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/ai-memory-capture): The assistant writes down decisions and conventions about your project, so it does not need telling twice.
- [Model](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/ai-model): Which particular AI, from that company, answers you.
- [Provider](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/ai-provider): Which company's AI you want to use. You bring your own account and key.
- [Scheduled AI messages](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/ai-scheduled-messages): Write a prompt now and ask a supported AI target to receive it later while ADCode is open.
- [Task token budget](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/ai-task-token-budget): Sets a hard ceiling for one assistant task, checked before each new request can spend your key.
- [Team in the terminal](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/ai-terminal-team): Split one task across several agent CLIs - Claude Code, Codex, Grok, Kimi and the rest - each working in its own terminal pane.
- [Terminal agent detection](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/ai-terminal-agent-detection): If you start an AI tool in ADCode's terminal, ADCode notices and offers to share what it knows about the project with it.

### Git

- [Blame](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/git-blame): Shows who last changed each line, and which save it came from.
- [Branch switcher](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/git-branch-switcher): Work on a separate copy of the project, so you can try something without disturbing the version that works.
- [File timeline](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/git-file-timeline): Every past version of the file you are looking at, newest first, in a list you can open.
- [Gutter diff decorations](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/git-gutter-diff): Little coloured marks in the left margin show which lines you have changed since you last saved them into your project's history.
- [Merge conflict resolution](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/git-merge-conflict): When two people changed the same line, this shows you both versions side by side and lets you pick.
- [Stage, unstage, and commit](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/git-stage-commit-ui): Pick which of your changes to keep as a set, write a note about them, and save that set into your project's history.

### Your session

- [Auto-save after delay](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/session-auto-save): Stop typing for a moment and your file saves itself.
- [Crash recovery](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/session-crash-recovery): If ADCode closes unexpectedly, your unsaved typing is still there when it opens again.
- [Local file history](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/session-local-file-history): ADCode quietly keeps its own copies of files as you edit them, separate from your project's history.
- [Restore workspace](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/session-workspace-restore): Open ADCode again and everything is how you left it - the same folder, the same tabs.

### The workbench

- [All Features](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/workbench-all-features): A searchable library of everything ADCode can do, with an Open button and a plain explanation beside every feature.
- [Built-in terminal](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/workbench-terminal): A command line inside ADCode, already pointed at your project folder.
- [Command palette](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/workbench-command-palette): One box that can run anything ADCode does. Type what you want rather than hunting a menu.
- [Keyboard shortcuts](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/workbench-keybindings): Every shortcut can be changed to whatever keys you prefer.
- [Live collaboration](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/workbench-collab): Someone else can open the same files at the same time and you both see each other typing.
- [Live preview](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/workbench-preview): See a web page you are building beside your code, updating as you type.
- [Run](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/workbench-run): One button that runs whatever you are working on, working out the right command by itself.
- [Structure](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/structure-popup): A window showing what is inside the file you are reading, and what is inside the project, drawn as a tree with lines joining each thing to what it belongs to.
- [Style and markup links](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/structure-css-links): Click a style rule to see the things on the page it changes, or click something on the page to see the rules that style it.
- [Universal search](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/workbench-universal-search): The search box in the title bar finds ADCode features, commands, files, recent folders, and symbols together.

### Appearance

- [Appearance](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/appearance-theme): Light or dark. System means it matches whatever your computer is set to.
- [Density](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/appearance-density): How much space there is between things. Comfortable is roomier; compact fits more on screen.

### Account

- [Earnings](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/account-earnings): What you have been paid for the sponsored cards you have seen, listed one by one.
- [Signing in](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/account-sign-in): Signing in keeps your earnings attached to you rather than to this one computer.

### Files and gestures

- [Selecting and moving files](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/gestures-multi-select): Files can be renamed, moved, copied and deleted straight from the file list.

### Ads and earnings

- [Frequency](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/ads-frequency): How often a sponsored card is allowed to appear. Off, Light, Standard, or Max.
- [Sponsored messages](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/ads-enabled): A small advert card appears in the corner sometimes, and you get paid a little each time one is shown.

### Updates

- [Install updates automatically](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/updates-auto): New versions download quietly in the background and are in place the next time you open ADCode.
- [Tell me what changed](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/updates-whats-new): Now and then, a small card tells you what changed in the version you just got.

## Posts

- [Installing ADCode from a terminal](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/installing-adcode): One command on Linux or Windows: what it verifies before it runs, where things land, and how to update or remove the editor afterwards.
- [Every feature, explained: the full ADCode tour](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/every-feature-the-full-tour): All twelve feature areas in one walk-through - what each group does, why it exists, and where its documentation lives.
- [ADCode vs VS Code vs Cursor: an honest comparison](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/adcode-vs-vs-code-vs-cursor): Where ADCode matches the big editors, where it differs, and where it deliberately will not compete - written to be argued with.
- [Publish your first campaign in ten minutes](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/publish-your-first-campaign-in-ten-minutes): Sign in, name the account, create the campaign, attach a creative, fund it, go live - the whole advertiser flow, with what each step costs and when.
- [How you get paid, step by step](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/how-you-get-paid-step-by-step): The complete journey of one advertising dollar: serve, view, receipt, ledger row, balance - with the exact numbers at every step.
- [Getting started with ADCode in five minutes](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/getting-started-with-adcode): From download to a running program: installing ADCode, opening a project, and finding every switch you will actually use. The long version of what the editor shows on first launch.
- [Why the ledger is append-only](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/why-the-ledger-is-append-only): An administrator who can edit a balance is an administrator who can steal from you. Here is how ADCode makes that structurally impossible rather than merely discouraged.
- [What an ad-supported editor owes you](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/what-an-ad-supported-editor-owes-you): Four commitments ADCode makes about when ads appear, what leaves your machine, and what you get paid — and how each one is enforced rather than promised.
- [How targeting works without reading your code](https://adcode.bluethenics.com/docs/how-targeting-works-without-reading-your-code): Advertisers want to reach Rust developers. ADCode makes that possible with 45 tags and nothing else — no file contents, no paths, no project names.

## Releases

No releases published yet.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is ADCode?

ADCode is a free, ad-supported code editor. It provides Monaco-based editing, integrated terminals, git, workspace search, and AI assistance. Instead of charging a subscription, it shows an occasional sponsored card in the corner of the editor and credits a share of the advertising revenue to the developer using it.

### How much does ADCode cost?

ADCode is free. There is no subscription, no trial, and no paid tier. The editor is funded by advertisers, and a share of what they pay goes to the developer rather than only to the vendor.

### How much can you earn using ADCode?

Advertisers bid in a second-price auction from $1.00 per 500 impressions. The developer receives 50% of the winning ad's clearing price, so earnings vary with live demand. ADCode is a way to use a capable editor for free with some money coming back, not a promise of income.

### Does ADCode read my source code?

No. Ads are targeted using a fixed list of 45 generic tags such as the programming language and framework in use - for example 'lang:rust' or 'fw:react'. File contents, file paths, and project names never leave the machine. AI features send only what you explicitly ask them to send.

### When does ADCode show ads?

Sponsored cards appear in the corner of the window and never interrupt typing, debugging, or a running terminal command. They are rate limited, they can be reduced or switched off entirely in settings, and the server enforces a cap that the client cannot loosen.

### How are ADCode earnings tracked?

Every credit is a row on an append-only ledger visible in the editor and on the web dashboard. Entries are never edited or deleted; a correction is recorded as a separate reversal that references the original, so the full history stays auditable.

### What platforms does ADCode run on?

ADCode runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It can be installed with a single terminal command, and it updates itself automatically when a new version is released.