Chat vs Agent Dev: choose your surface
Wingman has two chat-like surfaces, and knowing which one you are in explains most surprises. Chat runs in the cloud. Agent Dev runs on your device.
Watch: Chat plans, Agent Dev executes
What each surface does
Chat is hosted: it answers, plans, and reviews with team knowledge, but it cannot touch your machine. Agent Dev is the on-device agent inside the desktop app: it edits files, runs terminals, and executes on the Axelera hardware in front of you. Neither replaces the other — the product is built around handing work between them.
- Use Chat when…: You want answers, planning, reviews, documentation, or agents with project knowledge. Chat is fast everywhere and shares team knowledge — but it has no access to your local files, terminals, Voyager SDK install, or Axelera devices.
- Use Agent Dev when…: The work needs your machine: deploying models, running pipelines, benchmarking, or debugging on the Axelera card in front of you. Agent Dev sees what your terminal sees: workspaces,
axdevice,/dev/metis*, and the SDK environment. - Use Zendesk mode when…: You triage support tickets. The Zendesk startup mode on Wingman Home opens a support-triage workspace connected to your ticket queue. See Zendesk support triage mode in the MCP & Skills tab.
Pick a surface by task
| If you want to… | Use |
|---|---|
| Ask how to quantize a model for your card | Chat |
| Build and run a detection pipeline on your card | Agent Dev |
| Review results or plan next steps from any laptop | Chat on the web |
| Edit repository files and run terminal commands | Agent Dev |
| List the devices connected to your machine | Agent Dev — hosted Chat always reports an empty device list |
| Triage and answer support tickets | Zendesk mode |
The everyday handoff loop
The everyday loop is plan in Chat, execute in Agent Dev. Before you switch, ask Chat for a concise handoff summary — goals, constraints, files, commands — then paste it into the Agent Dev composer. Switching is one click on the Wingman Home button at the top center of the window.
Agent Dev has two requirements Chat does not: the Linux desktop app and an installed, signed-in Claude Code, Codex, or Kimi CLI. Agents run on your device through that local CLI, not through a shared Wingman key.