Introduction

Contral is an AI coding assistant that teaches while you build. It writes and edits code with you like other AI coding agents, and it explains what changed and why, so you understand the code you ship.

What Contral is#

Contral comes in two forms that share one account, one plan and one set of usage limits:

• The Contral extension for VS Code and editors built on it: Cursor, Windsurf, Antigravity, Kilo Code and VSCodium. Install it from the Visual Studio Marketplace or Open VSX. See Install the extension.
• Contral IDE, a desktop code editor built on Eclipse Theia, with Contral built in. It's currently in public beta for macOS on Apple Silicon. See Install the desktop IDE.

You sign in with a Contral account from contral.ai↗. Your plan and usage are tracked on that account, so they're the same in every editor and on every machine.

Contral's three modes: Build, Learn and Defense#

Contral is organized around three ways of working.

Build mode is the AI coding agent. Describe what you want in the chat, and Contral reads your project, proposes changes, shows each edit for you to accept or skip, and runs commands with your approval. It has four agent modes (Fast, Plan, Deep and Recursive) for different kinds of tasks. Each change comes with a teaching card that explains it. See Build mode and Agent modes.

Learn mode is a structured curriculum inside your editor. The first track is Java, from basics through data structures, with lessons, hands-on missions, hints and checkpoints. See Learn mode & curriculum.

Defense mode is about proving you understand the code, not just accepting it. Contral asks you to explain code back, answers your follow-up questions and checks your work. See Defense mode.

What Contral does alongside other AI agents#

Contral also teaches you about code written by other AI tools. When Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cline, Windsurf, Antigravity or another agent edits a file in your workspace, Contral notices the change and shows a teaching card explaining what was changed and why. You keep using the agent you like; Contral adds the understanding. See Teaching on AI edits from other agents.

Other features:

• Codebase tours and codebase chat. Point Contral at a repository and get a guided tour and learning path, then ask questions about it. See Codebase tours & codebase chat.
• Explain selection. Right-click any code and choose Contral: Explain selection for a line-by-line explanation.
• Web search for current docs, release notes and errors. See Web search.
• MCP servers and skills to extend the agent. See MCP servers and Skills.
• Bring your own key (BYOK) to use your own OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or other provider key. See Bring your own key.

Who Contral is for#

• People learning to code who want an AI that explains instead of just doing the work.
• Developers using AI agents (vibecoding) who want to understand every change before it ships.
• Developers joining an unfamiliar codebase who want a guided tour.
• Career changers and students working through the Java curriculum.

Plans for Contral#

Contral has a Free plan, paid monthly and annual plans (Pro, Pro+ and Teams), and lifetime plans sold through AppSumo. See Plans & pricing and AppSumo lifetime deal overview.

Start using Contral#

• New here? Follow the Quickstart. It takes about five minutes.
• Bought Contral on AppSumo? Start with Redeem your AppSumo code.