25Terminal, editor or app

There are three shapes, and the difference between them is bigger than it looks.

A normal app or website. You're in a chat, copying code across by hand. Everyone starts here, and for "ask a question" it's fine. For a project it's torture: you'll wear yourself out moving pieces back and forth.

A code editor with AI built in. Cursor and friends. Looks like a familiar program with panels, the AI lives to one side and can see your files. The entry is gentler: there are buttons, there's highlighting, everything is visible.

A terminal. A black window you type into. Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode live here. Looks the scariest and turns out to be the most convenient - because there the AI doesn't "help you type", it works.

What I'd suggest: if it feels frightening, start with an editor. If you can stand one evening of discomfort, go straight to the terminal, because you'll end up there within a week anyway.

And don't deliberate for long. Swapping tools takes five minutes; a week spent comparing them doesn't come back.