AI models recommended for developers by the opencode team
opencode zen is a curated, “ready-to-use” gateway of tested models optimized for coding agents. It integrates as an optional provider within opencode, offering pay-as-you-go access to top models (e.g. GPT-5, Claude, Grok) with no lock-in.
I've been an opencode user for a little while now and so far have really enjoyed the zen experience over the last week. I haven't been diligent enough about subscribing to all the model providers out there to figure out which one I should be using for a given task, and zen has given me a single-entry-point solution to enable that sort of experimentation. I also appreciate that the models that are available in this list are coming recommended for coding with bespoke handling to squeeze the best juice out of each one.
The models available today include those listed below, plus a few stealth/experimental offerings:
It's still up to me to figure out the best characteristics of each model to learn which are best for research, planning, implementation, etc. and maybe there's a future update in the works to help me find the right choice faster, but for now I'm excited to try them all out.
I've been an opencode user for a little while now and so far have really enjoyed the zen experience over the last week. I haven't been diligent enough about subscribing to all the model providers out there to figure out which one I should be using for a given task, and zen has given me a single-entry-point solution to enable that sort of experimentation. I also appreciate that the models that are available in this list are coming recommended for coding with bespoke handling to squeeze the best juice out of each one.
The models available today include those listed below, plus a few stealth/experimental offerings:
@Claude by Anthropic
@GPT-5
@Qwen3
@Kimi K2
@Grok Code Fast 1
It's still up to me to figure out the best characteristics of each model to learn which are best for research, planning, implementation, etc. and maybe there's a future update in the works to help me find the right choice faster, but for now I'm excited to try them all out.