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Launching TestChimp Studio: Your Desktop IDE for Software Delivery

· 7 min read
Nuwan Samarasekera
Nuwan Samarasekera
Founder & CEO, TestChimp

TL;DR: We shipped TestChimp Studio—the companion desktop app that is your IDE for software delivery. Going from “what are we building?” to “is it ready to ship?” no longer means jumping across a myriad of platforms and stitching context by hand. Studio consolidates requirement planning, agentic QA, release governance, issues, executions (E2E, API, performance, security, UX), coverage, and QA knowledge-base exploration in one local workspace. Built on OpenCode: use ChimpHands, bring your own LLM API key, or connect a local model. macOS, Windows, and Linux—or npx @testchimp/studio.

Product page: testchimp.io/studio. Docs: TestChimp Studio · Download.

The stitching tax​

Agentic QA is working. Teams already run /testchimp workflows, keep plans in Git, gate releases on evidence, and let automations start ChimpHands when something changes.

The remaining bottleneck is the workspace. Delivery still looks like this:

You needWhat you actually do
IntentWrite the story in a tracker, then re-explain it to an agent
ExecutionHop to an IDE, paste a prompt, lose the release and coverage tabs
EvidenceCI is green somewhere; perf is in another product; UX bugs live in a spreadsheet
GovernanceSomeone builds a slide that claims the version is ready
AlignmentNobody can see whether QA posture matches this plan and these users

Agents compressed doing the work. They did not invent a control pane that sits on your machine next to the repo.

Studio is that pane—in the convenience of a desktop app.

What is TestChimp Studio?​

TestChimp Studio is TestChimp’s companion desktop application. It is not a second product with a second source of truth. It is the same control plane as the web app, plus a local OpenCode agent runtime, so planning and execution share one window.

You can:

  • Plan requirements — organize stories and scenarios, then hand them to agents without leaving the workspace (requirement planning).
  • Run agentic QA — create tests, upkeep the suite, explore UX, implement a story—catalog workflows with full local checkout context.
  • Govern the release — test runs, checks, and readiness on the version you are about to push (release governance).
  • Track issues — agent-found and human-found, tied back to plans and executions.
  • See executions — E2E, API, performance, security, and UX evidence without a dashboard scavenger hunt.
  • Govern coverage — requirements, API schemas, real-user behaviour (TrueCoverage), and the gaps you should close next.
  • Explore the QA knowledge-base — stories, scenarios, tests, releases, issues, and how they relate (QA Brain / InfiniTrace).

The desktop binary is the shell + agent. The product UI still loads from your App URL and ships independently—so Studio does not freeze the product on whatever build you installed last month.

Full walkthrough: TestChimp Studio.

One workspace, the whole delivery loop​

If you have been living in the TestChimp loop, the pieces already exist as separate surfaces. Studio is the place they stop competing for focus.

Requirement (story / scenario)
        ↓
Agentic workflow  (/testchimp create-tests, run QA, upkeep, …)
        ↓
Executions  (SmartTests, API, k6, ExploreChimp, security)
        ↓
Coverage + issues  (plans, schemas, RUM, QA Brain)
        ↓
Release  (evidence, checks, ship / don’t ship)

QA can run autonomously—local agent now, cloud ChimpHands and automations when you want CI to do it overnight—while you keep complete transparency into posture and how it aligns with product intent.

That is the difference between “we have an agent” and “we have a delivery workspace.”

Your agent, your keys, your machine​

Studio is built on OpenCode. Settings → LLM is explicit about who pays for tokens:

PathWhat it is
ChimpHandsOur coding agent. QA-metered credits. Same catalog as cloud ChimpHands.
Bring your own keyOpenAI, Anthropic, ChatGPT/Codex OAuth, or another models.dev / OpenCode provider.
Local / custom URLPoint at a local or self-hosted model. No ChimpHands credits.

Studio starts one OpenCode serve for the active workspace and keeps the TestChimp skill current. You are not pasting mcp.json into a third IDE to get the catalog. You also are not required to burn a Cursor or Claude seat for every /testchimp upkeep you run at the desk.

Cloud ChimpHands stays the right executor for async CI. Studio is the right executor for interactive delivery on the laptop that already has the branch.

Why this matters in the agentic era​

We have argued that skills are SaaS distribution—the playbook travels with the agent. That automations close the routing gap. That requirements need governance before agents spend tokens. That release governance is the ship decision, not a spreadsheet.

Studio closes the attention gap.

Without it, the platform is still a tab, the agent is still another tab, and the repo is still a third window. With it, the control pane and the agent share a desktop—requirement planning all the way to a confident release push.

That is how you boil the QA lake without boiling your context-switching budget.

Frequently asked questions​

What is TestChimp Studio?​

TestChimp Studio is TestChimp’s companion desktop app—an IDE for software delivery. It consolidates requirement planning, agentic QA workflows, release governance, issues, test executions, coverage insights, and QA knowledge-base exploration in one workspace on your machine.

How do I download TestChimp Studio?​

Use the official Download TestChimp Studio page. Certified installers are on GitHub Releases for macOS, Windows, and Linux. Cross-platform: npx @testchimp/studio.

Does Studio replace the TestChimp web app?​

No. Studio loads the same product UI from your configured App URL. The web app remains the shared control plane and the URL you send a teammate. Studio adds the local shell and agent runtime.

How is Studio different from Cursor or Claude Code?​

Those IDEs are excellent for implementation. Studio is a delivery workspace: plans, releases, executions, coverage, and catalog /testchimp workflows sit next to the local agent. You can still use Cursor/Claude for feature work; Studio is where QA posture and product intent stay visible.

Can I use my own LLM or a local model?​

Yes. Settings → LLM supports ChimpHands, BYO API keys (OpenAI, Anthropic, ChatGPT OAuth, models.dev providers), and a custom base URL for local or self-hosted models. BYO and custom paths do not consume ChimpHands credits.

Is TestChimp Studio available on macOS, Windows, and Linux?​

Yes. Certified installers ship for those platforms, and npx @testchimp/studio runs on all three. See Download.

Do I need to re-map my project if I switch between npx and the installer?​

No. Certified builds and npm paths share ~/.testchimp and the same Electron userData.

Try it​

  1. Open Download TestChimp Studio
  2. Install via your platform’s certified build—or run npx @testchimp/studio
  3. Sign in and map a local project folder
  4. Open a story → create tests, or open Releases and look at the version you are about to ship
  5. Set Settings → LLM to ChimpHands, BYO, or local

Start here:

Your control pane for software delivery—now in the convenience of a desktop app.

Further reading​

TestChimp

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