A Cursor Annotate alternative for Claude Code and T3 Code.
Cursor’s Annotate lets you point at your app for Cursor’s agent, in the browser inside Cursor. Tencil does the same for the agent you already use: press C on your dev site, in your own browser, click an element, and Claude Code or T3 Code gets its component, source file and markup. Free, open source, no account.
npx tencil- Run npx tencil once. Works with T3 Code or Claude Code, on any dev server.
- Press C and click it. Pick up a thread or start a new one, right on the page.
- Watch it change in place. Reply on the pin for another round, then resolve it.
- Review a whole page at once. Queue your comments, then send them all to your agent.
How it works
Annotate, with the agent you already use.
What changes when the pointing lives in your browser instead of in an editor.
Your agent, not a new one
Tencil starts a thread in Claude Code or T3 Code, under your own login, with your models and settings. Every pin stays a thread you can continue in your agent.
Your browser, any editor
The overlay loads on your dev site in the browser you already use, with its logins, extensions and devtools. Keep whatever editor you like open next to it, Cursor included.
Watch it work on the pin
The agent’s progress streams onto a pin on the element, and your dev server reloads the change. Reply on the pin for another round, or queue comments on a whole page and send them as one thread.
Free, local and open source
npx tencilsets it up. The daemon runs on your machine, locked to localhost, with no account and no telemetry. The code is on GitHub under Apache-2.0.
Cursor Annotate alternative: questions
What people ask before they switch, or use both.
It is built into Cursor, so there is nothing to set up if you already use it. You can draw on the page or box in an area, edit text and CSS in place before you send, and dictate notes. Tencil sticks to pointing at elements and prompting your agent.
Yes. Tencil lives in your browser and hands pins to Claude Code or T3 Code, so it does not mind which editor you have open.
Yes. Tencil is open source under Apache-2.0 and runs on your machine without an account. Your agent runs under your own login.
Run npx tencil in your project. It finds your framework, wires up the overlay and starts the daemon, then you press C on your dev site.
Compare them side by side
Tencil next to Cursor Annotate and the other ways to point an agent at your UI, each checked against its own site.
- Tencil vs Cursor AnnotateCursor Annotate lets you point at your app for Cursor’s agent, in Cursor’s browser. Tencil does it in your own browser for Claude Code or T3 Code: free, open source, no account.
- Tencil vs React GrabReact Grab copies a React element’s file, component and HTML for you to paste into your agent. Tencil sends it to your agent with your prompt and streams the change back onto the page.
- Tencil vs AgentationAgentation turns UI annotations into structured context you paste or serve over MCP. Tencil sends each pin to Claude Code or T3 Code and streams the change back onto the element.
- Tencil vs stagewisestagewise is an open-source agentic IDE with its own browser and agents on any model. Tencil adds element pins to the dev site in your own browser and hands them to Claude Code or T3 Code.
- Tencil vs OnlookOnlook is a visual editor where designers work on an app in code, on a canvas. Tencil adds pins to your dev site and hands each one to Claude Code or T3 Code.
- Tencil vs FrontmanFrontman runs its own AI frontend agent in your app, on the model provider you choose. Tencil hands what you point at to Claude Code or T3 Code, with no account and no server.
- Tencil vs PinpointPinpoint is a browser extension that hands notes on elements to your agent over MCP. Tencil starts Claude Code or T3 Code itself and streams the change back onto the pin.