Contral: Learn while you vibecode

The agent that teaches while you build. Vibecode with AI, then actually learn what shipped. Every line your AI writes — explained, in plain English, the moment it lands in your file.

Same extension works in VS Code, Cursor, Antigravity, Windsurf, and Kilo Code.

Why Contral

You're shipping faster than ever. AI agents write your code; you accept the diff. Six months in, you don't actually know your own codebase.

Contral fixes that without slowing you down.

Auto-teach. Cursor's agent, GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cline, Kilo Code, Aider, Continue, OpenCode, Windsurf, or Antigravity edits a file — within seconds, a streaming teach card explains the why behind each change. Multi-file bursts walk you through every file in order.
Build mode (the recursive coding agent). Chat with a coding agent in Fast / Plan / Deep / Recursive modes. Plan mode shows the strategy before any file changes. Deep mode runs a longer reasoning loop on hard problems. Recursive mode runs a Generator → Critic → Revisor pipeline that re-edits its own output until it passes self-review. Every file write asks "Apply / Skip" first; commands need approval before they run.
Learn mode. A 49+ topic Java curriculum with hint economy, prerequisite-locked progression, project-graded checkpoints, deep-dive explanations on demand, and reward hints for completion. Basics + Intermediate are free for everyone; Advanced and Data Structures unlock with Pro.
Codebase tours. Point Contral at any repo — it scans, understands, and produces a guided learning path tailored to that codebase. Free-form Q&A on top.
Selection / file teaching. Right-click any code → "Teach me this selection". Streaming card with line-by-line highlights and Ask Tutor follow-ups inside the card.

Free tier — no card. Plug in your own API key (BYOK) and quotas relax. Your keys stay on your machine.

Modes — what they do

Mode	What you get
Fast	Single-shot. Quick edits, refactors, tests, "how do I…" answers.
Plan	Read-only first turn. Contral proposes a plan, you Approve or Reject, then it executes. Great for greenfield work. (Pro)
Deep	Reasoning model with a longer think loop. Use for hard bugs and architectural choices. (Pro)
Recursive	Generator → Critic → Revisor loop. Slower, higher quality. (Free: 1 run/day. Pro: unlimited.)

The chip in the prompt row shows your remaining daily allowance per mode.

First run

Open the Contral icon in your activity bar.
Click Sign in → verify your email at contral.ai → you're back in seconds. Your token lives in your OS keychain.
Or skip sign-in and run Contral: Configure BYOK provider to plug in your own API key (Anthropic, OpenAI, Groq, OpenRouter, Together, DeepInfra, Mistral, Fireworks, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint).

The Chat, Plan, Changes, Runs, Learn, and Codebase tabs go live immediately.

Five things to try

Right-click code → "Teach me this selection" — streaming explanation with line-by-line highlights.
Roadmap → open a Basics or Intermediate topic — walk a lesson, request hints, complete a project.
Codebase tab → "Learn this codebase" — generates a guided tour and a learning path for your repo.
Build tab → "Make me a portfolio site" — multi-file generation with mode chips. In Plan mode, review the plan before any file touches disk.
Ask Cursor / Copilot / Claude Code to refactor something — within a couple of seconds, a teach card walks you through what changed and why. Multi-file edits chain card-by-card.

Slash commands

/login          /logout         /status
/help           /web <query>    /search <query>
/plan           /fast           /deep
/list mcp       /list skills

Type / in the chat to see all of them with descriptions.

Configuration

Setting	Default	What it does
`contral.teachOnChange`	`true`	Show teach cards when AI agents edit files in your workspace
`contral.autoOpenOnAgentEdit`	`true`	Automatically open a file an AI agent just wrote
`contral.animateBuildEdits`	`true`	Animate Build Agent file writes line-by-line in the editor
`contral.floatingCardDisplay`	`deck`	How teach cards render: deck / inline comment / hover / panel / both
`contral.preferredAgent`	`auto`	Override the auto-detected coding agent
`contral.harvestAgentPrompts`	`true`	Read your AI agent's local logs so cards know what you asked for (local-only)
`contral.telemetry.consent`	`unset`	Anonymous usage stats — opt in via UI
`contral.backendBaseUrl`	`https://contral.ai`	Override only for self-hosted enterprise

Pricing

Free — 25 AI messages / day, 5 code explanations / day, 25 auto-teach cards / day, Basics + Intermediate Java curriculum, 1 codebase analysis, 3 codebase questions, 5 sessions, 1 recursive run / day, BYOK 30 messages / day. Fast mode only.

Pro — $14.99/mo (50% off, limited time) — 250 AI messages / day, all topics & languages unlocked, unlimited code explanations, 10 deep dives / day, Plan + Deep modes unlocked, 5 codebase analyses / month, 500 web searches / month, unlimited codebase chat, unlimited BYOK, unlimited recursive runs, 50 sessions, auto-fix included.

Pro+ — $59.99/mo (50% off, limited time) — unlimited everything plus premium model access, unlimited codebase analyses, unlimited recursive runs, priority support.

Teams / Education / Enterprise — contact us.

Full details, currencies (USD/INR), and annual discounts: https://contral.ai/pricing

BYOK on any tier — plug your own Anthropic / OpenAI / Groq / OpenRouter / Together / DeepInfra / Mistral / Fireworks key. Your keys never leave your machine.

Privacy

BYOK keys live in your OS keychain. They never traverse our service.
Telemetry is opt-in. Default events carry no file contents, no prompts, no model responses.
Your code is never used to train models.
Strict CSP on every webview. No third-party network calls outside contral.ai.

Full privacy doc: https://contral.ai/privacy

Account dashboard

https://contral.ai/overview — live usage, plan limits, BYOK token totals, and payment history. The same numbers your in-editor chip shows, read directly from your account.

Support

Questions, bug reports, team pricing: contact@contral.ai