I feel what you say is true only for auto-complete, which is no longer the ideal workflow for agentic coding. Otherwise the IDE doesn't know what it should include or not in the context, and you need an AI model to determine that.
What people do to avoid what you discussed, is multi-agents. The main agent can build up context, plan, than delegate execution to other agents, etc.
In my opinion, the benefit of the IDE is really just in the possibility of an improved UI/UX over a TUI.
It’s so much easier for me to prompt by:
- cmd-t fuzzy finding files of cmd-p finding symbols to open the various files that are relevant
- selecting a few lines in each file using fast IDE shortcuts to move and add
- drag and drop an image or other json files into prompt
- not leave the editor im already working on
Not to mention:
- viewing the agents edits as a diff in the editor and all the benefits of easily switching between tabs and one click rejecting parts etc
- seeing the sidebar of the agents thoughts and progress async alongside the code as I keep looking at things
- pausing the agent and reversing back steps visually with the sidebar
- not having to reconfig or setup my entire dev environment for some CLI - for example the biome v2 lsp just works since it’s already working in code which has the best support for these things
And really the list of reasons an editor is far better just never ends. Claude is ok, but I’m way way faster with Cursor when I do need AI.
To each their own, and I absolutely agree with the prior poster about both existing making a lot of sense. It comes down to personal preference. I just wanted to point out the CLI has no less support for feature and context, just a different UX to them.