rust-code 0.5.1

AI-powered TUI coding agent written in Rust
rust-code-0.5.1 is not a library.

rust-code

rust-code is a terminal coding agent written in Rust.

It combines a Ratatui-based TUI, typed tool execution, fuzzy navigation, session history, and an SGR-driven agent loop so you can work on a codebase without leaving the terminal.

Install

From crates.io:

cargo install rust-code

Linux release binary:

curl -L https://github.com/fortunto2/rust-code/releases/latest/download/rust-code-linux-x86_64.tar.gz | tar xz
sudo install rust-code-linux-x86_64/rust-code /usr/local/bin/rust-code

macOS:

cargo install rust-code

If you prefer local builds on macOS:

git clone https://github.com/fortunto2/rust-code.git
cd rust-code
cargo build --release -p rust-code
./target/release/rust-code

Run it:

rust-code

Headless mode:

rust-code --prompt "Find the bug in src/main.rs"
rust-code --prompt "Summarize this repo" --resume

Features

  • Interactive terminal chat UI built with ratatui and crossterm
  • Typed agent loop powered by sgr-agent (Schema-Guided Reasoning)
  • File read/write/edit tools
  • Shell command execution
  • Git status, diff, add, and commit tools
  • Fuzzy file search with nucleo
  • Session persistence in .rust-code/session_*.jsonl
  • Session search and restore
  • Git diff and git history side channels
  • Project symbol search
  • Background task / tmux session viewer
  • Open-in-editor actions through $EDITOR

Provider Setup

The current build is configured for these LLM backends:

  • Google AI via GEMINI_API_KEY
  • Vertex AI via GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT
  • OpenRouter via OPENROUTER_API_KEY

At least one of them must be configured in your environment before launching rust-code.

Examples:

export GEMINI_API_KEY="..."
rust-code

export GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT="my-project"
rust-code

export OPENROUTER_API_KEY="..."
rust-code

Notes:

  • Provider config stored in ~/.rust-code/config.toml. Run rust-code setup to configure.
  • Default: Gemini 3.1 Pro with fallback to Flash and Flash Lite.

Quick Start

  1. cd into the repository you want to work on.
  2. Create an AGENTS.md file in that repo.
  3. Export one provider credential.
  4. Launch rust-code.
  5. Start with a direct task like review this repo, fix the failing test, or add a new command.

AGENTS.md

rust-code works best when the target repository contains an AGENTS.md file with project-specific instructions.

Recommended contents:

  • stack and framework versions
  • architecture constraints
  • code style rules
  • test/build commands
  • migration or release rules
  • prompt or tool-schema rules
  • file locations that must be edited first

Example:

# Agent Instructions

## Stack
- Rust 2024
- Tokio
- Ratatui

## Rules
- Prefer minimal patches
- Run `cargo check` after code changes
- Do not edit generated files directly
- Run `make check` before committing

## Commands
- Build: `cargo build`
- Check: `cargo check`
- Test: `cargo test`

The more concrete this file is, the better the agent performs.

Sessions and Local State

rust-code stores local state in .rust-code/:

  • .rust-code/context/ for persistent agent guidance files
  • .rust-code/session_*.jsonl for chat/session history

Use --resume to reopen the latest saved session:

rust-code --resume

TUI Shortcuts

Main shortcuts currently exposed by the UI:

  • Enter: send message
  • Ctrl+P: file search
  • Ctrl+H: session history
  • Ctrl+G: refresh git sidebar
  • Tab: focus sidebar
  • Ctrl+C: quit
  • F1: diff channel
  • F2: git history
  • F3: files
  • F4: sessions
  • F5: refresh
  • F6: symbols
  • F7: background tasks
  • F10: channels
  • F12: quit

Inside side panels:

  • Esc: close panel
  • Ctrl+I: insert selected item into the prompt
  • Ctrl+O: open or attach, where supported

Background tasks are backed by tmux, so having tmux installed is useful if you want long-running task inspection from the UI.

CLI

Usage: rust-code [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -p, --prompt <PROMPT>
  -r, --resume
  -h, --help
  -V, --version

Development

make build    # dev build
make test     # run all tests
make check    # test + clippy + fmt (pre-commit gate)

Status

The crate is published on crates.io:

Linux release artifacts are published by GitHub Actions when you push a tag matching v*, for example v0.1.1.