xcodeai

Fully autonomous AI coding agent in Rust. Give it a task — it writes the code, runs the tools, and finishes without asking for permission.

Built as a lightweight alternative to opencode: no permission prompts, no heavy containers, optional rootless sandboxing via sbox.

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Install

cargo install xcodeai

Requires Rust 1.75+. The binary is placed at ~/.cargo/bin/xcodeai.

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Quick Start

export XCODE_API_KEY=sk-your-key

xcodeai run "Create a hello world HTTP server in main.rs" --project ./myproject --no-sandbox

That's it. The agent loops until the task is done.

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Configuration

xcodeai looks for a config file at ~/.config/xcode/config.json. On first run, a default template is created automatically.

{
  "provider": {
    "api_base": "https://api.openai.com/v1",
    "api_key": "sk-..."
  },
  "model": "gpt-4o",
  "sandbox": {
    "enabled": false
  },
  "agent": {
    "max_iterations": 25,
    "max_tool_calls_per_response": 10
  }
}

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Example
XCODE_API_KEY	API key	sk-abc123
XCODE_API_BASE	Provider base URL	https://api.deepseek.com/v1
XCODE_MODEL	Model name	deepseek-chat

Precedence (low → high)

defaults → config file → env vars → CLI flags

CLI flags always win.

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Usage

Interactive REPL (default)

Just run xcodeai with no arguments to enter the interactive loop:

xcodeai

  ✦ xcodeai v0.4.0  ·  gpt-4o  ·  /home/user/myproject  ·  no auth
  Type your task. /help for commands. Ctrl-D to exit.
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
xcodeai› Add error handling to all functions in lib.rs
(agent runs autonomously...)
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  ✓ done · 3 iterations · 7 tool calls
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

xcodeai› Now write tests for the new error handling
(agent runs...)

Each session is saved automatically — use /session to see the session ID.

You can pass the same flags as run:

xcodeai --project ./mylib --model deepseek-chat --no-sandbox

REPL special commands

Command	Effect
/login	GitHub Copilot device-code OAuth (browser + code)
/logout	Remove saved Copilot credentials
/connect	Interactive provider selector — pick from built-in presets
/model [name]	Show current model / note new model for next restart
/exit / /quit / /q	Exit xcodeai
/session	Print current session ID
/help	Show available commands
/clear	Reminder to restart for a new session
Ctrl+C	Clear current input line
Ctrl+D	Exit xcodeai

Run a coding task

# Basic — uses config file for provider settings
xcodeai run "Add error handling to all functions in lib.rs" --project ./mylib

# Override provider inline
xcodeai run "Write tests for src/parser.rs" \
  --project . \
  --provider-url https://api.deepseek.com/v1 \
  --api-key sk-xxx \
  --model deepseek-chat

# Skip sandbox (direct execution)
xcodeai run "Refactor the database module" --project . --no-sandbox

# All flags
xcodeai run --help

Session management

# List recent sessions
xcodeai session list

# Show full conversation for a session
xcodeai session show <session-id>

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Supported Providers

Any OpenAI-compatible API endpoint works:

Provider	api_base
OpenAI	https://api.openai.com/v1
DeepSeek	https://api.deepseek.com/v1
Qwen (Alibaba Cloud)	https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1
GLM (Zhipu AI)	https://open.bigmodel.cn/api/paas/v4
Local (Ollama)	http://localhost:11434/v1
GitHub Copilot	copilot (special sentinel)

GitHub Copilot Authentication

xcodeai supports your GitHub Copilot subscription via device-code OAuth — no separate API key needed.

# 1. Start xcodeai
xcodeai --provider-url copilot

# 2. In the REPL, authenticate:
xcodeai› /login

# GitHub shows a code and URL:
#   Visit: https://github.com/login/device
#   Enter code:  XXXX-XXXX
#
# After you approve in the browser:
#   ✓ Logged in to GitHub Copilot.

# 3. Now run tasks normally
xcodeai> Write a Fibonacci function in main.rs

The OAuth token is saved to ~/.config/xcode/copilot_auth.json. Future sessions authenticate automatically. The short-lived Copilot API token (~25 min TTL) is refreshed transparently.

# Remove saved credentials
xcodeai› /logout

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Tools

The agent has access to six built-in tools:

Tool	Description	Key Parameters
file_read	Read file content with line numbers	path, offset, limit
file_write	Write or create a file	path, content
file_edit	Replace a string in a file	path, old_string, new_string
bash	Execute a shell command	command, timeout (default 120s)
glob_search	Find files by glob pattern	pattern, path (max 100 results)
grep_search	Search file contents by regex	pattern, path, include (max 200 matches)

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Agent Architecture

xcodeai run "task"
      │
      ▼
   Director
      │
      ▼
  Orchestrator
      │
      ▼
    Coder ◄──────────────────────┐
      │                          │
      ▼                          │
  LLM call (streaming SSE)       │
      │                          │
      ▼                          │
  tool_calls?                    │
  ├── yes → execute tools ───────┘
  └── no  → task complete

• Director — entry point, initialises the Orchestrator
• Orchestrator — sets context, delegates to Coder
• Coder — runs the LLM ↔ tool loop until no more tool calls or max_iterations reached
• Context management — keeps system prompt + last N messages when approaching the context window limit
• Session persistence — every run is stored in SQLite at ~/.local/share/xcode/sessions.db

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Sandboxing

By default, xcodeai runs tools directly in the project directory. Optionally, install sbox for rootless user-space session isolation:

{ "sandbox": { "enabled": true, "sbox_path": "/usr/local/bin/sbox" } }

Or disable per-run:

xcodeai run "task" --no-sandbox

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Development

git clone <repo>
cd xcode

# Build
export PATH="$HOME/.cargo/bin:$PATH"
cargo build

# Run tests (62 unit + integration)
cargo test

# Release binary
cargo build --release
./target/release/xcodeai --help

# Lint
cargo clippy
cargo fmt --check

Project Structure

src/
├── main.rs           CLI entry point (clap)
├── config.rs         Config loading with env/CLI overrides
├── llm/              LlmProvider trait + OpenAI SSE streaming client
├── tools/            Tool trait, ToolRegistry, 6 built-in tools
├── agent/            Director → Orchestrator → Coder loop
├── session/          Session types + SQLite store
└── sandbox/          SboxSession + NoSandbox implementations
tests/
├── mock_llm_server.rs  axum mock SSE server for integration tests
├── helpers.rs          Shared test utilities
└── e2e_run.rs          End-to-end integration tests

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License

MIT — see LICENSE.