atelier

A minimal-TUI AI coding harness written in Rust. An agent loop that talks to OpenAI-compatible model APIs, runs tools inside a project directory, speaks MCP, and continuously feeds itself fresh context (git status, diagnostics, project layout) — from a deliberately small terminal interface.

See ROADMAP.md for the milestone plan and design rationale.

Design in one breath

• Bring your own API. OpenAI-compatible endpoints only (no Claude/ChatGPT subscription backends — their ToS forbids it). HTTP is rsurl.
• Minimal, append-only interface. One input line plus a status strip; everything else prints to the terminal scrollback and is never redrawn.
• Project-scoped. Launched inside a project directory; tools, context, and permissions are anchored there.
• The agent is fed, not just prompted. Per-turn context providers inject the current repo state (git status, diff, layout, cargo check diagnostics) so the model reasons about now, not a stale snapshot.
• Confinement over coarse yes/no. Every file tool and the node scripting tool are sandboxed to the project root and run without prompting; only genuinely unconfined execution (bash, MCP tools, networked scripts) asks for approval.
• Sessions persist and compact themselves. Conversations are saved to .atelier/session.json and resumable with --continue; once a conversation grows past a token threshold, older turns are summarized automatically instead of being sent in full on every request.
• A parallel reviewer, opt-in. Turn on the "subconscious" (/review on) and a second, read-only model pass watches the exchange and edits, posting short 💭 notes into the dialog — it can comment but never act.
• One binary, organized by module — not an internal crate workspace.

Quickstart

cargo build --release   # edition 2024, MSRV 1.95
cargo run                # launches in the current directory as project root

Type a message, or /help for commands. Set ATELIER_BASE_URL / ATELIER_MODEL / ATELIER_API_KEY to point at your own endpoint. Add --continue/-c to resume a saved session, or --print/-p "..." for a non-interactive, scriptable one-shot run. See docs/quickstart.md for the full walkthrough (env vars, first conversation, the REPL/TUI fallback).

Documentation

Doc	Covers
Quickstart	Build/run, first conversation, env vars, --print, /image, REPL vs. inline TUI
Sessions	Persistence, --continue//new, automatic compaction
Configuration	Env vars reference + atelier.toml ([[mcp]], [[mcp_http]], [permissions], [review]), the /config settings screen
Tools	Every built-in tool's parameters and behavior
Permissions	The confinement/approval model, risk signals
Scripting	The node tool: sandboxed JS, fs, optional network
MCP	Connecting MCP servers (stdio + HTTP), tool namespacing
Review	The parallel "subconscious" reviewer: /review, [review], ATELIER_REVIEW

Layout

src/
├─ main.rs        entry: config, flags (--continue, --print), wiring, run loop
├─ config.rs      env-based runtime config
├─ settings.rs    atelier.toml (MCP servers, permissions)
├─ session.rs     on-disk session persistence (.atelier/session.json)
├─ headless.rs    --print: one-shot non-interactive mode
├─ provider/      OpenAI-compatible client: streaming chat, tool-calls, vision
├─ agent/         agent loop, conversation state, turn orchestration, compaction
├─ tools/         built-in tools + registry (read/write/edit/multiedit/bash/…)
├─ js/            the `node` tool: mediated JS runtime (fs, console, network)
├─ mcp/           MCP client (stdio + HTTP transports)
├─ context/       per-turn context helpers
├─ risk.rs        risk-signal detection for bash approval prompts
└─ tui/           minimal inline interface, mid-turn steering  [feature = "tui", default on]

License

MIT — see LICENSE.