CoderAgent

A fully open-source (Apache 2.0) terminal AI programming assistant — the free alternative to Claude Code.

CoderAgent is a powerful CLI coding agent that runs entirely in your terminal. It can read, write, edit files, execute shell commands, search code, and more — all through natural language conversation. Built with Ink/React for a beautiful TUI experience.

99.9% of the code in this project was generated by DeepSeek models. We believe the best way to demonstrate an AI's coding capability is to build a coding tool with it.

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Why CoderAgent?

	Claude Code	CoderAgent
License	Proprietary	Apache 2.0
Source	Closed	Fully open
Provider	Anthropic only	Anthropic / DeepSeek / OpenAI
Pricing	Per-token billing	Bring your own key
Extensibility	Limited	Full plugin architecture

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Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 22
• An API key from DeepSeek, Anthropic, or OpenAI

Install

# One-click install
./install.sh --local

Or from a remote source:

git clone https://github.com/AgenticMatrix/CoderAgent.git
cd CoderAgent
npm install
npm run build
npm link

Configure

# First-time setup wizard
coder setup

# Or manually edit ~/.coder/settings.json

Start Coding

# Interactive session
coder

# One-shot query
coder --print "Explain the src/core/query-engine.ts file"

# Switch model
coder --model
coder -m "deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro"

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Project Architecture

CoderAgent
├── src/
│   ├── cli/              # CLI entry point, config, model picker
│   ├── core/             # Agent loop, tool queue, system prompt, permissions, session
│   ├── api/              # Provider API client (Anthropic SDK bridge)
│   ├── provider/         # Multi-provider: Anthropic, DeepSeek, OpenAI
│   ├── tools/            # 15+ tools: read, write, edit, bash, grep, etc.
│   │   ├── bash/         # Shell command execution
│   │   ├── read/         # File reading
│   │   ├── write/        # File creation / overwrite
│   │   ├── edit/         # Exact string replacement
│   │   ├── grep/         # Code search
│   │   ├── glob/         # File pattern matching
│   │   ├── web-fetch/    # URL content fetching
│   │   ├── web-search/   # Web search
│   │   ├── task-create/  # Task tracking
│   │   ├── task-list/    # List tasks
│   │   ├── task-get/     # Get task details
│   │   ├── task-update/  # Update task status
│   │   └── todo-write/   # Todo management
│   ├── tui/              # Terminal UI (Ink + React)
│   ├── commands/         # Slash command system
│   ├── skills/           # Skill system (extensible plugins)
│   └── types.ts          # Shared type definitions
├── bin/
│   └── coder.js          # CLI binary wrapper
├── install.sh            # One-click installer
├── package.json
└── tsconfig.json

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Features

• Beautiful TUI — Built with Ink + React 19, full terminal rendering
• Multi-Provider — Anthropic (Claude), DeepSeek, OpenAI-compatible endpoints
• 15+ Tools — read, write, edit, bash, grep, glob, web-fetch, web-search, task management, todo
• Streaming Tool Queue — Tools enqueue and execute as they are parsed from the LLM stream, with bounded concurrency (default 32)
• Streaming — Real-time text, thinking, and tool-use streaming via ContentBlock events
• Agent Loop — Autonomous multi-turn reasoning with tool call execution
• Permission System — plan / ask / auto modes with risk-level classification
• Context Management — Token budget tracking and automatic compaction
• Hook System — Extensible lifecycle hooks
• Skills — Pluggable skill modules
• Session Management — Checkpoint, resume, fork sessions
• Model Picker — Interactive terminal model selection (coder --model / coder setup)

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Configuration

Edit ~/.coder/settings.json:

{
  "model_list": [
    {
      "model": ["deepseek-v4-pro"],
      "provider": "deepseek",
      "base_url": "https://api.deepseek.com/anthropic",
      "auth_token_env": "sk-your-api-key",
      "max_tokens": 32768
    }
  ],
  "default_model": "deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro",
  "max_tool_concurrency": 32,
  "theme": "dark"
}

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CLI Reference

Command	Description
coder	Start interactive session
coder "query"	One-shot question
coder --help	Show help
coder --version	Print version
coder --model	Interactive model picker
coder -m "provider/model"	Set model directly
coder setup	First-time setup wizard

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License

Apache 2.0 — fully open source. Use it, modify it, ship it.

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Built with DeepSeek · A Claude Code alternative