Blazing-fast Claude in your terminal. 8.8 MB binary, sub-millisecond cold start, sandboxed by default, SSH-airgap in one command.
A drop-in alternative to claude-code written in C++26 — no Node, no Python, no Electron, no npm install. Signs in with your Claude Pro/Max OAuth (or ANTHROPIC_API_KEY).
Measured on the same Arch box, same shell, same day:
| agentty (C++26) | claude-code (Node) | |
|---|---|---|
Cold-start --help |
< 1 ms | ~150 ms |
--version |
< 1 ms | ~60 ms |
| Binary on disk | 8.8 MB | 222 MB (+ Node runtime) |
| Install | curl | chmod +x |
npm i -g + Node |
| GC pauses mid-stream | None | V8 GC |
No JIT warmup, no require() graph to walk, no GC ticking while bytes stream in from the API. The TUI redraw loop is a poll(2) over the model stream + your input fd — every keystroke and every SSE chunk lands on the next frame.
Four things the official client doesn't try to do:
- Native speed. C++26, statically linked,
posix_spawneverywhere. Spawns in microseconds, no GC pauses mid-stream, no warmup. See the table above. - One static binary. 8.8 MB.
curl | chmod +x | run. No Node runtime, nonpm install, no version drift between machines. - Sandbox by default. Every shell and build call runs inside
bwrap(Linux) /sandbox-exec(macOS). Workspace + system libs + network reachable;~/.ssh,/etc, other projects read-only. An approvedbashcall still can'tcat ~/.ssh/id_rsa. - One-command SSH airgap.
agentty airgap user@hostruns the agent on a box with no direct internet — your laptop relays the bytes over SOCKS5-over-SSH. TLS pins on the real upstreams end-to-end.
Plus:
- Workspace boundary. Filesystem tools refuse paths outside the launch directory (
--workspace /opts out). - Inline render. Lives at the bottom of your terminal, preserves scrollback, doesn't take over the screen.
- Reads like a single function. The reducer is one
std::visitover a closed event sum; the permission matrix is aconstexprwithstatic_asserts — change a policy cell and the build breaks, not a test nobody runs.
One line. Same line to update.
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/1ay1/agentty/master/install.sh | shDetects your OS and arch, downloads the right binary from the latest release, verifies SHA256, installs to /usr/local/bin (if root) or ~/.local/bin. Re-running the same command updates to the newest release. No apt, no brew, no version drift.
Flags: --prefix ~/somewhere, --version v0.1.0. Works on Linux + macOS, x86_64 + aarch64.
Distro-native packages — if you'd rather your package manager track it
curl -fsSLO https://github.com/1ay1/agentty/releases/latest/download/agentty_0.1.0_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i agentty_0.1.0_amd64.deb # or agentty_0.1.0_arm64.debUpdate: dpkg -i the new release's .deb.
sudo rpm -Uvh https://github.com/1ay1/agentty/releases/latest/download/agentty-0.1.0-1.x86_64.rpm-U is upgrade; works for the first install too. Same command future-proofs the update path.
yay -S agentty-bin # or paru, pikaur, etc.
yay -Syu agentty-bin # updateOr install the release-page .pkg.tar.zst with sudo pacman -U.
brew tap 1ay1/tap
brew install agentty
brew upgrade agentty # updateLinux Homebrew gets the prebuilt static binary; macOS builds from source (~1 min).
scoop bucket add 1ay1 https://github.com/1ay1/scoop-bucket
scoop install agentty
scoop update agentty # updateDirect .exe: curl -L https://github.com/1ay1/agentty/releases/latest/download/agentty-windows-x86_64.exe -o agentty.exe.
Fully-static, no shared-library dependencies. Drop and run, replace on update:
curl -fsSL https://github.com/1ay1/agentty/releases/latest/download/agentty-linux-x86_64 -o agentty && chmod +x agentty
curl -fsSL https://github.com/1ay1/agentty/releases/latest/download/agentty-linux-aarch64 -o agentty && chmod +x agenttyVerify with SHA256SUMS on the release page.
git clone --recursive git@github.com:1ay1/agentty.git
cd agentty && cmake -B build && cmake --build build -j
./build/agenttyRequires GCC 14+ / Clang 18+ / MSVC 14.40+ and CMake 3.28+.
Cut your own release — maintainer workflow, one script
Every published artifact is built locally, no CI:
scripts/bump.sh 0.2.0 # bumps CMakeLists, builds everything, tags, uploads via ghUnder the hood: rewrites project(agentty VERSION ...), commits the bump, builds deb/rpm/pkg.tar.zst/tarball/binaries/homebrew/scoop/AUR manifests via scripts/release.sh, tags vX.Y.Z, pushes, and gh release creates with every artifact attached. Single source of truth: CMakeLists.txt.
Or step-by-step:
scripts/release.sh # build every artifact into dist/, no upload
scripts/release.sh --tag v0.2.0 # build + tag + upload via ghcd path/to/your/project # cwd is the workspace root
agenttyFirst launch opens an auth modal:
- OAuth (Claude Pro/Max). Opens your browser; the callback writes the token to
~/.config/agentty/credentials.json(0600). agentty picks the right header on relaunch automatically. - API key. Paste an
sk-ant-…token. Saved to the same file.
OAuth against your existing Pro/Max subscription is the main path — no extra billing, same account you already pay for.
Override order, highest priority first:
-k <key>/--key <key>— single-session, never written to disk.ANTHROPIC_API_KEYenv var.CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKENenv var.- The on-disk creds from the modal.
Then you're in a thread. Type, hit Enter. Mid-stream typing queues your next message and lands it when the current turn finishes. Esc cancels.
You start in the Ask profile — writes, shell calls, and network calls each prompt before running. S-Tab cycles to Write (autonomous) or Minimal (prompts for everything but pure reads). Choice persists.
Threads live at ~/.agentty/threads/<workspace-hash>/, one JSON file each — safe to inspect, back up, delete. ^J opens the thread list.
agentty --workspace ~/code/other-project # run against a different workspace without cd
agentty status # which auth source will be used
agentty login / logout # non-interactive auth, useful over SSH
agentty airgap user@host # see belowEnter send ^K command palette
Alt+Enter newline ^J thread list
Ctrl+E expand composer ^T todo / plan
Esc cancel / reject ^/ model picker
S-Tab cycle profile ^N new thread
^C quit
Each tool gets a purpose-built widget: diffs render as diffs, search results group by file with line numbers, bash shows exit codes, todos become checklists.
read, write, edit, bash, grep, glob, list_dir, find_definition, web_fetch, web_search, todo, diagnostics, git_status, git_diff, git_log, git_commit, remember, forget.
Run agentty on a box that can't reach the internet directly. Your laptop relays the bytes; TLS pins on the real upstreams, so the network between laptop and remote can't MITM you.
One command, from the laptop that does have internet:
agentty airgap --setup user@airgapped-host # first time: also copies your credentials
agentty airgap user@airgapped-host # every time afterHow: ssh -R 1080 exposes a SOCKS5 proxy on the remote at localhost:1080; connections to it tunnel back over SSH and are dialed by your laptop. The remote agentty gets AGENTTY_SOCKS_PROXY=localhost:1080 and routes every TCP destination through it — chat, OAuth refresh, web_fetch, web_search. One env var, no per-host enumeration.
Trust model. Airgap doesn't trust the network between laptop and remote, but does trust the remote with your tokens —
--setupcopiescredentials.jsonover atchmod 600. A compromised remote can exfiltrate your Anthropic credentials independent of the tunnel. Use it on hosts you'd already trust with the same secret.
Bare-metal version, if you'd rather not use the wrapper:
ssh -t -R 1080 user@airgapped-host \
'AGENTTY_SOCKS_PROXY=localhost:1080 agentty'Requires OpenSSH ≥ 7.6 on both ends (October 2017 — every distro has it). AGENTTY_AIRGAP_SSH injects extra ssh flags; --remote-agentty PATH if it isn't on the remote PATH.
SOCKS keeps TLS end-to-end, so cert verification works untouched. Different story if you route through a forward proxy that re-encrypts with its own cert (Zscaler, Bluecoat, mitmproxy). Install the proxy's CA into the system trust store (update-ca-certificates on Debian, update-ca-trust on Fedora) — agentty picks up system roots at startup. As a last resort, AGENTTY_INSECURE=1 skips peer verification entirely; don't ship that to anyone you care about.
| agentty | claude-code | aider | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Language / runtime | C++26 — single static binary | TypeScript / Node | Python |
| Footprint | ~9 MB | npm + Node runtime | pip + Python runtime |
| Air-gapped mode | Yes (agentty airgap, SOCKS5/SSH) |
No | No |
| Auth | OAuth (Pro/Max) + ANTHROPIC_API_KEY |
OAuth + ANTHROPIC_API_KEY |
per-provider env vars |
| Models | Claude (Anthropic) | Claude (Anthropic) | many (OpenAI / Anthropic / local …) |
Want a multi-model agent across providers? aider. Want Anthropic's first-party experience with their support behind it? claude-code. agentty is the niche pick when you specifically want a single-binary Claude client with no runtime dependency, or you need an air-gapped host through an SSH tunnel.
Pure-functional update loop: (Model, Msg) -> (Model, Cmd). Strong ID newtypes (ToolCallId, ThreadId, OAuthCode, PkceVerifier) — swapping arguments is a compile error, not a debugging session.
View is a single function Model -> Element. Rendering is delegated to maya, a sister header-mostly TUI engine — agentty builds widget Configs from Model state, maya owns every chrome glyph, layout decision, and breathing animation. The host constructs no Elements.
Subprocess uses posix_spawn + poll(2) with in-process SIGTERM → SIGKILL deadlines on POSIX, CreateProcessW + a reader thread on Windows — no GNU timeout dependency, no popen quoting hazards. File writes are atomic (write + fsync/_commit + rename/MoveFileExW).
Deep dive: docs/RENDERING.md walks the view pipeline turn-by-turn; docs/UI.md is the per-widget Config reference.
cmake -B build -DAGENTTY_STANDALONE=ONStatically links OpenSSL + nghttp2 + libstdc++ + libgcc when their .a archives are installed. libc stays dynamic on Linux/macOS (fully-static glibc breaks getaddrinfo and the NSS resolver). Pass -DAGENTTY_FULLY_STATIC=ON with a musl toolchain for a 100% static binary. Windows: implies /MT and pulls third-party libs from the x64-windows-static vcpkg triplet.
Accurate one-liner: statically linked except libc and (usually) OpenSSL. For a 100%-static drop-in, the latest release ships pre-built agentty-linux-x86_64 and agentty-linux-aarch64 with zero shared-library dependencies (Alpine + musl + GCC 14.2).
Works on Linux, macOS, and Windows — all three actively tested and built daily. Prebuilt release binaries for Linux (x86_64, aarch64) and Windows (x86_64); macOS builds from source in seconds.
File bugs with $TERM, your terminal emulator name, and a screenshot. Code-path bugs welcome too — paste the relevant block and git rev-parse HEAD.
MIT — see LICENSE.