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Agentty – A drop-in alternative to claude-code, written in C++26. 11.0 MB binary

Agentty, a drop-in alternative to Claude Code written in C++26, has been released as a single 11.0 MB static binary with sub-millisecond startup. The tool supports multiple AI models including Claude, GPT, Groq, and Ollama, and runs in air-gapped environments via SSH relay. It offers sandboxed execution, memory persistence, and integration with Zed through the Agent Client Protocol.

read4 min views1 publishedJul 15, 2026
Agentty – A drop-in alternative to claude-code, written in C++26. 11.0 MB binary
Image: source

AI pair programming in your terminal

One static binary. Sub-millisecond startup. Any model.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/1ay1/agentty/master/install.sh | sh
cd your-project
agentty

First launch opens auth — OAuth (uses your Claude Pro/Max subscription) or paste an API key. Once you're in, a first-run welcome card suggests a few things to try; just type and hit Enter.

| Cold start under 1ms. No Node, no Python, no npm install. Just a static binary. Claude, GPT, Groq, OpenRouter, Ollama, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Switch live with Every shell call runs inside bwrap (Linux) / sandbox-exec (macOS). File tools refuse paths outside your workspace. | Run on a box with no internet. Your laptop relays the bytes over SSH with TLS pinned end-to-end. read · write · edit · bash · grep · glob · git · web · search_docs · task — each with a purpose-built widget. Agent Skills + remember/forget memory. Teach it once, every session knows your conventions. |

agentty                                    # Claude (default)
agentty --provider openai -m gpt-4o        # GPT
agentty --provider groq -m llama-3.3-70b   # Groq
agentty --provider ollama -m qwen2.5-coder # Local model
agentty --provider openrouter              # Any model via OpenRouter

--provider

persists. Switch live in-app with ^P

.

Key Action Key Action
Enter
Send ^K
Command palette
Esc
Cancel / reject ^J
Thread list
S-Tab
Cycle profile ^P
Model picker
Alt+Enter
Newline ^N
New thread
^G
Run code block ^←/→ or Alt+←/→
Cycle threads

Installation options

Linux

curl -fsSLO https://github.com/1ay1/agentty/releases/latest/download/agentty_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i agentty_amd64.deb

sudo dnf install https://github.com/1ay1/agentty/releases/latest/download/agentty-x86_64.rpm

sudo zypper install https://github.com/1ay1/agentty/releases/latest/download/agentty-x86_64.rpm

yay -S agentty-bin

curl -fsSLO https://github.com/1ay1/agentty/releases/latest/download/agentty-x86_64.apk
sudo apk add --allow-untrusted agentty-x86_64.apk

macOS

brew tap 1ay1/tap && brew install agentty

Windows

scoop bucket add 1ay1 https://github.com/1ay1/scoop-bucket; scoop install agentty
winget install agentty.agentty

Anywhere (no package manager)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/1ay1/agentty/master/install.sh | sh

From source (needs a C++26 toolchain — GCC 14+ / recent Clang / MSVC)

git clone --recursive git@github.com:1ay1/agentty.git
cd agentty && cmake -B build && cmake --build build -j

All binaries are a single fully-static executable (x86_64 + aarch64 on Linux, Intel + Apple Silicon on macOS). Packaging details: packaging/README.md.

Air-gapped hosts

agentty airgap --setup user@host   # first time: copies credentials
agentty airgap user@host           # every time after

Your laptop relays via SOCKS5-over-SSH. TLS pins on real upstreams — the network in between can't MITM you.

Inside Zed (ACP)

agentty speaks the Agent Client Protocol — the same protocol Zed uses for Claude Code. Add to Zed's settings:

{
  "agent_servers": {
    "agentty": {
      "command": "agentty",
      "args": ["acp"]
    }
  }
}

Run code blocks from replies (Ctrl+G)

The AI hands you a fenced block of commands — don't copy-paste it. ^G

lists the blocks from the last reply; Enter

(or a digit) runs one interactively on your real terminal: the TUI suspends, sudo password prompts work, output streams live, Ctrl+C

kills the command (not agentty). When it exits, a result card lets you attach the captured output to the composer as a collapsed chip (a

), copy it (y

), or discard (Esc

) — so "it failed with X" reaches the model without you re-typing anything.

Runs the right shell per block on every OS: sh

/bash

blocks through /bin/sh

on Linux/macOS, powershell

/pwsh

and cmd

/bat

blocks through PowerShell / cmd.exe

on Windows. Prompt $

markers are stripped, a block your platform can't run offers edit/copy instead, and capture is capped at 2 MB. Details: docs/RUN_CODE_BLOCK.md

Agent Skills

Drop a SKILL.md

anywhere under .agentty/skills/

or ~/.agentty/skills/

— it's live next turn. Compatible with Claude Code's .claude/skills/

format.

On codebases with internal DSLs or tribal conventions, agent accuracy jumps from ~20% to ~85% with curated skills (research).

Architecture

Pure-functional update loop: (Model, Msg) -> (Model, Cmd)

. View is Model -> Element

, rendered by maya. Process management via posix_spawn

  • poll(2)

. File writes are atomic (write

  • fsync

  • rename

).

Deep dive: docs/ARCHITECTURE.md ·

docs/RENDERING.md

Releasing (maintainers)

Cutting a release is one command:

scripts/cut-release.sh X.Y.Z      # POSIX / macOS / Linux / Git-Bash
scripts\cut-release.cmd X.Y.Z     # Windows cmd.exe

It bumps project(agentty VERSION …)

in CMakeLists.txt

(the single source of truth every manifest derives from), promotes CHANGELOG.md

's [Unreleased]

section to [X.Y.Z]

, commits, tags vX.Y.Z

, and pushes. The tag push fires GitHub Actions, which builds every binary + OS package (Linux x86_64/aarch64 on native runners, macOS Intel/ARM, Windows .exe

/.msi

) and auto-submits to winget, Homebrew, Scoop, and the AUR — nix/snap/gentoo manifests are attached to the release. --dry-run

previews without writing anything.

MIT — see LICENSE.

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