# Hax – a minimalist, terminal-native coding agent written in C

> Source: <https://usehax.dev/>
> Published: 2026-08-12 14:43:45+00:00

## > Lightweight by design

A single native C binary with a small dependency set. Starts instantly, and uses a very small amount of memory (just a few MBs) — so more RAM is left for your local LLMs.

## > Local models are first-class

hax auto-discovers the model and runtime capabilities. No custom provider config block needed for the default setup.

```
llama-server -m [model].gguf
hax --provider llama.cpp
```

## > Respects your terminal

Streaming Markdown and live tool output, reflowed for display in the terminal. Only redraws the current streaming line or the input area, native scrollback is preserved. Does not take over or mess with your terminal.

## > Inspectable

See exactly what was sent to the model and what it replied in a usable transcript view (Ctrl+T). Optionally collect a detailed wire protocol trace.

## > Use any provider/model

Supports OpenAI (+compatible), Anthropic (+compatible), Codex (via ChatGPT subscription), OpenRouter, llama.cpp, etc.

## > Well-behaved Unix tool

XDG paths, clean stdout in `-p`

one-shot mode with resume hints on stderr,
plain-text config and session files, composition via subprocesses instead of
plugins.

## > Target audience

Developers who live in the terminal, run local models, audit what their tools do,
package software for distros, or run agents where resources are scarce. If you want MCP
marketplaces, a plugin runtime, IDE panels, or per-command permission prompts, other
agents build exactly that — hax deliberately doesn't, and
[docs/philosophy.md](https://github.com/OleksandrChekhovskyi/hax/blob/master/docs/philosophy.md) explains each omission and the pattern that covers the
need.

If "fancy new AI tech in an old-school minimalist package" sounds like your vibe, you might like this.

## $ Get started

hax runs on Linux and macOS; on Windows, use it under
[WSL](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/).

With [Homebrew](https://brew.sh) (macOS or Linux):

```
brew install oleksandrchekhovskyi/hax/hax
```

On Linux, download the prebuilt static binary for your architecture (x86_64 or aarch64)
from the
[latest
release](https://github.com/OleksandrChekhovskyi/hax/releases/latest), then unpack the `hax`

binary into any directory on your
`PATH`

.

Building from source gives a binary linked against your system's shared libraries instead of a static one:

```
git clone https://github.com/OleksandrChekhovskyi/hax.git
cd hax
scripts/install_deps.sh   # Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, openSUSE, Alpine, macOS
make                      # the binary is now at ./build/hax
make install              # optional; may prompt for sudo
```

`scripts/install_deps.sh`

installs the build dependencies — a C compiler,
libcurl, jansson, meson, ninja, and pkg-config — plus `fzf`

, which hax uses
for `@file`

completion when available.

Run hax from the project directory you want it to work in:

```
hax                         # interactive REPL
hax -p "list TODOs"         # run one prompt and print the final answer
printf "explain x" | hax -p # read the prompt from stdin
hax -c                      # continue the latest session for this directory
hax --resume                # pick a past session for this directory
hax --resume=ID -p "next"   # resume a specific session in one-shot mode
```

The easiest first run is interactive: start `hax`

, then use
`/provider`

to see available providers and choose a model. hax remembers
interactive provider, model, and effort selections.

See the [README](https://github.com/OleksandrChekhovskyi/hax#readme) for
provider setup and the full documentation.