Show HN: Vim-like TUI agent, complete tasks in 20–80k tokens instead of 300k+

A developer released My Shell, a Vim-keybinding terminal agent that completes full tasks in 20–80k tokens instead of the 300k+ prefill tokens typical of most agent sessions, according to the project's Show HN post. My Shell uses local-first compaction to keep context on the user's machine, supports on-demand subagents with isolated contexts and thread pooling for parallel runs, and ships as a single bundle with no external packages. It runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows, in Docker, in PowerShell with full rendering and keybindings, and in VGA/VESA framebuffer mode without a terminal emulator; a web chat and a wgpu desktop app are also offered or planned.

A terminal agent for people who want agentic workflows without the token bills. Most agent sessions burn 300k+ prefill tokens. My Shell is built around small contexts: local-first compaction can complete a full task in 20–80k tokens. Small contexts also make parallelism affordable - run multiple agents at once; thread pooling keeps each session lean without cost compounding. It runs anywhere: macOS, Linux, and Windows, in Docker, and even in VGA/VESA framebuffer mode with no terminal emulator. It runs natively in PowerShell with full rendering and keybindings, no degraded experience. • Vim keybindings throughout • Markdown and LaTeX rendering in the terminal • On-demand subagents with isolated contexts • Compaction runs locally — your context stays on your machine • Single bundle, no external packages required It's opinionated: terminal-first, no chat UI, Vim keys. If that's not you, there's also a web chat with your name on it and a fresh wgpu desktop app, coming soon™ . Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49746030 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49746030 Points: 1 Comments: 0