Claw Code Agent

A Python reimplementation of the Claude Code agent architecture — local models, full control, zero dependencies.

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📢 What's New

April 2026 — Major Update

	Feature	Details
🆕	Interactive Chat Mode	New agent-chat command — multi-turn REPL with /exit to quit
🆕	Streaming Output	Token-by-token streaming with --stream flag
🆕	Plugin Runtime	Full manifest-based plugin system — hooks, tool aliases, virtual tools, tool blocking
🆕	Nested Agent Delegation	Delegate subtasks to child agents with dependency-aware topological batching
🆕	Agent Manager	Lineage tracking, group membership, batch summaries for nested agents
🆕	Custom Agent Profiles	Discover local markdown-defined agents from ~/.claude/agents and ./.claude/agents and use them through the Agent tool
🆕	Cost Tracking & Budgets	Token budgets, cost budgets, tool-call limits, model-call limits, session-turn limits
🆕	Structured Output	JSON schema response mode with --response-schema-file
🆕	Context Compaction	Auto-snip, auto-compact, and reactive compaction on prompt-too-long errors
🆕	File History Replay	Journaling of file edits with snapshot IDs, replay summaries on session resume
🆕	Truncation Continuation	Automatic continuation when model response is cut off (finish_reason=length)
🆕	Ollama Support	Works out of the box with Ollama's OpenAI-compatible API
🆕	LiteLLM Proxy Support	Route through LiteLLM Proxy to any provider
🆕	OpenRouter Support	Cloud API gateway — access OpenAI, Anthropic, Google models via one endpoint
🆕	Query Engine	Runtime event counters, transcript summaries, orchestration reports
🆕	Remote Runtime	Manifest-backed local remote profiles, connect/disconnect state, and remote CLI/slash flows
🆕	Hook & Policy Runtime	Local .claw-policy.json / hook manifests with trust reporting, safe env, tool blocking, and budget overrides
🆕	Task & Plan Runtime	Persistent local tasks and plans with plan-to-task sync and dependency-aware task execution
🆕	MCP Transport	Real stdio MCP transport for initialize, resource listing/reading, and tool listing/calling
🆕	Search Runtime	Provider-backed web_search with local manifests, activation state, and /search flows
🆕	Config & Account Runtime	Local config/settings mutation plus manifest-backed account profiles and login/logout state
🆕	Ask-User Runtime	Queued or interactive local ask-user flow with history, slash commands, and agent tool support
🆕	Team Runtime	Persisted local teams and message history with team/message tools and slash/CLI inspection
🆕	Notebook Edit Tool	Native .ipynb cell editing through the real agent tool registry
🆕	Workflow Runtime	Manifest-backed local workflows with workflow tools, slash commands, and run history
🆕	Remote Trigger Runtime	Local remote triggers with create/update/run flows similar to the npm remote trigger surface
🆕	Worktree Runtime	Managed git worktrees with mid-session cwd switching, slash commands, and CLI flows
🆕	Tokenizer-Aware Context	Cached tokenizer backends with heuristic fallback for /context, /status, and compaction
🆕	Prompt Budget Preflight	Preflight prompt-length validation, token-budget reporting, and auto-compact/context collapse before backend failures
🆕	LSP Runtime	Local LSP-style code intelligence for definitions, references, hover, symbols, call hierarchy, and diagnostics
🆕	Local Web GUI	Browser-based chat UI via python -m src.gui — modern dark theme, slash command palette, session browser, settings panel
🆕	Pasted-Content Refs	Pastes ≥500 chars into the GUI composer collapse to [Pasted text #N +M lines] chips and re-expand server-side before the agent runs
🆕	GUI Runtime Knobs	Settings panel exposes temperature, per-turn timeout, streaming toggle, and max-turns — all round-tripped live through /api/state
🆕	GUI Budgets & Limits	Advanced settings disclosure for every BudgetConfig field: cost ceiling, token budgets, tool/model call caps, delegated task cap, session turn cap — blank input clears the limit
🆕	GUI System Prompt & Schema	Custom / append / override system prompts and a structured-output JSON schema editor (with strict toggle) live-editable in the settings panel
🆕	GUI Context Management	Auto-snip / auto-compact thresholds, compact-preserve count, CLAUDE.md discovery toggle, and additional working directories — all editable from the settings panel and the new --auto-snip-threshold / --auto-compact-threshold / --add-dir flags
🆕	GUI Tasks View	Browse, create, start, complete, and cancel local tasks from a new Tasks tab; mutations call straight into TaskRuntime so completing a task auto-unblocks dependents just like the slash-command path
🆕	GUI Plan View	Edit the local porting plan (steps + explanation + per-step status/priority) from a new Plan tab; saves go through PlanRuntime.update_plan and optionally sync to the task list
🆕	GUI Memory View	Browse, edit, create, and delete the discovered CLAUDE.md / .claude/rules/*.md memory files from a new Memory tab; writes are sandboxed to the workspace + ~/.claude
🆕	GUI File History View	New History tab aggregates file_history entries from every saved session (newest first) — one row per shell run / file edit / nested agent call with snapshot ids and changed paths
🆕	GUI Background Sessions	New Background tab lists detached agent-bg runs (running/exited/completed/failed), shows live logs, and lets you kill a running session — same BackgroundSessionRuntime the CLI uses
🆕	GUI Worktree View	New Worktree tab — show status & history, create a managed git worktree (auto-switches the agent's cwd), and exit it (keep or remove); state survives reload via WorktreeRuntime
🆕	GUI Skills Marketplace	New Skills tab — card grid of every bundled skill with description, when-to-use, aliases, and allowed tools; "Use in chat" button drops the invocation into the composer
🆕	GUI Accounts View	New Accounts tab — discover profiles from .claude/account.json, log in by name or with an ephemeral identity, view login/logout history; persists into AccountRuntime state
🆕	GUI Remote Profiles	New Remote tab — discover remote/SSH/teleport/direct-connect/deep-link profiles from .claw-remote.json etc., connect by name or ephemeral target, view connect/disconnect history
🆕	GUI MCP Servers	New MCP tab — list discovered servers/resources/tools from .claw-mcp.json/.mcp.json, read inline + stdio resources, call tools with custom JSON args; "Probe stdio servers" toggle controls subprocess cost
🆕	GUI Plugins View	New Plugins tab — list manifests from .claw-plugin/plugin.json, .codex-plugin/plugin.json, and plugins/*/plugin.json with their tools, virtual tools, aliases, blocks, and lifecycle hooks
🆕	GUI Ask-User Queue	New Ask tab — preload answers (exact or contains match), browse the queue and history, and clear past entries; the agent's Ask tool consumes them straight from .port_sessions/ask_user_runtime.json
🆕	GUI Workflows View	New Workflows tab — list discovered workflow definitions from .claw-workflows.json, trigger a recorded run with custom JSON arguments, browse run history
🆕	GUI Search View	New Search tab — discover providers from .claw-search.json/.claude/search.json, activate one, and run live SearXNG/Brave/Tavily queries straight from the browser
🆕	GUI Remote Triggers	New Triggers tab — list/create/run remote triggers (manifest-defined or local), record run history; mirrors RemoteTriggerRuntime exactly
🆕	GUI Teams View	New Teams tab — create teams with members, send messages between them, view full message history; persisted via TeamRuntime
🆕	GUI Diagnostics Tab	New Diag tab — render the existing markdown reports (summary, manifest, parity-audit, setup-report, command-graph, tool-pool, bootstrap-graph) on demand without shelling out
🆕	Daemon Commands	Local daemon start/ps/logs/attach/kill wrapper over background agent sessions
🆕	Background Sessions	Local agent-bg, agent-ps, agent-logs, agent-attach, and agent-kill flows
🆕	Testing Guide	Comprehensive TESTING_GUIDE.md with commands for every feature
🆕	Parity Checklist	Full PARITY_CHECKLIST.md tracking implementation status vs npm source

---

📖 About

This repository reimplements the Claude Code npm agent architecture entirely in Python, designed to run with local open-source models via an OpenAI-compatible API server.

Built on the public porting workspace from instructkr/claw-code, the active development lives at HarnessLab/claw-code-agent.

Goal: Not to ship the original npm source, but to reimplement the full agent flow in Python — prompt assembly, context building, slash commands, tool calling, session persistence, and local model execution.

Zero external dependencies — just Python's standard library.

---

✨ Key Features

Feature	Description
🤖 Agent Loop	Full agentic coding loop with tool calling and iterative reasoning
💬 Interactive Chat	Multi-turn REPL via agent-chat with session continuity
🖥️ Local Web GUI	Browser-based chat UI launched with python -m src.gui — sessions browser, slash command palette, live settings
🧰 Core Tools	File read / write / edit, glob search, grep search, shell execution
🔌 Plugin Runtime	Manifest-based plugins with hooks, aliases, virtual tools, and tool blocking
🪆 Nested Delegation	Delegate subtasks to child agents with dependency-aware topological batching
🧩 Custom Agents	Load local agent profiles from ~/.claude/agents and ./.claude/agents, inspect them via /agents, and delegate with subagent_type
📡 Streaming	Token-by-token streaming output with --stream
💬 Slash Commands	Local commands for context, config, account, search, MCP, remote, tasks, plan, hooks, and model control
🌐 Remote Runtime	Manifest-backed remote profiles with local remote-mode, ssh-mode, teleport-mode, and connect/disconnect state
🧭 Task & Plan Runtime	Persistent tasks and plans with sync, next-task selection, and blocked/unblocked state
🛰️ MCP Runtime	Local MCP manifests plus real stdio MCP transport for resources and tools
🔎 Search Runtime	Provider-backed web_search plus provider activation and status reporting
⚙️ Config & Account Runtime	Local config mutation, settings inspection, account profiles, and login/logout state
🙋 Ask-User Runtime	Queued answer or interactive user-question flow with history tracking
👥 Team Runtime	Persisted local teams plus message history, handoff notes, and collaboration metadata
📓 Notebook Editing	Native Jupyter notebook cell editing through notebook_edit
🪵 Worktree Runtime	Managed git worktrees with worktree_enter, worktree_exit, and live cwd switching
🧭 Workflow Runtime	Manifest-backed workflows with slash commands, CLI inspection, and recorded runs
⏰ Remote Triggers	Local remote triggers with create/update/run flows and npm-style trigger actions
🪝 Hook & Policy Runtime	Trust reporting, safe env, managed settings, tool blocking, and budget overrides
🧠 LSP Code Intelligence	Local LSP-style definitions, references, hover, symbols, diagnostics, and call hierarchy
🧠 Context Engine	Automatic context building with CLAUDE.md discovery, compaction, and snipping
🔢 Tokenizer-Aware Accounting	Model-aware token counting with cached tokenizer backends and fallback heuristics
📏 Prompt Budgeting	Soft/hard prompt-window checks, token-budget reports, and preflight context collapse
🔄 Session Persistence	Save and resume agent sessions with file-history replay
🗂️ Background Sessions	agent-bg and local daemon wrappers for background runs, logs, attach, and kill
💰 Cost & Budget Control	Token budgets, cost limits, tool-call caps, model-call caps
📋 Structured Output	JSON schema response mode for programmatic use
🔐 Permission System	Granular control: --allow-write, --allow-shell, --unsafe
🏗️ OpenAI-Compatible	Works with vLLM, Ollama, LiteLLM Proxy, OpenRouter — any OpenAI-compatible API
🐉 Qwen3-Coder	First-class support for Qwen3-Coder-30B-A3B-Instruct via vLLM
📦 Zero Dependencies	Pure Python standard library — nothing to install

---

📋 Roadmap

📚 Documentation

Document	Description
TESTING_GUIDE.md	Step-by-step commands to verify every feature
PARITY_CHECKLIST.md	Full implementation status vs the npm source

✅ Done

• Python CLI agent loop
• Interactive chat mode (agent-chat) with multi-turn REPL
• OpenAI-compatible local model backend
• Qwen3-Coder support through vLLM with qwen3_xml tool parser
• Ollama, LiteLLM Proxy, and OpenRouter backends
• Core tools: list_dir, read_file, write_file, edit_file, glob_search, grep_search, bash
• Context building and /context-style usage reporting
• Slash commands: /help, /context, /context-raw, /token-budget, /prompt, /permissions, /model, /tools, /agents, /memory, /status, /clear
• Session persistence and agent-resume flow
• Permission system (read-only, write, shell, unsafe tiers)
• Streaming token-by-token assistant output
• Truncated-response continuation flow
• Auto-snip and auto-compact context reduction
• Reactive compaction retry on prompt-too-long errors
• Preflight prompt-length validation and token-budget reporting
• Preflight auto-compact/context collapse before backend prompt-too-long failures
• Cost tracking and usage budget enforcement
• Token, tool-call, model-call, and session-turn budgets
• Structured output / JSON schema response mode
• File history journaling with snapshot IDs and replay summaries
• Nested agent delegation with dependency-aware topological batching
• Agent manager with lineage tracking and group membership
• Filesystem-backed custom agent profiles with built-in/user/project precedence
• Local custom-agent create/update/delete flows via CLI and /agents
• Local daemon-style background command family
• Local background session workflows: agent-bg, agent-ps, agent-logs, agent-attach, agent-kill
• Local remote runtime: manifest discovery, profile listing, connect/disconnect persistence, and CLI/slash flows
• Local hook and policy runtime with trust reporting, safe env, tool blocking, and budget overrides
• Local config runtime: config discovery, effective settings, source inspection, and config mutation
• Local LSP runtime: definitions, references, hover, symbols, diagnostics, and call hierarchy
• Local account runtime: profile discovery, login/logout state, and account CLI/slash flows
• Local ask-user runtime: queued answers, history, and ask-user CLI/slash flows
• Local team runtime: persisted teams, team messages, and team CLI/slash flows
• Local search runtime with provider discovery, activation, and provider-backed web_search
• Local MCP runtime: manifest resources, stdio transport, MCP resources, and MCP tool calls
• Local task and plan runtimes with plan sync and dependency-aware task execution
• Notebook edit tool in the real Python tool registry
• Local workflow runtime with workflow list/get/run tools and CLI/slash flows
• Local remote trigger runtime with create/update/run flows and CLI/slash inspection
• Local managed git worktree runtime with live cwd switching and worktree CLI/slash flows
• Local web GUI (FastAPI + vanilla JS SPA) with chat, sessions browser, slash command palette, and live settings (python -m src.gui)
• Tokenizer-aware context accounting with cached tokenizer backends and heuristic fallback
• Plugin runtime: manifest discovery, hooks, aliases, virtual tools, tool blocking
• Plugin lifecycle hooks: resume, persist, delegate phases
• Plugin session-state persistence and resume restoration
• Query engine facade driving the real Python runtime
• Compaction metadata with lineage IDs and revision summaries
• Extended runtime tools: web_fetch, web_search, tool_search, sleep
• Unit tests for the Python runtime
• pyproject.toml packaging with setuptools

🔲 In Progress

• Full MCP parity beyond the current stdio transport and local manifest/resource/tool support
• Full slash-command parity with npm runtime
• Full interactive REPL / TUI behavior
• Full tokenizer/chat-message framing parity beyond the current tokenizer-aware accounting
• Hooks system parity
• Real remote transport/runtime parity beyond the current local remote-profile runtime
• Voice and VIM modes
• Editor and platform integrations
• Background and team features

---

🏗️ Architecture

claw-code/
├── README.md
├── TESTING_GUIDE.md              # How to test every feature
├── PARITY_CHECKLIST.md           # Implementation status vs npm source
├── pyproject.toml
├── .gitignore
├── images/
│   └── logo.png
├── src/                          # Python implementation
│   ├── main.py                   # CLI entry point & argument parsing
│   ├── agent_runtime.py          # Core agent loop (LocalCodingAgent)
│   ├── agent_tools.py            # Tool definitions & execution engine
│   ├── agent_prompting.py        # System prompt assembly
│   ├── agent_registry.py         # Built-in + filesystem-backed custom agent discovery
│   ├── agent_context.py          # Context building & CLAUDE.md discovery
│   ├── agent_context_usage.py    # Context usage estimation & reporting
│   ├── agent_session.py          # Session state management
│   ├── agent_slash_commands.py   # Local slash command processing
│   ├── agent_manager.py          # Nested agent lineage & group tracking
│   ├── agent_types.py            # Shared dataclasses & type definitions
│   ├── openai_compat.py          # OpenAI-compatible API client (streaming)
│   ├── plugin_runtime.py         # Plugin manifest, hooks, aliases, virtual tools
│   ├── agent_plugin_cache.py     # Plugin discovery & prompt injection cache
│   ├── session_store.py          # Session serialization & persistence
│   ├── transcript.py             # Transcript block export & mutation tracking
│   ├── query_engine.py           # Query engine facade & runtime orchestration
│   ├── mcp_runtime.py            # Local MCP discovery and stdio MCP transport
│   ├── search_runtime.py         # Search providers and provider-backed web_search
│   ├── remote_runtime.py         # Local remote profiles, connect/disconnect state, remote CLI support
│   ├── background_runtime.py     # Local background sessions and daemon support
│   ├── account_runtime.py        # Local account profiles, login/logout state, account CLI support
│   ├── ask_user_runtime.py       # Local ask-user queued answers and interaction history
│   ├── config_runtime.py         # Local workspace config/settings discovery and mutation
│   ├── lsp_runtime.py            # Local LSP-style code intelligence and diagnostics
│   ├── token_budget.py           # Prompt-window budgeting and preflight prompt-length validation
│   ├── plan_runtime.py           # Persistent plan runtime and plan sync
│   ├── task_runtime.py           # Persistent task runtime and task execution
│   ├── task.py                   # Task state model and task dataclasses
│   ├── team_runtime.py           # Local teams, messages, and collaboration metadata
│   ├── workflow_runtime.py       # Local workflow manifests and recorded workflow runs
│   ├── remote_trigger_runtime.py # Local remote trigger manifests and trigger run history
│   ├── worktree_runtime.py       # Managed git worktree sessions and cwd switching
│   ├── hook_policy.py            # Hook/policy manifests, trust, and safe env handling
│   ├── tokenizer_runtime.py      # Tokenizer-aware context accounting backends
│   ├── permissions.py            # Tool permission filtering
│   ├── cost_tracker.py           # Cost & budget enforcement
│   ├── commands.py               # Mirrored command inventory
│   ├── tools.py                  # Mirrored tool inventory
│   ├── runtime.py                # Mirrored runtime facade
│   ├── reference_data/           # Mirrored inventory snapshots
│   └── gui/                      # Local web GUI (FastAPI + vanilla JS SPA)
│       ├── __main__.py           # `python -m src.gui` entry point
│       ├── server.py             # FastAPI app and JSON endpoints
│       └── static/               # index.html, app.css, app.js
└── tests/                        # Unit tests
    ├── test_agent_runtime.py
    ├── test_agent_context.py
    ├── test_agent_context_usage.py
    ├── test_agent_prompting.py
    ├── test_agent_slash_commands.py
    ├── test_main.py
    ├── test_query_engine_runtime.py
    └── test_porting_workspace.py

---

📦 Requirements

Requirement	Details
🐍 Python	3.10 or higher
📚 Dependencies	None — pure Python standard library
🖥️ Model Server	vLLM, Ollama, LiteLLM Proxy, or OpenRouter, with tool calling support
🧠 Model	Qwen/Qwen3-Coder-30B-A3B-Instruct (recommended)

---

🚀 Quick Start

1. Start vLLM with Qwen3-Coder

vLLM must be started with automatic tool choice enabled. Use the qwen3_xml parser for Qwen3-Coder tool calling:

python -m vllm.entrypoints.openai.api_server \
  --model Qwen/Qwen3-Coder-30B-A3B-Instruct \
  --host 127.0.0.1 \
  --port 8000 \
  --enable-auto-tool-choice \
  --tool-call-parser qwen3_xml

Verify the server is running:

curl http://127.0.0.1:8000/v1/models

📚 References: vLLM Tool Calling Docs · OpenAI-Compatible Server

Optional: Use Ollama Instead of vLLM

claw-code-agent can also work with Ollama because the runtime targets an OpenAI-compatible API. Use a model that supports tool calling well.

Example:

ollama serve
ollama pull qwen3

Then configure:

export OPENAI_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:11434/v1
export OPENAI_API_KEY=ollama
export OPENAI_MODEL=qwen3

Notes:

• prefer tool-capable models such as qwen3
• plain chat-only models are not enough for full agent behavior
• Ollama does not use the vLLM parser flags shown above

📚 References: Ollama OpenAI Compatibility · Ollama Tool Calling

Optional: Use LiteLLM Proxy

claw-code-agent can also work through LiteLLM Proxy because the runtime targets an OpenAI-compatible chat completions API. The routed model still needs to support tool calling for full agent behavior.

Quick start example:

pip install 'litellm[proxy]'
litellm --model ollama/qwen3

LiteLLM Proxy runs on port 4000 by default. Then configure:

export OPENAI_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:4000
export OPENAI_API_KEY=anything
export OPENAI_MODEL=ollama/qwen3

Notes:

• LiteLLM Proxy gives you an OpenAI-style gateway in front of many providers
• tool use still depends on the underlying routed model and provider behavior
• if you configure a LiteLLM master key, use that instead of anything

📚 References: LiteLLM Docs · LiteLLM Proxy Quick Start

Optional: Use OpenRouter

claw-code-agent can also work with OpenRouter, a cloud API gateway that provides access to models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, and others through a single OpenAI-compatible endpoint. No local model server required.

Configure:

export OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-or-v1-your-key-here
export OPENAI_MODEL=openai/gpt-4o-mini

Notes:

• sign up at openrouter.ai and create an API key under Keys
• model names use the provider/model format (e.g. anthropic/claude-sonnet-4, openai/gpt-4o, google/gemini-2.5-pro)
• tool calling support varies by model — check the model list for capabilities
• this sends your conversation (including file contents and shell output) to OpenRouter and the upstream provider — do not use with repos containing secrets or sensitive data

📚 References: OpenRouter Docs · Supported Models · API Keys

2. Configure Environment

export OPENAI_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8000/v1
export OPENAI_API_KEY=local-token
export OPENAI_MODEL=Qwen/Qwen3-Coder-30B-A3B-Instruct

Use Another Model With vLLM

If you want to try another model, keep the same vLLM server setup and change the --model value when you launch vLLM.

Example:

python -m vllm.entrypoints.openai.api_server \
  --model your-model-name \
  --host 127.0.0.1 \
  --port 8000 \
  --enable-auto-tool-choice \
  --tool-call-parser your_parser

Then update:

export OPENAI_MODEL=your-model-name

Notes:

• the documented path in this repository is vLLM
• the model must support tool calling well enough for agent use
• some model families require a different --tool-call-parser
• slash commands such as /help, /context, and /tools are local and do not require the model server

3. Run the Agent

# Read-only question
python3 -m src.main agent \
  "Read src/agent_runtime.py and summarize how the loop works." \
  --cwd .

# Write-enabled task
python3 -m src.main agent \
  "Create TEST_QWEN_AGENT.md with one line: test ok" \
  --cwd . --allow-write

# Shell-enabled task
python3 -m src.main agent \
  "Run pwd and ls src, then summarize the result." \
  --cwd . --allow-shell

# Interactive chat mode
python3 -m src.main agent-chat --cwd .

# Streaming output
python3 -m src.main agent \
  "Explain the current architecture." \
  --cwd . --stream

---

🛠️ Usage

Agent Commands

Command	Description
agent <prompt>	Run the agent with a prompt
agent-chat [prompt]	Start interactive multi-turn chat mode
agent-bg <prompt>	Run the agent in a local background session
agent-ps	List local background sessions
agent-logs <id>	Show background session logs
agent-attach <id>	Show the current background output snapshot
agent-kill <id>	Stop a background session
daemon <subcommand>	Daemon-style wrapper over local background sessions
agent-prompt	Show the assembled system prompt
agent-context	Show estimated context usage
agent-context-raw	Show the raw context snapshot
token-budget	Show prompt-window budget, reserves, and soft/hard input limits
agents [agent_type]	List active local agent definitions or show one agent profile
agents-create <agent_type>	Create a project or user agent definition markdown file
agents-update <agent_type>	Update an existing project or user agent definition
agents-delete <agent_type>	Delete an existing project or user agent definition
agent-resume <id> <prompt>	Resume a saved session

Runtime Utility Commands

Command	Description
search-status / search-providers / search-activate / search	Inspect and use the local search runtime
mcp-status / mcp-resources / mcp-resource / mcp-tools / mcp-call-tool	Inspect and use the local MCP runtime
remote-status / remote-profiles / remote-disconnect	Inspect local remote runtime state
remote-mode / ssh-mode / teleport-mode / direct-connect-mode / deep-link-mode	Activate local remote runtime modes
config-status / config-effective / config-source / config-get / config-set	Inspect and mutate local config/settings
account-status / account-profiles / account-login / account-logout	Inspect and mutate local account state

CLI Flags

Flag	Description
--cwd <path>	Set the workspace directory
--model <name>	Override the model name
--base-url <url>	Override the API base URL
--allow-write	Allow the agent to modify files
--allow-shell	Allow the agent to execute shell commands
--unsafe	Allow destructive shell operations
--stream	Enable token-by-token streaming output
--show-transcript	Print the full message transcript
--scratchpad-root <path>	Override the scratchpad directory
--system-prompt <text>	Set a custom system prompt
--append-system-prompt <text>	Append to the system prompt
--override-system-prompt <text>	Replace the generated system prompt
--add-dir <path>	Add extra directories to context

Budget & Limit Flags

Flag	Description
--max-total-tokens <n>	Total token budget
--max-input-tokens <n>	Input token budget
--max-output-tokens <n>	Output token budget
--max-reasoning-tokens <n>	Reasoning token budget
--max-budget-usd <n>	Maximum cost in USD
--max-tool-calls <n>	Maximum tool calls per run
--max-delegated-tasks <n>	Maximum delegated subtasks
--max-model-calls <n>	Maximum model API calls
--max-session-turns <n>	Maximum session turns
--input-cost-per-million <n>	Input token pricing
--output-cost-per-million <n>	Output token pricing

Context Control Flags

Flag	Description
--auto-snip-threshold <n>	Auto-snip older messages at this token count
--auto-compact-threshold <n>	Auto-compact at this token count
--compact-preserve-messages <n>	Messages to preserve during compaction
--disable-claude-md	Disable CLAUDE.md discovery

Structured Output Flags

Flag	Description
--response-schema-file <path>	JSON schema file for structured output
--response-schema-name <name>	Schema name identifier
--response-schema-strict	Enforce strict schema validation

Slash Commands

These are handled locally before the model loop:

Command	Aliases	Description
/help	/commands	Show built-in slash commands
/context	/usage	Show estimated session context usage
/context-raw	/env	Show raw environment & context snapshot
/token-budget	/budget	Show prompt-window budget, reserves, and soft/hard input limits
/mcp	—	Show MCP runtime status, tools, or a single MCP tool
/resources	—	List MCP resources
/resource	—	Read an MCP resource by URI
/search	—	Show search status, providers, activate a provider, or run a search
/remote	—	Show local remote status or activate a target
/remotes	—	List local remote profiles
/ssh	—	Activate an SSH-style remote profile
/teleport	—	Activate a teleport-style remote profile
/direct-connect	—	Activate a direct-connect remote profile
/deep-link	—	Activate a deep-link remote profile
/disconnect	/remote-disconnect	Disconnect the active remote runtime target
/account	—	Show account runtime status or profiles
/login	—	Activate a local account profile or identity
/logout	—	Clear the active account session
/config	/settings	Inspect effective config, sources, or a single config value
/plan	/planner	Show the local plan runtime state
/tasks	/todo	Show the local task list
/task	—	Show a task by id
/task-next	/next-task	Show the next actionable tasks
/prompt	/system-prompt	Render the effective system prompt
/hooks	/policy	Show local hook/policy manifests
/trust	—	Show trust mode, managed settings, and safe env values
/permissions	—	Show active tool permission mode
/model	—	Show or update the active model
/tools	—	List registered tools with permission status
/agents	—	List, show, create, update, or delete local agent definitions
/memory	—	Show loaded CLAUDE.md memory bundle
/status	/session	Show runtime/session status summary
/clear	—	Clear ephemeral runtime state

python3 -m src.main agent "/help"
python3 -m src.main agent "/context" --cwd .
python3 -m src.main agent "/token-budget" --cwd .
python3 -m src.main agent "/tools" --cwd .
python3 -m src.main agent "/agents" --cwd .
python3 -m src.main agent "/status" --cwd .

Custom Agent Definitions

Custom agent profiles can live in either of these directories:

• ./.claude/agents/*.md
• ~/.claude/agents/*.md

Project agents override user agents, and user agents override built-ins when the agent_type matches.

Example agent file:

---
name: reviewer
description: "Review implementation changes carefully."
tools: read_file, grep_search
model: Qwen/Qwen3-Coder-30B-A3B-Instruct
initialPrompt: Start by identifying the highest-risk files.
---

Inspect code changes and summarize correctness risks, regressions, and missing tests.

Inspect the loaded profiles:

python3 -m src.main agents --cwd .
python3 -m src.main agents reviewer --cwd .
python3 -m src.main agent "/agents" --cwd .
python3 -m src.main agent "/agents show reviewer" --cwd .

Create, update, or delete agent files from the CLI:

python3 -m src.main agents-create reviewer \
  --cwd . \
  --description "Review implementation changes carefully." \
  --prompt "Inspect code changes and summarize risks." \
  --tools read_file,grep_search \
  --model Qwen/Qwen3-Coder-30B-A3B-Instruct

python3 -m src.main agents-update reviewer \
  --cwd . \
  --description "Review implementation changes and tests carefully." \
  --prompt "Focus on regressions, missing tests, and risky diffs."

python3 -m src.main agents-delete reviewer --cwd . --source project

Or use the local slash command management forms:

python3 -m src.main agent "/agents create reviewer :: Review implementation changes carefully. :: Inspect code changes and summarize risks." --cwd .
python3 -m src.main agent "/agents update reviewer Updated review description :: Focus on regressions and missing tests." --cwd .
python3 -m src.main agent "/agents delete reviewer" --cwd .

Utility Commands

python3 -m src.main summary            # Workspace summary
python3 -m src.main manifest           # Workspace manifest
python3 -m src.main commands --limit 10 # Command inventory
python3 -m src.main tools --limit 10    # Tool inventory

---

🔧 Built-in Tools

The runtime currently includes core and extended tools:

Tool	Description	Permission
list_dir	List files and directories	🟢 Always
read_file	Read file contents (with line ranges)	🟢 Always
write_file	Write or create files	🟡 --allow-write
edit_file	Edit files via exact string matching	🟡 --allow-write
glob_search	Find files by glob pattern	🟢 Always
grep_search	Search file contents by regex	🟢 Always
bash	Execute shell commands	🔴 --allow-shell
web_fetch	Fetch local or remote text content by URL	🟢 Always
search_status / search_list_providers / search_activate_provider / web_search	Search runtime status and provider-backed web search	🟢 Always
tool_search	Search the current Python tool registry	🟢 Always
sleep	Bounded local wait tool	🟢 Always
config_list / config_get / config_set	Inspect and mutate local workspace config	config_set is 🟡 --allow-write
account_status / account_list_profiles / account_login / account_logout	Inspect and mutate local account state	🟢 Always
remote_status / remote_list_profiles / remote_connect / remote_disconnect	Inspect and mutate local remote runtime state	🟢 Always
mcp_list_resources / mcp_read_resource / mcp_list_tools / mcp_call_tool	Use local MCP resources and transport-backed MCP tools	🟢 Always
plan_get / update_plan / plan_clear	Inspect and mutate the local plan runtime	update_plan is 🟡 --allow-write
task_next / task_list / task_get / task_create / task_update / task_start / task_complete / task_block / task_cancel / todo_write	Persistent local task and todo management	write-like task mutations are 🟡 --allow-write
delegate_agent	Delegate work to nested child agents	🟢 Always

---

🔌 Plugin System

Claw Code Agent supports a manifest-based plugin runtime. Drop a plugin.json in a plugins/ subdirectory:

{
  "name": "my-plugin",
  "hooks": {
    "beforePrompt": "Inject guidance into the system prompt.",
    "afterTurn": "Run after each agent turn.",
    "onResume": "Reapply state on session resume.",
    "beforePersist": "Save state before session is saved.",
    "beforeDelegate": "Inject guidance before child agents.",
    "afterDelegate": "Process child agent results."
  },
  "toolAliases": [
    { "name": "my_read", "baseTool": "read_file", "description": "Custom read alias." }
  ],
  "virtualTools": [
    { "name": "my_tool", "description": "A virtual tool.", "responseTemplate": "result: {input}" }
  ]
}

See TESTING_GUIDE.md Section 19 for full plugin testing commands.

---

🪆 Nested Agent Delegation

The agent can delegate subtasks to child agents with full context carryover:

python3 -m src.main agent \
  "Delegate a subtask to inspect src/agent_runtime.py and return a summary." \
  --cwd . --show-transcript

Features:

• Sequential and parallel subtask execution
• Dependency-aware topological batching
• Child-session save and resume
• Agent manager lineage tracking

See TESTING_GUIDE.md Section 20 for delegation testing commands.

---

🖥️ Local Web GUI

If the terminal isn't your thing, launch the bundled browser GUI:

python3 -m src.gui --cwd . --allow-write --allow-shell

Your default browser opens to http://127.0.0.1:8765 with a modern dark-themed chat UI.

Flag	Description
--host <addr>	Bind address (default 127.0.0.1)
--port <n>	Port to listen on (default 8765)
--cwd <path>	Workspace directory the agent operates in
--model <name>	Override the model name
--base-url <url>	Override the OpenAI-compatible API base URL
--api-key <key>	API key for the model server
--session-dir <path>	Where saved sessions live
--allow-write	Allow file write/edit tools
--allow-shell	Allow shell execution
--temperature <f>	Sampling temperature (default 0.0)
--timeout-seconds <f>	Per-turn model timeout in seconds (default 120)
--stream	Enable streaming model responses
--max-turns <n>	Per-run turn limit (default 12)
--max-budget-usd <f>	Abort the run if total cost exceeds this
--max-total-tokens <n>	Token budget across prompt + completion
--max-input-tokens <n>	Input-token cap per call
--max-output-tokens <n>	Output-token cap per call
--max-reasoning-tokens <n>	Reasoning-token cap per call
--max-tool-calls <n>	Hard cap on tool invocations per run
--max-model-calls <n>	Hard cap on model invocations per run
--max-delegated-tasks <n>	Cap on nested delegated agents
--max-session-turns <n>	Cap across resumed sessions
--system-prompt <s>	Replace the rendered system prompt body
--append-system-prompt <s>	Append text to the rendered system prompt
--override-system-prompt <s>	Skip the default system prompt entirely and use this
--response-schema-file <path>	Load a structured-output schema from a JSON file
--response-schema-name <s>	Name the schema (default response)
--response-schema-strict	Reject responses that don't match the schema
--auto-snip-threshold <n>	Token threshold above which old messages are auto-snipped
--auto-compact-threshold <n>	Token threshold above which the conversation is auto-compacted
--compact-preserve-messages <n>	Number of recent messages preserved during a compact (default 4)
--disable-claude-md	Skip discovery of CLAUDE.md files
--add-dir <path>	Additional working directory the agent may operate in (repeatable)
--no-browser	Don't auto-open a browser tab

Every budget flag above is also editable at runtime through the Budgets & limits disclosure in the settings panel — leave a field blank to clear the limit, type a number to set it.

The GUI surfaces:

• multi-turn chat with tool-call cards (collapsible JSON args + results)
• saved sessions sidebar with one-click resume
• slash command and skill pickers (/ and ★ buttons, or Cmd/Ctrl+K)
• live settings panel (model, base URL, working dir, permissions)
• usage / cost meta in the composer footer
• pasted-content collapsing — see below
• runtime knobs: temperature, timeout, streaming toggle, max turns
• a Tasks tab in the topbar — list / create / start / complete / cancel against .port_sessions/task_runtime.json

Paste large content

Paste anything ≥500 characters into the composer (a logfile, a stack trace, an entire file) and the GUI replaces it with a short reference like [Pasted text #1 +42 lines], plus a chip above the textarea showing 📎 [Pasted text #1] · 42 lines · 1894 chars · ✕.

• The reference stays editable — type around it, delete it, or duplicate it; whatever survives at send-time is what gets expanded.
• The full content is held in the browser only and shipped with the next /api/chat request as pasted_contents.
• The server re-splices the original text back in before the agent runs, so the model sees the full payload — never the placeholder.
• The chip's ✕ button drops both the content stash and any inline ref so it can't accidentally come along.
• The stash clears after every successful send and when you click + New chat.

Note: The GUI uses FastAPI and Uvicorn under the hood. These get installed automatically if you install the package via pip install -e .. The core Python agent runtime itself remains dependency-free.

---

🔄 Session Persistence

Each agent run automatically saves a resumable session:

session_id=4f2c8c6f9c0e4d7c9c7b1b2a3d4e5f67
session_path=.port_sessions/agent/4f2c8c6f...

Resume a previous session:

python3 -m src.main agent-resume \
  4f2c8c6f9c0e4d7c9c7b1b2a3d4e5f67 \
  "Continue the previous task and finish the missing parts."

Resume directly into interactive chat:

python3 -m src.main agent-chat \
  --resume-session-id <session-id> \
  --cwd .

Inspect saved sessions:

ls -lt .port_sessions/agent

Note: Run agent-resume from the same claw-code/ directory where the session was created. A resumed session continues from the saved transcript, not from scratch.

---

🧪 Testing

Run the full test suite:

python3 -m unittest discover -s tests -v

Smoke tests:

python3 -m src.main agent "/help"
python3 -m src.main agent-context --cwd .
python3 -m src.main agent \
  "Read src/agent_session.py and summarize the message flow." \
  --cwd .

📚 Full testing guide: See TESTING_GUIDE.md for step-by-step commands covering the full implemented runtime surface.

---

🔐 Permission Model

Claw Code Agent uses a tiered permission system to keep the agent safe by default:

Tier	Capability	Flag Required
Read-only	List, read, glob, grep	None (default)
Write	+ file creation and editing	--allow-write
Shell	+ shell command execution	--allow-shell
Unsafe	+ destructive shell operations	--unsafe

---

🔎 Parity Status

The full implementation checklist tracking parity against the npm src lives in PARITY_CHECKLIST.md.

It covers: core runtime, CLI modes, prompt assembly, context/memory, slash commands, tools, permissions, plugins, MCP, REPL/TUI, remote features, editor integrations, and internal subsystems.

---

⚠️ Disclaimer

• This repository is a Python reimplementation inspired by the Claude Code npm architecture.
• It does not ship the original npm source.
• It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic.

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