ait-vcs 0.55.61

Run Claude Code, Codex, Aider, Gemini CLI, and Cursor as isolated, reviewable attempts with provenance, memory, and apply/recover. MIT, no SaaS.

ait

AI coding agents should work in attempts, not your working tree

Claude Code · Codex CLI · Aider · Gemini CLI · Cursor

_{English · 繁體中文}

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ait turns Claude Code, Codex CLI, Aider, Gemini CLI, and Cursor runs into isolated, reviewable attempts: provenance, shared repo memory, adversarial review, and explicit apply/recover on top of Git. Your root checkout stays untouched until you choose what lands. Open source (MIT), Python 3.14+, dependency-free, no SaaS, no telemetry.

AI agents are fast enough to refactor real code, but the default workflow still lets them use your working tree like a scratchpad. ait wraps the agent CLIs you already use — it is not an agent and not a Git replacement — and turns each run into an attempt you can inspect, compare, review, recover, or apply. When the change matters, AIT can ask a separate reviewer agent to challenge the attempt before it reaches your checkout.

pipx install ait-vcs
cd your-repo
ait init
direnv allow   # only if prompted

claude ...

Prefer npm?

npm install -g ait-vcs
cd your-repo
ait init
claude ...

The package is named ait-vcs on PyPI and npm. The installed command is ait.

_{Static HTML from ait graph --html: attempts, evidence, memory, hot files, and query filters in one local report.}

Key Capabilities

Capability	What it means
Attempt-first workflow	AIT wraps the agent CLIs you already use and turns each run into an isolated attempt before anything touches your root checkout.
Worktree isolation	Every run gets an internal isolated Git worktree, so failed or risky attempts do not pollute your current workspace.
Attempt provenance	Prompt, intent, adapter, output, changed files, commits, trace references, status, and outcome stay linked in one attempt record.
Wrapper bypass detection	ait status <adapter> shows whether this shell will enter AIT or silently call the real agent binary.
Live federated memory	Claude Code, Codex, Aider, Gemini, Cursor, and shell agents can read the same live repo memory: AIT-owned history plus current CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, and Cursor rules.
Long-term repo memory	Useful attempts, commits, notes, accepted facts, prior findings, and explicit adopted memory can survive across terminals, sessions, and weeks.
Cross-agent handoff	One agent can record an investigation or decision, and another agent can receive that context later through AIT rather than hidden chat state.
Parallel agent attempts	Multiple agents can try different approaches at the same time without racing inside the same checkout.
Explicit apply/recover flow	Agent output remains a proposal until you apply it; held or failed work remains recoverable instead of becoming working-copy debris.
Adversarial review	A separate reviewer agent can challenge an attempt; high-risk findings can be recorded and used to hold apply.
Local-first metadata	AIT metadata lives under .ait/ next to .git/; no SaaS dashboard, no telemetry, no required code upload.
Queryable history	Attempts, intents, files, agents, statuses, review results, and old prompts can be found with AIT commands instead of shell history.

Problems ait Solves

Problem with agent coding today	What ait adds	Runnable example
A bad prompt rewrites half your repo before you notice	Each run lands in an isolated Git worktree — your root checkout never moves	01-blast-radius
The diff has no useful provenance — which prompt produced it?	Attempts link intent, command output, files, and commits in one record	02-provenance
Failed or partial runs leave your working copy half-broken	Bad attempts stay recoverable; ait recover latest shows what AIT kept	03-failed-run-isolation
The next agent repeats investigation you already paid tokens for	Shared repo-local memory feeds prior attempts, commits, notes, and accepted facts to the next run	04-memory-reuse
Two agents on the same task stomp each other	Each attempt has its own worktree — run N agents in parallel	05-parallel-agents
Did the agent really fix it, or just claim it did?	Explicit ait apply latest keeps speculative changes out of main until you decide	06-explicit-promotion
Cross-agent hand-offs lose every previous decision	Live repo memory combines current agent memory files with prior attempts, notes, and accepted decisions	07-cross-agent-handoff
Provenance tooling wants to ship your code to a SaaS	Metadata stays in .ait/ next to .git/ — harness daemon is local-only (Unix socket, no network), no telemetry	08-local-only-provenance
The same agent that wrote the code rubber-stamps its own work	Run adversarial review with another reviewer agent; high-risk findings can block apply	09-verification-evidence, 09-1-codex-reviewer
"Where's that prompt I wrote last month?" -> grep shell history	Query attempts, intents, and commits with a structured DSL	10-prompt-search

ait is not another agent. It is the local attempt workflow around the agents you already trust.

Core Concept

AIT does not replace Claude Code, Codex, or any other coding agent. It gives them an attempt-first workflow. Every agent run becomes an attempt with its own isolated worktree, provenance, queryable metadata, and explicit apply/recover flow.

That keeps AI-generated changes in a reviewable proposal state. You can compare attempts from different agents, inspect what each changed, keep failed runs for recovery, and decide which result should land in your checkout.

Memory in AIT is repo-local, inspectable project memory, not a hidden chat-window transcript. AIT recalls policy-allowed context from prior attempts, commits, notes, accepted facts, and review findings, then federates that AIT-owned memory with live external sources such as CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, and .cursor/rules at recall/run/review time. Those files remain their own source of truth; AIT does not auto-import them.

What It Feels Like

Initialize once:

ait init
direnv allow   # only if prompted

Confirm the current shell is actually routed through AIT:

ait status claude-code
ait status codex
ait status --all

Bypass detection: wrapped means the agent command resolves to the repo-local AIT wrapper. Bypass detection: bypass_risk means this shell would call the real agent binary directly, so AIT would not capture prompt, attempt, or failure evidence. Re-run shell activation, direnv allow, or ait repair, then check status again.

Then keep using your agent:

claude ...
codex ...
aider ...
gemini ...
cursor ...

After a successful wrapped run, inspect the result:

ait status
ait recover latest --debug   # optional low-level details

Apply only when you are ready:

ait apply latest

Until apply, your root checkout stays unchanged. If apply is unsafe because your local edits overlap with the result, AIT holds the result for recovery instead of stashing or overwriting your work.

Inspect cleanup candidates before reclaiming old internal workspaces:

ait cleanup
ait cleanup --apply

ait cleanup defaults to a dry run. Apply mode removes safe terminal workspaces such as applied or discarded attempts while retaining active, pending, and reviewable attempts by default.

Core Features

Feature	Description
Worktree isolation	Agent edits happen away from your root checkout; worktrees are an internal detail
Attempt provenance	Commands, status, output, changed files, and commits stay linked
Agent wrappers	Repo-local claude, codex, aider, gemini, and cursor wrappers
Auto commit capture	Successful changes become attempt-linked commits, without duplicating existing commits
Cleanup dry-run	Inspect and reclaim safe terminal attempt workspaces without touching reviewable work
Shared memory	Claude Code, Codex, and other agents can reuse the same live repo-local context
Long-term memory	Prior attempts, commits, notes, accepted facts, findings, and explicit adopted memory survive across sessions
Adversarial review	Ask a separate reviewer agent to challenge an attempt and persist blocking findings
Review flow	Apply, recover, inspect, and query attempts without managing worktrees by hand

Quick Examples

Set explicit intent and commit text:

AIT_INTENT="Update README" \
AIT_COMMIT_MESSAGE="update README with Claude" \
claude -p --permission-mode bypassPermissions \
  "Shorten the README and improve the quickstart"

Wrap a command directly:

ait run --adapter claude-code --intent "Refactor query parser" -- claude
ait run --adapter codex --intent "Implement parser edge cases" -- codex
ait run --adapter aider --intent "Fix auth expiry" -- aider src/auth.py
ait run --adapter shell --intent "Regenerate fixtures" -- \
  python scripts/regenerate_fixtures.py

Use repo-local memory:

ait memory
ait memory sources
ait memory search "auth adapter"
ait memory recall "billing retry"
ait memory backfill --dry-run
ait memory backfill --import

ait memory sources and default ait memory recall are zero-touch reads: they do not create .ait/, do not mutate source files, and read current repo-local agent memory live. ait memory backfill --dry-run is also zero-write preview. Use backfill --import only as an explicit mutation when you want AIT to add advisory memory under .ait/; it is not required for live recall. Global or out-of-repo memory requires an explicit --global --path ....

Run adversarial review before apply:

ait review attempt latest-reviewable \
  --mode adversarial \
  --review-adapter claude-code \
  --review-budget standard

ait review finding list --severity high --format text
ait review report --attempt latest --format json
ait apply latest --mode current

Repair local setup if wrappers drift:

ait repair
ait repair codex

Integrations

ait ships first-class adapters for the agents most teams already run. Each adapter wraps the upstream CLI, isolates its work in a Git worktree, and records the attempt locally in .ait/.

ait init detects every supported agent CLI on $PATH and wires it up automatically — wrappers under .ait/bin/, hooks merged into the relevant .claude/, .codex/, .gemini/ config. The per-adapter sections below assume you already ran ait init. To re-run setup explicitly (e.g. after upgrading an agent), use ait adapter setup <name>.

Run Claude Code safely

claude -p --permission-mode bypassPermissions "Refactor the auth module"

ait captures the prompt, edited files, status, and resulting commits as one attempt. Apply it with ait apply latest once you are happy with the result, or use ait run --apply auto ... when you want safe results applied immediately.

Run Codex CLI safely on a real repository

ait run --adapter codex --intent "Implement parser edge cases" -- codex

Each Codex session edits in isolation. Failed attempts are kept for recovery; only applied attempts touch your root checkout.

Run Aider in isolation

ait run --adapter aider --intent "Fix auth expiry" -- aider src/auth.py

Aider's commits are captured as attempt results, with full provenance linking the prompt, edited files, and commits.

Run Gemini CLI with attempt history

ait run --adapter gemini --intent "Add config validation" -- gemini

Gemini sessions are recorded as attempts the same way as Claude Code and Codex. ait memory recall later surfaces what each agent tried.

Run Cursor agents with reviewable provenance

ait run --adapter cursor --intent "Migrate to new SDK" -- cursor

Cursor edits are confined until you apply them. The attempt log keeps the changed files, exit status, and commits available for review and recovery.

Wrap any other shell agent

ait run --adapter shell --intent "Regenerate fixtures" -- \
  python scripts/regenerate_fixtures.py

Use the generic shell adapter to give attempt provenance to any custom agent or script.

Compared to alternatives

ait is the layer around the agents, not a replacement.

You already use	ait adds
Naked git worktree + manual cleanup	Auto-managed internal workspaces, attempt records, apply/recover verbs, queryable history — see ait vs naked git-worktree
Aider's --auto-commits	Outer-layer attempt history (Aider commits land inside an ait attempt), cross-session memory, multi-agent handoff
Claude Code's built-in worktrees	Cross-agent (not Claude-only), structured attempt records, query DSL, explicit apply/recover
SaaS observability (Langfuse, Braintrust)	Local-first, no telemetry, git-native (commit-linked, not token-linked); they operate at the LLM-call layer, ait at the git-call layer — both stack

How It Works

your prompt
    |
    v
agent CLI wrapped by ait
    |
    v
internal isolated workspace
    |
    v
attempt metadata + commits + memory
    |
    v
review, apply, recover, or inspect

The wrapped process receives:

AIT_INTENT_ID
AIT_ATTEMPT_ID
AIT_WORKSPACE_REF
AIT_CONTEXT_FILE   # when context is enabled

AIT_CONTEXT_FILE contains a compact repo-local handoff selected from previous attempts, commits, curated notes, accepted facts, and live external memory files such as CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, and .cursor/rules. AIT records a context manifest with source path, hash, mtime, bytes used, and policy status without claiming those external files as captured AIT provenance.

Install

Recommended:

pipx install ait-vcs
ait --version

Virtual environment:

python3.14 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/pip install ait-vcs
.venv/bin/ait --help

npm wrapper:

npm install -g ait-vcs
ait --version

Tagged GitHub release:

pipx install "git+https://github.com/m24927605/ait.git@v0.55.60"

Upgrade:

ait upgrade
ait --version

Preview an upgrade:

ait upgrade --dry-run

Useful Commands

ait status
ait status claude-code
ait status codex
ait status --all
ait doctor
ait doctor --fix

ait adapter list
ait adapter doctor claude-code
ait adapter setup claude-code

ait attempt list
ait attempt show <attempt-id>
ait resume latest
ait intent show <intent-id>
ait context <intent-id>

ait memory
ait memory sources
ait memory search "auth adapter"
ait memory recall "billing retry"
ait memory backfill --dry-run
ait memory backfill --import
ait memory lint
ait memory lint --fix

ait graph
ait graph --html

Shell auto-activation:

ait shell show --shell zsh
ait shell install --shell zsh
ait shell uninstall --shell zsh

Requirements

• Python 3.14+
• Git
• SQLite from the Python standard library
• Node.js 18+ only when installing through npm

Status

ait is currently 0.55.60 and alpha quality. It is intended for local dogfooding and early users who are comfortable with Git workflows.

Metadata is local to one repository under .ait/. It is not synchronized across machines.

Development

Set up the repository:

python3.14 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/pip install -e .
.venv/bin/pip install pytest

Verify:

.venv/bin/pytest -q
.venv/bin/ait --version
.venv/bin/ait --help

Before a release:

git status --short
.venv/bin/pytest -q

The release version in pyproject.toml, the Git tag, and this README should match.

Documentation

• Documentation site — full docs in English and 繁體中文
• Why ait — the ten problems ait solves
• Getting started
• AI search facts (Q&A)
• Compare: naked git-worktree vs ait
• Command reference
• Adversarial code review
• SEO strategy (internal)

For internal design notes (specs, memory architecture, refactor plans), see docs/.