apex-ai 2.0.0

Universal AI coding agent — every model, one terminal

◆ APEX v1.5.0

The universal AI coding agent. Every model. One terminal.

Install · Docs · CLI · Security · Models · Sponsor

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APEX runs any LLM in your terminal as a coding agent — Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Groq, Mistral, DeepSeek, Ollama (local), and 170+ more via litellm. Switch models mid-session. Track costs live. Never leave your terminal.

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✨ Why APEX?

	APEX	OpenCode	Claude Code	Aider
Every model (170+)	✅	⚠️	❌	⚠️
11 specialized agents	✅	✅	❌	❌
Primary + Subagent system	✅	✅	❌	❌
Hierarchical JSON config	✅	✅	❌	❌
12 themes (dark/light)	✅	✅	❌	❌
Session sharing (URL)	✅	✅	❌	❌
Auto-formatting	✅	✅	❌	❌
Custom commands (.md)	✅	✅	❌	❌
Switch model mid-session	✅	❌	❌	❌
Works offline (Ollama)	✅	❌	❌	✅
Leader key shortcuts	✅	✅	❌	❌
Command palette (Ctrl+P)	✅	✅	❌	❌
@file references / !bash	✅	✅	❌	❌
Beautiful Ink TUI	✅	✅	✅	❌
Live token cost tracker	✅	❌	❌	✅
Shell security analysis	✅	❌	❌	❌
File watcher with ignores	✅	✅	❌	❌
pip install	✅	❌	❌	✅
Built in Africa 🇬🇦	✅	❌	❌	❌

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🚀 Quick Start

# 1. Set your API key
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

# 2. Launch APEX (TUI auto-starts)
apex

# 3. Ask anything
> fix the authentication bug in auth.py
> add TypeScript types to all functions
> write tests for the payment module

Switch models / agents anytime:

apex --model gpt-4o            # Start with GPT-4o
apex --model ollama-llama3      # Local, no API key needed
apex --agent architect          # Start in read-only architect mode
apex --continue                 # Resume last session
apex --session mysession        # Load a specific session

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🎨 TUI — Terminal User Interface

APEX features a modern terminal UI built with Ink (React for terminals). The TUI connects to the APEX backend via HTTP SSE for real-time token streaming, live cost tracking, and context percentage monitoring.

apex              # Launch TUI (default)
apex --model gpt-4o            # Start with GPT-4o

Keybindings

Key	Action
Tab / Shift+Tab	Cycle agents
Ctrl+P	Command palette
Ctrl+K	Model selector
Ctrl+X	Leader key (prefix)
Ctrl+X N	New session
Ctrl+X U	Undo
Ctrl+X R	Redo
Ctrl+X C	Compact context
Ctrl+X M	List models
Ctrl+X T	Theme selector
Ctrl+X S	Status overview
Ctrl+X A	Agent list
Ctrl+X L	Sessions list
Ctrl+X B	Toggle sidebar
Ctrl+X E	Open editor
Ctrl+X X	Export session
Ctrl+X Q	Quit
@	File references (fuzzy search)
!	Bash commands inline
?	Help panel
Ctrl+O	Toggle sidebar
Ctrl+L	Clear messages
Ctrl+T	Cycle reasoning variants
Escape	Close overlay
Ctrl+Q	Quit

Features

• 11 Agents: 4 primary (Tab) + 4 subagents (@mention) + 3 system
• 170+ Models: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, Mistral, DeepSeek, xAI, etc.
• Live Metrics: Token streaming, per-message cost, total spent, context %
• 12 Themes: apex, nord, catppuccin, tokyonight, gruvbox, matrix, etc.
• Agent Theming: Title bar and status bar change color per agent
• 75+ Tools: File, Code, Shell, Git, Web, Database, Docker, K8s, Security
• MCP/LSP: Server status monitoring
• Leader Keys: Ctrl+X + mnemonic for all actions
• Command Palette: Ctrl+P with fuzzy search
• @ References: Fuzzy file search with @filename
• ! Bash: Run shell commands inline with !command
• HTTP Backend: Local SSE server on port 8080

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🎮 Agents

APEX has 11 specialized agents organized by type:

Primary Agents (Tab to cycle)

Agent	Color	Description
Coder	Cyan	Full-access development agent with all tools
Architect	Purple	Architecture analysis & design (read-only)
Planner	Yellow	Planning & strategy (read-only)
Shell	Orange	Infrastructure, DevOps, CI/CD

Subagents (@mention to invoke)

Agent	Description
@reviewer	Code review & audit specialist
@general	General-purpose multi-task assistant
@explore	Fast read-only codebase exploration
@scout	External docs & dependency research

System Agents (automatic, hidden)

Agent	Role
@compaction	Context window compression
@title	Session title generation
@summary	Session summary generation

Custom agents via Markdown files in .apex/agents/*.md or ~/.config/apex/agents/*.md.

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📋 CLI Commands

apex                          # Launch TUI (default)
apex run <prompt>             # Non-interactive mode
apex serve                    # Start headless HTTP API server
apex web                      # Server + web interface
apex gateway start            # Start APEX Gateway (proxy + auth + rate limits)
apex gateway key <tier>       # Generate a gateway API key
apex gateway status           # Show gateway keys and usage
apex auth login               # Interactive provider login
apex auth list                # List configured providers
apex auth logout              # Remove provider config
apex agent create             # Interactive agent wizard
apex agent list               # List all agents
apex session list             # List sessions
apex session delete <id>      # Delete a session
apex stats                    # Token usage & cost stats
apex export <id>              # Export session as JSON
apex import <file|url>        # Import session
apex upgrade                  # Upgrade APEX
apex uninstall                # Remove APEX
apex mcp add                  # Add MCP server
apex mcp list                 # List MCP servers
apex mcp auth <name>          # Authenticate MCP server
apex db path                  # Show database path
apex pr <number>              # Fetch & checkout PR
apex attach <url>             # Attach to remote backend
apex connect                  # Interactive provider config
apex init                     # Initialize project
apex compact                  # Compact context
apex details                  # Toggle tool output
apex thinking                 # Toggle reasoning blocks
apex models [provider]        # List models
apex --model <name>           # Set model
apex --agent <name>           # Set agent
apex --continue               # Resume last session

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🔧 Configuration

APEX uses hierarchical JSON/JSONC config (like OpenCode):

# Global config
~/.config/apex/apex.json       # Main config
~/.config/apex/tui.json        # TUI-specific config

# Project config (overrides global)
./apex.json
./apex.jsonc

# Env vars (inline override)
APEX_CONFIG=./custom.json
APEX_CONFIG_CONTENT='{"model": "gpt-4o"}'

apex.json schema

{
  "$schema": "https://apex-ai.dev/config.json",
  "model": "claude-sonnet-4-5",
  "theme": "nord",
  "agent": {
    "code-reviewer": {
      "description": "Reviews code for best practices",
      "mode": "subagent",
      "permission": { "edit": "deny" }
    }
  },
  "command": {
    "test": {
      "template": "Run tests with coverage",
      "description": "Run tests"
    }
  },
  "permission": { "edit": "ask", "bash": "ask" },
  "formatter": true,
  "lsp": true,
  "share": "manual",
  "snapshot": true,
  "server": { "port": 8080, "hostname": "127.0.0.1" },
  "watcher": {
    "ignore": ["**/node_modules/**", "**/.git/**"]
  }
}

Variables in config

{
  "model": "{env:APEX_MODEL}",
  "provider": {
    "anthropic": { "apiKey": "{file:~/.secrets/anthropic-key}" }
  }
}

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🛠️ What APEX Can Do

• Read & edit files — understands your whole codebase
• Run commands — tests, builds, installs, git
• Search code — grep-style across your project
• 11 agents — specialized for different tasks
• Subagents — invoke via @mention for parallel tasks
• Custom commands — define via .apex/commands/*.md
• Auto-formatting — ruff, prettier, gofmt, rustfmt, etc.
• File watching — configurable ignore patterns
• Session sharing — public URLs for collaboration
• Fix bugs — diagnoses, patches, and verifies
• Write features — complete implementations
• Refactor code — preserves your style
• Write tests — pytest, jest, go test, and more
• Explain code — line by line if needed

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🎭 Themes

12 built-in themes with dark/light mode support:

apex          ayu           catppuccin    catppuccin-macchiato
everforest    gruvbox       kanagawa      matrix
nord          one-dark      system        tokyonight

# Via TUI
Ctrl+X T         # Theme selector

# Via config
echo '{"theme": "nord"}' > ~/.config/apex/tui.json

Custom themes in ~/.config/apex/themes/*.json or .apex/themes/*.json.

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🔗 Session Sharing

Share conversations with your team:

/share          # Create shareable URL → https://apex-ai.dev/s/abc123
/unshare        # Remove shared session

Modes: manual (default) | auto | disabled (set in config)

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🎨 Formatters

Auto-formatting support for 11 languages:

Python:     ruff
JS/TS/JSON: prettier
Rust:       rustfmt
Go:         gofmt
Java:       google-java-format
C/C++:      clang-format
Ruby:       rubocop
Scala:      scalafmt
Kotlin:     ktlint
Swift:      swift-format
Zig:        zig fmt

# Enable all formatters
echo '{"formatter": true}' > apex.json

# Per-formatter config
echo '{"formatter": {"prettier": {"disabled": true}}}' > apex.json

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🔒 Security

APEX includes comprehensive security features:

Shell Command Analysis

Blocks dangerous patterns: rm -rf /, curl | sh, fork bombs, disk writes.

Permission System

Fine-grained ALLOW/DENY/ASK per tool with glob pattern support.

Rate Limiting & API Keys

Database-backed rate limiting with workspace-based API keys.

HTTP API Security

Bearer token auth on all endpoints, configurable via config.

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⚡ Installation

One-line install

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ggboykxz/APEX/main/install.sh | bash

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ggboykxz/APEX/main/install.ps1 | iex

Package managers

Method	Command
uv (fastest)	uv tool install apex-ai
pipx (isolated)	pipx install apex-ai
pip	pip install apex-ai
Docker	docker run -it -v $(pwd):/workspace ghcr.io/ggboykxz/apex

From source

git clone https://github.com/Ggboykxz/APEX
cd APEX
pip install -e ".[dev]"

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⚡ APEX Gateway (Zero-Config Free Models)

APEX Gateway is a built-in proxy server that gives you access to free + paid models without configuring API keys.

# 1. Get your free OpenRouter API key
#    → https://openrouter.ai/keys (no credit card needed)

# 2. Add it to .env
echo "OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-v1-..." >> .env

# 3. Start the gateway
apex gateway start
# → Gateway running on http://127.0.0.1:9090

# 4. Generate user keys
apex gateway key free "alice"      # Free tier: 50 req/day
apex gateway key pro "bob"         # Pro tier: 500 req/day

Tiers

Tier	Req/day	Tokens/day	Req/min	Models
Free	50	500K	10	Qwen3 Coder, Nemotron Super, DeepSeek R1, Gemma 4, Ring 2.6 1T...
Pro	500	5M	60	GLM-5.1, Kimi K2.6, MiniMax M2.7, DeepSeek V4 Pro...
Unlimited	∞	∞	300	All models

API

# Register a new user
curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:9090/v1/register \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"tier": "free", "label": "new-user"}'

# Chat via gateway
curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:9090/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer apex_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model": "free-or-qwen3-coder", "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]}'

# Check usage
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer apex_..." http://127.0.0.1:9090/v1/status

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🤖 Supported Models (170+)

Bring Your Own Key (BYOK)

Use your own API keys from any provider:

Anthropic (Claude)

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
apex --model claude-sonnet-4-5   # Recommended
apex --model claude-opus-4-5     # Most powerful
apex --model claude-haiku-4-5    # Fastest
apex --model claude-sonnet-4-6   # Latest
apex --model claude-opus-4-7     # Most advanced

OpenAI (GPT / o-series)

export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
apex --model gpt-4o
apex --model gpt-4o-mini
apex --model gpt-5
apex --model o3
apex --model o4-mini

Google (Gemini / Gemma)

export GEMINI_API_KEY=...
apex --model gemini-2.5-pro
apex --model gemini-2.5-flash
apex --model gemini-3-flash
apex --model gemma-4-31b

Groq (Ultra-fast inference)

export GROQ_API_KEY=gsk_...
apex --model llama-groq-4-maverick
apex --model mixtral-groq-8x7b
apex --model qwq-groq-32b

🔒 Ollama (100% local, no API key)

ollama pull llama3
apex --model ollama-llama3
apex --model ollama-deepseek-r1
apex --model ollama-qwen2.5-coder

DeepSeek

export DEEPSEEK_API_KEY=...
apex --model deepseek-chat
apex --model deepseek-reasoner
apex --model deepseek-v4-flash
apex --model deepseek-v4-pro

More providers

• xAI: grok-3, grok-4, grok-4-fast
• Mistral: codestral, pixtral, ministral, mixtral
• Meta: llama-4-maverick, llama-4-scout
• Qwen: qwen3-235b, qwen3-coder, qwq-plus
• Cohere: command-a, command-a-reasoning
• Cerebras: ultra-fast inference
• Fireworks AI: deepseek, qwen, kimi
• Together AI: deepseek, llama, qwen
• Hugging Face: open models
• Perplexity: sonar models
• NVIDIA NIM: enterprise models
• Cloudflare Workers AI: edge inference
• OpenRouter: 200+ models via single API

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💖 Sponsors

APEX is free and open source. If it saves you time, consider sponsoring.

🥇 Gold Sponsors

Your logo here — become a sponsor

🥈 Silver Sponsors

Your logo here

🥉 Individual Backers

Sponsor APEX →

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🤝 Contributing

git clone https://github.com/Ggboykxz/APEX
cd APEX
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest

Customize with commands in .apex/commands/*.md, agents in .apex/agents/*.md, and themes in .apex/themes/*.json.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

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📄 License

Proprietary — All rights reserved by Ggboykxz.

See LICENSE for full terms.

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_{If APEX helps you, please ⭐ the repo — it means everything to an indie developer.}