bonsai-cc 0.2.3

A living bonsai that grows in your browser during Claude Code sessions.

bonsai-cc

A living bonsai that grows in your browser during Claude Code sessions.

Every tool call shapes the tree. Bash commands grow roots, file edits grow branches, reads add leaves, web fetches bloom into flowers. When the session ends the tree is saved to your local garden and can replay bit-for-bit from its event log.

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Why bonsai-cc

You've just finished a Claude Code session. What did the agent actually do? A glance at the transcript answers it eventually; a single picture answers it in one second.

bonsai-cc turns each session into a tree. The shape of that tree is a visual map of the work — thick trunk for long sessions, lots of branches for many files touched, flowers for web research, wilted leaves where things broke. You see at a glance what got done.

The renderer is a local web view (one inline-SVG page, no CDN, no bundler, no framework). Twelve language themes pick the silhouette automatically: bamboo for Python, pine for Rust, willow for JavaScript, sakura for Swift, and so on. Sessions persist in a local SQLite garden you can browse and replay later.

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How it works

Three pieces, kept independent on purpose:

1. The hook — a tiny Python script Claude Code runs on every tool call. It appends one JSONL line to ~/.bonsai-cc/journals/<session>.jsonl and exits. Fail-silent, <500 ms, stdlib only. No daemon required.
2. The garden — ~/.bonsai-cc/garden.db, one SQLite row per saved session with the final tree state and a cached SVG thumbnail.
3. The web view — bonsai-cc boots a local HTTP server, watches the journals folder, and pushes new growth to the browser over SSE.

If bonsai-cc isn't running when you use Claude, nothing's lost — the journal stays on disk and the next launch catches up.

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Quickstart

Requires Python 3.11+ and Claude Code.

uv tool install bonsai-cc
bonsai-cc install-hook --global   # one-time, global

# now run claude as you normally would in any project:
claude

# whenever you want to see the garden:
bonsai-cc

That's it. The hook fires automatically on every Claude Code event; when you launch bonsai-cc (no args) a browser tab opens with:

• a live tree at the top if a session is currently active, animating as events arrive;
• a garden grid below: every saved session as a card with thumbnail SVG, language tag, event count, age, and a one-click animated replay.

Need a smoke test before turning on a real session? Replay one of the shipped fixtures:

bonsai-cc watch --replay tests/fixtures/events/mixed_tools.jsonl

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Preview

Garden hero: total time, sessions, streak	A bonsai growing in real time

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Twelve language themes

bonsai-cc detects the language at the project root and picks a themed silhouette:

Theme	Detected from	Silhouette
python	pyproject.toml, setup.py, requirements.txt, Pipfile	bamboo — four vertical stalks with horizontal nodes
rust	Cargo.toml	pine — gnarled trunk, flat-topped horizontal tiers
go	go.mod	oak — thick squat trunk, wide rounded canopy
typescript	tsconfig.json or package.json mentioning typescript	willow + small TS-blue fruits
javascript	package.json (no TS)	willow — slanted trunk, drooping curtains
swift	Package.swift, *.xcodeproj, *.xcworkspace	sakura — bunjin literati trunk, cherry blossoms
ruby	Gemfile, *.gemspec	maple — five-lobed leaves, fallen leaves on soil
c / cpp	CMakeLists.txt, meson.build, Makefile, *.vcxproj	old oak — very thick trunk with deadwood and knots
java	pom.xml, build.gradle[.kts], settings.gradle[.kts]	banyan — aerial roots descending to the soil
haskell	*.cabal, stack.yaml, dune-project, elm.json	ginkgo — golden fan-shaped leaves
zig	build.zig, build.zig.zon	birch — pale slender trunk with horizontal lenticels
default	nothing matched	generic — asymmetric S-curve, ellipse leaf clusters

Manifest detection runs first; if none match, a histogram over the top two directory levels picks the dominant extension. Override with BONSAI_CC_FORCE_THEME=python (or any theme name).

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Event → growth mapping

Hook event	Visual effect
SessionStart	Plant the seed, detect language, pick palette
PostToolUse(Bash)	Grow a root cluster from cwd
PostToolUse(Edit | Write | NotebookEdit)	Extend (or create) the branch for file_path
PostToolUse(Read)	Add a leaf to that file's branch
PostToolUse(Glob | Grep)	Drop a 3-leaf cluster on the most-recent branch
PostToolUse(WebFetch | WebSearch)	Bloom a flower at the canopy
PostToolUse(Agent) / SubagentStart	Spawn a small offshoot from the trunk
SubagentStop	Cap the offshoot with a • berry
PostToolUseFailure	Yellow the last leaf; a second failure drops it
PreCompact	Prune the oldest leaves (visual: small falling)
Notification	Wind ripple across the canopy
SessionEnd	Freeze the tree and commit it to the garden

Time-of-day ambient layers ride on top: sun at noon, moon during night sessions, dew at dawn, snowflakes after eight-hour marathons.

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Commands

bonsai-cc                       # open the web garden + live view (default)
bonsai-cc install-hook          # add hook (--project default; --global available)
bonsai-cc garden                # alias of the default (web garden)
bonsai-cc list                  # plain-text listing of saved sessions
bonsai-cc show <id-prefix>      # print final ASCII to stdout
bonsai-cc export <id> --format png -o tree.png
bonsai-cc replay <id>           # open one saved session in the browser
bonsai-cc doctor                # diagnose what's wired up
bonsai-cc uninstall-hook        # remove the hook cleanly
bonsai-cc --version             # print version and exit

Run any command with --help for the full flag list. --port N pins the web server to a known port; --no-browser skips the auto-open (useful over SSH with port-forwarding).

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Data & Privacy

bonsai-cc is 100% local — no telemetry, no auto-update, no network calls of any kind. But the hook records the full Claude Code payload to a local journal so sessions can replay byte-identical. You should know what's on disk.

Where data lives

Path	What it holds
~/.bonsai-cc/journals/<session_id>.jsonl (POSIX) / %LOCALAPPDATA%\bonsai-cc\journals\ (Windows)	One JSONL per session. Each line is the raw hook payload.
~/.bonsai-cc/garden.db	SQLite store: one row per saved session. Final ASCII + state JSON + thumbnail.
~/.bonsai-cc/hook_client.py	The verbatim hook script installed by install-hook. Stdlib-only. Auditable.
~/.bonsai-cc/logs/	Optional debug log (only when BONSAI_CC_DEBUG=1).
~/.bonsai-cc/exports/	Files written by bonsai-cc export.

What the journal contains

The raw hook payload from Claude Code, which includes:

• prompt text on every UserPromptSubmit event (what you typed).
• tool_input for every tool call — the literal command for Bash, the patch text (old_string / new_string) for Edit, the file content for Write, search patterns for Grep, the URL for WebFetch.
• cwd, transcript_path, session_id, model name.

Nothing leaves your machine. But the journal is plain JSON on disk — backup software, cloud sync (Dropbox / iCloud / OneDrive following your home), an antivirus that ships samples — will see it.

Opt-in redaction: BONSAI_CC_REDACT=1

export BONSAI_CC_REDACT=1     # POSIX
$env:BONSAI_CC_REDACT = "1"   # PowerShell

The hook blanks prompt, old_string, new_string, and content in every record (replaced with [redacted by BONSAI_CC_REDACT]). Everything the growth engine needs — hook_event_name, tool_name, file_path, cwd — is preserved, so the rendered tree is byte-identical with or without redaction. Off by default; the lossless mode is what makes deterministic replay possible.

The HTTP server binds to 127.0.0.1 only and validates the Host header against a loopback allowlist to defeat DNS rebinding.

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FAQ

Does it slow down Claude Code? No. The hook is a stdlib-only Python script with a 500 ms hard budget and ~60 ms p99 cold start. Disk full / bad JSON / permission denied — all exit 0 without complaining.

Does Ctrl+C lose my tree? No. Each event is fsync'd to disk before Claude Code continues. Even if bonsai-cc is never running, journals accumulate; next launch picks them up.

Can I share my trees? bonsai-cc show <id> prints the ASCII to stdout (good for chat / commit messages). bonsai-cc export <id> --format png writes a PNG. A proper share command is on the roadmap.

What if Claude Code adds new hook events? Unknown events are journaled raw and ignored by the growth pipeline. After a bonsai-cc update they replay byte-identical, no data lost.

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Tests

uv sync
uv run pytest                     # all 364 tests
uv run pytest -k determinism      # the load-bearing tests
uv run ruff check src tests       # lint
uv run mypy src/bonsai_cc         # type-check (strict)

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License

MIT — use it, fork it, ship it. © 2026 Davvik.

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Changelog