llmc-code 0.2.0

A lightweight, personal Claude Code-style agentic CLI for LOCAL LLMs (LM Studio).

llmc-code

A lightweight, personal Claude Code-style agentic CLI in pure Python — for LOCAL LLMs only.

It gives you a streaming terminal chat with an agentic tool-use loop, multi-agent orchestration (role-scoped sub-agents), codebase intelligence (explore-before-act), and a build → validate → fix workflow. There is no hosted/cloud provider — it drives a local model served by LM Studio's OpenAI-compatible server. A deterministic mock provider exists purely for offline testing.

Providers:

• local — your LM Studio model (native OpenAI-style tool calls, with a fenced-JSON text fallback for models that lack native tool support).
• mock — deterministic and offline, for testing with no keys/network.

Install

Install it as a global command with pipx (or uv tool). This puts the llmc-code command on your PATH inside an isolated environment, so it runs from any directory with no venv to activate:

pipx install llmc-code
# or:  uv tool install llmc-code

Then run llmc-code anywhere. Upgrade later with pipx upgrade llmc-code.

To install the latest unreleased build straight from source:

pipx install git+https://github.com/Adhithya-Karthikeyan/llmc-code.git

Requires Python ≥ 3.10.

Development install

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"

This installs the llmc-code console script. You can also run it as a module with python -m llmcode.

Usage

Interactive REPL (uses your saved provider/model, defaults to local):

llmc-code                       # or: python -m llmcode
llmc-code --provider mock       # offline, scripted demo
llmc-code --provider local --model <your-lm-studio-model-id>

One-shot, non-interactive (--yes auto-confirms dangerous tools so it runs unattended):

llmc-code --provider mock --yes -p "create hello.py that prints hi and run it"
llmc-code -p "explain what this repo does"

Flags:

Flag	Meaning
--provider {local,mock}	Pick the backend (default local)
--model <name>	Model id for the active provider
--base-url <url>	LM Studio base URL (default http://localhost:1234/v1)
-p, --prompt "<text>"	Run one prompt and exit
-c, --continue	Resume this project's saved session at startup (see Session memory)
--yes, -y	Auto-confirm write/edit/bash tools (untrusts model + fetched content)
--max-iterations <n>	Cap provider turns per message (use >=2 for tool tasks)
--effort <level>	Reasoning effort: off|low|medium|high (best-effort)
--theme <name>	Color theme: amber (default, warm polished look) | auto (truecolor) | ansi (Dark mode, ANSI colors only) | orange. Session-only unless --save
--mcp {on,off}	Enable/disable MCP servers (~/.llmcode/mcp.json). off starts no servers and sends no MCP tools — smaller prompt, faster tok/s. Session-only unless --save
--context N|auto|fixed|off	Working-context budget (~tokens). llmc-code auto-trims history to it after each turn so decode stays fast; adaptive (flexes per request) by default. Session-only unless --save
--private	Opt into the offline lockdown for this session: no external egress (see below). Add --save to persist
--allow-network	Accepted no-op alias for back-compat (network is already the default). Explicitly keeps network on. Add --save to persist
--save	Persist the given flags as the new default in ~/.llmcode/config.json

Slash commands (in the REPL)

/help                 Show help
/provider <name>      Switch provider: local | mock
/models               List models available on the server
/model <name>         Set the model (verified against the server's list)
/effort <level>       Reasoning effort: off | low | medium | high (best-effort)
/theme <name>         Color theme: amber (default) | auto | ansi | orange
/compact              Aggressively summarize ALL history into one tight note,
                      keeping only the last exchange (frees the most context)
/context [N|auto|fixed|off]
                      Working-context budget — llmc-code auto-trims history to this
                      after each turn so decode stays fast. auto = flex per
                      request (default); fixed = flat N; off = trim only near
                      the model's window. Persisted.
/audit [path]         Map-reduce audit: review the repo in small isolated chunks
                      (fast; small context) → merged report. Default path '.'
/speed                Tips to raise tok/s (LM Studio settings + context size)
/mcp [on|off]         No arg: list MCP servers + status. on/off: enable/disable
                      MCP (off = fewer tools per prompt → faster). Persisted.
/clear                Clear the conversation history
/resume               Reload this project's saved session (local-only memory)
/forget               Delete this project's saved session
/exit, /quit          Leave
Ctrl+O                Reveal full detail (args+results) of the last turn

Session memory

llmc-code remembers the conversation per project directory (Claude-Code-style: auto-save, opt-in resume), so you can pick up where you left off.

• Auto-save. After every completed turn (and on a clean exit) the running conversation is saved for the current working directory. A crash never loses it. A history of just the system prompt is skipped — nothing to remember.

• Opt-in resume. A fresh launch stays light and does not reload the history automatically. When a saved session exists, the REPL prints a dim hint:

  ↩ last session (5m ago, 12 msgs): fix the config parser — /resume to continue (or relaunch with -c)
  

  Reload it with /resume inside the REPL, or launch with -c / --continue to load it before the first turn. /forget deletes this project's saved session.

• Where + privacy. Sessions are stored locally only, as JSON under ~/.llmcode/sessions/<dir>-<hash>.json, keyed by the absolute path of the directory. They are never sent anywhere. The saved conversation may include file contents the model read while working — fine for a local tool, but the file stays on your machine. When you resume, the model-aware auto-compaction already bounds how much of that history re-enters the context window.

One-shot (-p) runs also save their conversation, and -p -c prepends the saved history first — so an unattended one-shot can build on itself across runs.

Networking & safety (default: network enabled)

llmc-code runs network-enabled by default: web_fetch is available, run_bash can reach the network, a non-loopback base_url is allowed, all configured MCP servers start, and proxy env vars are honored. The startup banner and the REPL status line show the active state: private mode: OFF — network enabled (or private mode: ON — offline lockdown under --private).

The on-device local model on loopback (LM Studio on 127.0.0.1) is still the default backend; enabling network does not change where your model runs.

Always-on safety (active in BOTH default and --private modes)

These guards are never disabled — they hold even with network enabled, so the tool only reaches safe URLs/endpoints:

• web_fetch SSRF guard. Only http/https URLs are allowed. The resolved IP is validated and the tool refuses loopback, private (RFC 1918), link-local, reserved, CGNAT (RFC 6598), multicast, and unspecified ranges, plus the cloud-metadata endpoint 169.254.169.254. The host is resolved and the connection is pinned to the validated IP (DNS-rebinding defense), and the host is re-validated on every HTTP redirect hop. Download size and timeout are capped. This is fully active whenever web_fetch runs (i.e. by default).
• run_bash is confirmation-gated (unless --yes), its writes are confined to the workspace root, and its child env is built from a secret-scrubbing allowlist (provider keys / AWS_* / GITHUB_TOKEN etc. are not inherited).
• write_file / edit_file are workspace-confined — they refuse to touch paths resolving outside the directory the CLI was launched from.
• No telemetry. There is zero analytics / usage / crash reporting.

--private (opt-in offline lockdown)

Pass --private to opt into a strict, no-egress mode (add --save to persist). This is enforced, not advisory, and is on top of the always-on guards above:

• Provider base_url must be loopback. A non-loopback base_url (anything other than 127.0.0.0/8, ::1, or localhost) is REFUSED with a clear error — never silently used, and the loopback host is IP-pinned. Validated at all three entry points: the --base-url flag, the persisted ~/.llmcode/config.json, and every in-session rebuild (/provider, /model, /effort).
• web_fetch is removed from the tool set. The model can't even call it (and a direct call is refused).
• run_bash network egress is blocked at the OS level. Commands run under a macOS sandbox-exec no-network profile (deny network-outbound, re-allowing loopback only); the child and all its descendants are kernel-blocked from opening external sockets. If sandbox-exec is unavailable, run_bash fails closed (refuses) rather than running unsandboxed.
• No proxy tunneling. The OpenAI client is built with httpx.Client(trust_env=False) so HTTP_PROXY/HTTPS_PROXY/ALL_PROXY cannot tunnel even loopback traffic to an external proxy.
• MCP servers are gated. Only servers explicitly marked "private_ok": true in mcp.json are started; others are skipped with a warning. (In the default network-on mode, all configured servers start.)

Honest residual notes:

• In the default (network-on) mode run_bash is not network-sandboxed, so a command you approve can reach the network — the confirmation gate is the boundary there.
• Under --private, sandbox-exec is deprecated (its man page is dated 2017) but remains functional on current macOS; Apple could remove it in a future release.
• An MCP server you allow (private_ok, or any server in the default mode) can egress — the allow decision is yours.

MCP (Model Context Protocol)

llmc-code can connect to local MCP servers over the stdio transport and expose their tools to the agent — a stdlib-only, synchronous JSON-RPC 2.0 client (no mcp SDK, no new dependencies).

It is opt-in: with no config file, MCP is simply off and nothing changes. To enable it, create ~/.llmcode/mcp.json in the Claude Desktop format:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/some/dir"],
      "env": {},
      "disabled": false,
      "trustReadOnlyHint": false,
      "private_ok": false,
      "timeout": 30
    }
  }
}

• On REPL start (and on every one-shot -p run) each enabled server is spawned, handshaken (initialize -> notifications/initialized -> tools/list), and its tools are merged into the orchestrator's tool set. A connect line prints, e.g. mcp: filesystem connected (11 tools). A server that fails to start logs a dim mcp: <name> failed: ... and is skipped — it never crashes the CLI.
• MCP tools are named mcp__<server>__<tool> and render in the collapsed line as server:tool <arg>.
• /mcp lists each configured server, whether it connected, and its tool names.
• Servers are cleanly shut down on exit (stdin closed, terminate, then kill).

Safety notes / limitations

• --private gating. By default (network on) all configured servers start. Under --private, an MCP server is an egress surface (it is not network-sandboxed), so it is skipped unless you explicitly mark it "private_ok": true. A local vault writer like kyp-mem should be marked "private_ok": true so it still works under --private.
• stdio transport only. HTTP / SSE / Streamable-HTTP MCP servers are not supported.
• Tool results are untrusted. MCP output flows into the model like any other tool result (same as web_fetch).
• Confirmation is on by default. Every MCP tool is confirmation-gated. A tool's readOnlyHint is self-asserted by the (untrusted) server, so it is NOT trusted on its own — a malicious server could mark a destructive tool read-only to auto-run it. The hint only relaxes the gate when you opt in per-server with "trustReadOnlyHint": true. The trust decision is the operator's, never the server's.
• No secret inheritance. Child processes get a minimal allowlisted env (PATH, HOME, locale, temp) plus the server's configured env. Provider and cloud secrets (OPENAI_API_KEY, LMSTUDIO_API_KEY, AWS_*, GITHUB_TOKEN, ...) are not forwarded — give a server a secret only explicitly via its env block.
• Per-call timeout. Each request is bounded by "timeout" seconds (default 30). On a tools/call timeout the connection is treated as poisoned: the child is killed (no orphan) and its tools are dropped, so a stale reply can never corrupt a later call. Raise timeout for legitimately long operations.
• Name hardening. Server-controlled tool names are validated (no __ namespace forging) and de-collided — a duplicate full name is skipped, never silently overwriting another tool.
• Tool flooding. A server advertising many tools enlarges the model's tool list; keep the configured set focused.

Concise output, collapsed tool lines, tok/s

The CLI presents like a senior engineer: terse and skimmable.

• Concise answers — the orchestrator + sub-agents follow an output contract: up to 5 markdown headers (and none for short answers), tight one-idea-per-line bullets, the answer first, no preamble or process narration. Competence is unchanged; only presentation is constrained.
• Collapsed tool output — by default each tool call is ONE line, e.g. ⏺ read_file README.md for reads or ⏺ run_bash pytest -q (exit 0) for bash (only run_bash shows an exit-code hint). A failure shows a dim ✗ <error>. Full args and results are not dumped; they are stored for the current turn.
• Ctrl+O to expand — press it at the > prompt to immediately print the full args + results of the turn that just finished. Limitation: the REPL is line-based, so Ctrl+O is handled only while the prompt is active — it cannot interrupt a running turn; press it at the next prompt. Only the orchestrator's detail is revealed; sub-agent tool calls still stream as nested collapsed lines.
• tok/s footer — after each visible assistant message, a dim footer reports the generation rate, e.g. 38.4 tok/s. The local provider reads the server's completion_tokens (via stream_options.include_usage); when absent it approximates from the text.
• Duck working-indicator — while the CLI is busy (waiting on the model, or running tools) a small ASCII duck waddles to-and-fro in place. It is purely decorative (no words) and terminal-only: it is fully disabled when output is piped or not a TTY (one-shot in a pipe, captured tests), so it never leaks stray characters into redirected output. It always erases its own line before any real output (the answer, the collapsed tool line, the footer, or a y/N confirm prompt). Set LLMCODE_NO_SPINNER=1 to turn the duck off on a TTY too.
• /compact — summarizes the conversation so far via the active provider into a compact context note (preserving decisions, files touched, open tasks, key facts), replaces the long history with [system summary + the last 1–2 turns], and prints a rough before→after token estimate. If the provider call fails it no-ops and leaves history untouched.

Pointing at LM Studio

1. Open LM Studio → load a model (one that supports tool/function calling gives the best results).

2. Start its local server (Developer tab → Start Server). It exposes an OpenAI-compatible API at http://localhost:1234/v1 by default.

3. Point llmc-code at it:

   llmc-code --provider local --model <the-model-id> --base-url http://localhost:1234/v1
   

The API key is read from OPENAI_API_KEY or LMSTUDIO_API_KEY, defaulting to the harmless string lm-studio (LM Studio ignores it, but the OpenAI SDK requires a non-empty value).

Fenced-JSON tool-call fallback

If the loaded model can't do native tool calls, the local provider falls back to parsing a fenced ```json tool-call block from the model's text output:

```json
{"tool": "read_file", "input": {"path": "main.py"}}
```

tool maps to the tool name and input to its arguments.

Mock (offline)

llmc-code --provider mock --yes -p "create hello.py that prints hi and run it"

The mock provider is deterministic and needs no keys or network. Its hello scenario scripts a write_file then a run_bash tool call so you can validate the full agent loop offline. It's also what the test suite uses.

How it works

The "intelligence" is emergent from three things working together:

1. Good exploration tools — repo_map (compact structural index), grep, and read_file (with offset/limit for slices) so the model learns the code without dumping whole files into context.
2. A strong orchestrator prompt that enforces explore → plan → act → validate and delegates multi-file reading to sub-agents to keep its context small.
3. Delegation — spawn_agent spins up focused, role-scoped sub-agents; the /audit command map-reduces a whole-repo review across small isolated chunks.

Architecture

llmcode/
  config.py         Settings, LM Studio defaults, ~/.llmcode/config.json persistence
  prompts.py        System prompts: ORCHESTRATOR, EXPLORER, CODER, REVIEWER
  tools.py          Tool registry: read_file (offset/limit), write_file, edit_file, run_bash, glob, grep, repo_map
  audit.py          Map-reduce /audit: chunk the repo, review each chunk in an isolated context, merge
  providers.py      Provider ABC + LocalProvider (LM Studio) + MockProvider
                    (normalized to {type: text|tool_call|done} events)
  agent.py          The agentic loop: stream → run tools → feed results → repeat
  orchestration.py  spawn_agent delegation tool + role toolsets
  mcp.py            stdio MCP client + manager (sync JSON-RPC 2.0, stdlib only)
  repl.py           prompt_toolkit input + rich streamed output; provider factory
  __main__.py       CLI: flags, one-shot -p mode, `llmc-code` entry point
tests/              pytest suite (MockProvider only; no network)

Normalized provider events

Every provider's stream_chat(messages, tools) yields plain dicts with a type:

• {"type": "text", "text": <str>} — incremental assistant text (deltas).
• {"type": "tool_call", "id", "name", "arguments": <dict>} — args already json.loads'd into a dict.
• {"type": "done", "finish_reason": <str>, "output_tokens": <int|None>} — exactly one, always last. output_tokens is the completion token count for the message (the local provider's completion_tokens, or None when the server did not report it so the agent approximates for the tok/s footer).

All tool calls are emitted before the single terminal done.

Agent loop

1. Send the conversation + tool schemas to the provider; stream the reply.
2. If the model returns tool calls, execute each (with confirmation for write_file / edit_file / run_bash unless --yes), append the structured results as role:"tool" messages.
3. Loop until the model returns a plain-text final answer (or the iteration guard trips).

Roles

Role	Tools	Purpose
orchestrator	all + spawn_agent	Plans, delegates, validates
explorer	read-only (repo_map, read_file, glob, grep)	Investigates the codebase
coder	full	Implements a scoped change, then validates
reviewer	read-only	Critiques a change before finalizing

Development / tests

source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest -q

All tests run offline against the mock provider — no API keys, no network. The openai import is lazy (only inside LocalProvider), so the agent/tool/mock stack imports and runs without openai installed.

Notes / status

• The local (LM Studio) provider is fully implemented but needs a running LM Studio server with a model loaded to exercise live; it is not network-tested here. The mock provider and the full agent/tool/orchestration stack are covered by the test suite.
• Config (provider, model, base URL) persists to ~/.llmcode/config.json. API keys are read from the environment only and never written to disk.