Claurst is an open-source, multi-provider terminal coding agent built from the ground up in Rust. It started as a clean-room reimplementation of Claude Code's behavior (from spec) and has since evolved into an amazing TUI pair programmer with multi-provider support, a rich UI, plugin system, a companion named Rustle, chat forking, memory consolidation, and much more.
It's fast, it's memory-efficient, it's yours to run however you want, and there's no tracking or telemetry.
Important
Claurst is now officially in Beta (v0.2.1). The core agent, multi-provider routing, and TUI are stable enough for daily driving — expect rough edges around experimental features (flagged below). Bug reports and PRs welcome.
Note
Recent Updates (v0.2.0, see the changelog):
-
Sandbox and permissions: on macOS, Bash commands run in a Seatbelt sandbox that limits writes to the workspace and blocks network by default (
/sandbox-toggle). Bash approvals are matched per command, approvals can be saved for the current project, and--allowed-tools/--disallowed-toolsare enforced. See Permission rules and Shell Sandbox. -
Hooks: Claude Code's hooks contract (settings shape, events, JSON stdin/stdout, exit code 2, timeouts), including plugin hooks. See Hooks.
-
Skills and instruction files:
AGENTS.mdandCLAUDE.mdfiles are loaded from the git root down to the working directory, with@include; skills from.claurst/skills,.agents/skillsand.claude/skillsare listed to the model. See Instruction files and Skills. -
Headless runs: typed
stream-jsonevents, documented exit codes,--resume/--continue, and--json-schemafor a structured answer. See Headless mode. -
Providers: Anthropic prompt caching and adaptive thinking; ChatGPT (Codex) subscription token refresh, prompt caching and reasoning replay; one retry policy and context compaction for every provider.
-
/share support: Use
/shareto share chat sessions with others via unlisted GitHub Gists.[EXPERIMENTAL] -
Free Mode: Try out Free in '/connect' to get a great agentic coding experience in Claurst for absolutely free (or as good as free gets you :P).
[EXPERIMENTAL] -
/goal support: Try out
/goal <objective>to see claurst keep working an objective, spanning multiple turns instead of stopping after one normal turn.[EXPERIMENTAL] -
ultracode: The highest effort level — pick it in the effort selector (
/effort, where it sits pastmaxon the "Smarter" end with an animated purple spectrum) or just typeultracodeanywhere in your prompt. The keyword lights up with a purple gradient (claurst's take on Claude Code'sultrathink) and that turn runs at the model's top reasoning plus a disciplined plan → delegate → integrate → verify workflow that fans bounded packets out across native subagents (Agent), swarms (TeamCreate), and background tasks (TaskCreate). Composes with/goalfor sustained multi-turn objectives.[EXPERIMENTAL]
Linux / macOS:
curl -fsSL https://github.com/kuberwastaken/claurst/releases/latest/download/install.sh | bashWindows (PowerShell):
irm https://github.com/kuberwastaken/claurst/releases/latest/download/install.ps1 | iexThis drops claurst into ~/.local/bin (or %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\claurst on Windows; Git Bash uses the same Windows path) and adds it to your PATH automatically. Open a new terminal and run claurst.
If you have Node.js or Bun installed, you can install Claurst as a global package. The postinstall script automatically downloads the right pre-built binary for your platform.
# npm
npm install -g claurst
# bun
bun install -g claurst
# or run without installing
npx claurst
bunx claurstTo upgrade later, run:
claurst upgradePin a specific version with
--version 0.1.0on either installer, orclaurst upgrade --version 0.1.0.
If you'd rather grab the binary yourself, the latest archives are on GitHub Releases:
| Platform | Archive |
|---|---|
| Windows x86_64 | claurst-windows-x86_64.zip |
| Linux x86_64 | claurst-linux-x86_64.tar.gz |
| Linux aarch64 | claurst-linux-aarch64.tar.gz |
| macOS Intel | claurst-macos-x86_64.tar.gz |
| macOS Apple Silicon | claurst-macos-aarch64.tar.gz |
Each archive contains a single claurst (or claurst.exe) binary. Extract it and put it on your PATH.
git clone https://github.com/kuberwastaken/claurst.git
cd claurst/src-rust
cargo build --release --package claurst
# Binary is at target/release/claurstRaspberry Pi / systems without ALSA (e.g. Debian Trixie, headless servers):
# Build without voice/microphone support — no libasound2-dev required
cargo build --release --package claurst --no-default-features# Set your API key (or use /connect inside Claurst to configure)
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
# Or sign in with a ChatGPT subscription (Codex)
claurst codex login
# Start Claurst
claurst
# Or run a one-shot headless query
claurst -p "explain this codebase"
# Headless with one JSON event per line, or a structured answer
claurst -p --output-format stream-json "fix the failing test"
claurst -p --output-format json --json-schema schema.json "is this branch ready to merge?"Claurst asks before running commands and editing files; see Permission modes. Project instructions go in AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md at the repository root.
After cloning this repository, open it in VS Code and use Reopen in Container to start the development environment.
Prerequisites:
- Docker installed on your host machine: https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop/
GPG and SSH forwarding is enabled in the devcontainer, given you have it set up on your host machine. Follow this guide if you need help with that.
- Base image:
rust:1-bullseye. - Preinstalled build dependencies:
gnupg2,libasound2-dev,libxdo-dev, andpkg-config. - Devcontainer features enabled:
common-utils(withvscodeuseruid/gid 1000and Zsh install disabled),git, anddocker-outside-of-docker(moby: false). - Runs as
vscodeuser by default. - Persistent Cargo caches via named volumes for
/usr/local/cargo/registryand/usr/local/cargo/git. - Binds local
.claurstinto/home/vscode/.claurstfor local settings/session history access. - Sets
GNUPGHOME=/home/vscode/.gnupgand prependssrc-rust/target/debugandsrc-rust/target/releasetoPATH. - Post-create setup creates and permissions
.gnupg, and fixes ownership for/usr/local/cargo. - VS Code setting
terminal.integrated.inheritEnvis enabled.
Claurst speaks the Agent Client Protocol (ACP) — the open protocol pioneered by Zed for editor-to-agent communication. Any ACP-compatible editor (Zed, Neovim, JetBrains plugins, …) can drive Claurst as a subprocess and present it in the editor's native chat UI.
To use Claurst as the agent in your editor, point its ACP integration at:
command: claurst
args: ["acp"]
Zed example (~/.config/zed/settings.json):
Claurst will run in JSON-RPC 2.0 mode over stdio. It implements initialize, session/new, session/prompt, and session/cancel, streams session/update notifications (text deltas, agent thinking, tool calls with their progress + results), and evaluates tool permissions with the same rules as the TUI, sending only the calls that need approval to session/request_permission so the editor can show a native approval dialog. Each session uses the settings, instruction files and trusted MCP servers of its working directory.
Configure your provider / API key in ~/.claurst/settings.json (or claurst auth login, claurst codex login, or /connect inside the TUI) before launching — the ACP agent uses the same credentials and providers as the interactive TUI.
Enable verbose ACP logging (to stderr — never stdout, which would corrupt the protocol) by setting CLAURST_ACP_LOG=debug.
The Agent Client Protocol registry is the canonical directory editors look up when offering "available agents". To get Claurst listed:
- Fork
agentclientprotocol/registry. - Create a
claurst/folder at the repo root and drop in the prepared manifest from this repo:src-rust/crates/acp/registry-template/agent.json. Bump theversionand release-archive URLs to match the latest GitHub release. - Add
claurst/icon.svg(16×16 recommended) — the Rustle logo frompublic/is a fine starting point. - Open a PR to the registry. The registry CI validates
agent.jsonagainst the schema before merge.
After merge, Zed and other ACP-aware editors will pick up Claurst on their next registry refresh.
For more info on how to configure Claurst, head over to our docs.
PS: The original breakdown of the findings from Claude Code's source that started this project is on my blog - the full technical writeup of what was found, how the leak happened, and what it revealed.
Claurst is built for the community, by the community and we'd love your help making it better. Please see and include AGENTS.md for project-specific rules (for both humans and agents).
Open an issue for bugs, ideas, or questions, or Raise a PR to fix bugs, add features, or improve documentation.
This repository does not hold a copy of the proprietary Claude Code TypeScript source code. This is a clean-room Rust reimplementation of Claude Code's behavior.
The process was explicitly two-phase:
Specification spec/ — An AI agent analyzed the source and produced exhaustive behavioral specifications and improvements, deviated from the original: architecture, data flows, tool contracts, system designs. No source code was carried forward.
Implementation src-rust/ — A separate AI agent implemented from the spec alone, never referencing the original TypeScript. The output is idiomatic Rust that reproduces the behavior, not the expression.
This mirrors the legal precedent established by Phoenix Technologies v. IBM (1984) — clean-room engineering of the BIOS — and the principle from Baker v. Selden (1879) that copyright protects expression, not ideas or behavior.
{ "agent_servers": { "claurst": { "command": "claurst", "args": ["acp"] } } }