Gcode

Self-improving coding agent that operates inside a persistent workspace.

Gcode is a self-improving coding agent designed for the post-IDE future.

It writes, reviews, tests, and iterates on code inside a persistent workspace. You interact through conversation. Gcode owns the workspace entirely.

Warning

Gcode is evolving rapidly. For the latest updates, see the repo.

How It Works

Gcode operates inside a container with a persistent workspace volume. Each project is a git repo. Each task gets its own worktree, so there's no state bleed between tasks and every change is auditable via git history.

1You: "Build a URL shortener with FastAPI"
2     ↓
3Gcode: mkdir /workspace/url-shortener && git init
4     ↓
5Creates worktree → writes code → runs tests → commits
6     ↓
7Reports what it built, what tests pass, and the git log

Tip

Gcode is sandboxed to /workspace. It cannot access your host filesystem. OS-level permissions enforce this boundary.

Tools

Gcode combines three tool systems:

CodingTools for file read/write/edit, shell, grep, find, and ls.
ReasoningTools for structured debugging chains via the think tool.
LearningMachine for saving and retrieving project conventions, error patterns, and user preferences.

Self-Learning

Gcode improves with use through two complementary systems:

System	Stores	How it evolves
Knowledge	Project structure, testing conventions, build systems	Curated by you and refined by Gcode
Learnings	Error patterns, codebase quirks, user preferences	Managed automatically by the Learning Machine

When Gcode discovers that a project uses pytest with fixtures in conftest.py, it saves that. Next time you ask about tests, it already knows.

Run Locally

1git clone https://github.com/kern-agi/gcode.git && cd gcode
2
3cp example.env .env
4# Edit .env and add your OPENAI_API_KEY
5
6docker compose up -d --build

The workspace starts empty. Gcode creates projects as you ask.

Confirm it's running at http://localhost:8000/docs.

Connect to the control plane

Open os.kern.ndx.rocks and sign in
Click Add OS → Local
Enter http://localhost:8000

Deploy to Railway

1railway login
2./scripts/railway_up.sh

The script provisions PostgreSQL, configures environment variables, and deploys your application.

Then connect via the control plane:

Open os.kern.ndx.rocks
Click Add OS → Live
Enter your Railway domain

Example Prompts

Try these in the control plane:

Build a FastAPI CRUD app with tests
Add authentication to the existing project
Fix any failing tests in url-shortener
Review the codebase for security issues
What conventions does this project use?

Source

For architecture details and local development setup, see the GitHub repo.