A CLI coding agent built for efficiency, not autonomy.
Transparency First — You see the complete prompt and all interactions. Nothing is hidden from you.
Approval Required — Changes need your sign-off. Context additions need your confirmation. No surprises.
Efficiency over excess — Byte surfaces token count and cost so you know exactly what you're spending. No hidden burn.
Every AI coding tool I tried had the same problems:
- Disrupted my workflow instead of fitting into it
- Gave the AI full autonomy - producing slop I had to clean up anyway
- Burned through tokens like they were free (they're not)
- Tried to be a general-purpose tool instead of a coding specialist
So I built Byte with a different set of priorities:
- Bring your own tools. Use VS Code, PhpStorm, Neovim — whatever you already love. Byte doesn't replace your editor.
- Efficiency over excess. A little human effort produces better results than dumping millions of tokens at a problem. Byte prioritizes prompt quality, not context size.
- Built for developers, not everyone. Byte is a coding tool, not a generalist. It's built by devs, for devs.
See the Installation Guide for installation methods including uv, pip, and Nix.
For complete documentation, visit usethefork.github.io/byte.
- uv - Fast Python package management
- LangChain - AI framework for language models
- LangGraph - Graph-based agent workflows
- Textual - Beautiful terminal UI
- pydoll - Browser automation
- Catppuccin - Soothing pastel theme
Standing on the shoulders of:
- Aider — The pioneering CLI coding agent
- Charm's Crush — Elegant terminal agent
