Code Monkey

Apes strong together. 🦍

Code Monkey is a desktop coding-agent workbench built around tasks and agents. Each task owns its own agent thread that runs in an isolated git worktree; there is also a project-level chat that runs the agent against your main branch.

It is a local Electron app — your project files, credentials, and agent transcripts never leave the machine.

Features

• Task board. Drag-and-drop columns for Todo / In Progress / Done with markdown descriptions.
• Per-task agent. "Start Work" checks out a code-monkey/<task-id> branch in a sandboxed worktree, hands it to the agent, and streams every message, tool call, and file change back into the app. "Merge to Main" auto-commits the result when you approve.
• Project agent. A separate chat in the project's working directory for conversations that don't belong to any one task. Multiple threads per project with a history dropdown.
• Agent view. Grouped activity strips (no more terminal-log noise), markdown-rendered agent messages with a streaming cursor, and a state pill (Idle / Thinking / Running / Waiting / Blocked / Done).
• Providers. Uses your local codex CLI credentials or an OpenAI API key stored in the OS keychain via Electron safeStorage.
• Theming. Light / Dark / System, backed by the Catppuccin palette (Latte and Macchiato).

Try it

If you have Node.js 22+ on your PATH:

npx @artmann/codemonkey

That downloads the package, installs Electron + its native deps, and launches the desktop app. First run takes a minute while better-sqlite3 rebuilds against the installed Electron; subsequent runs are instant.

Prefer a signed installer? Grab a .exe / .dmg / .deb / .rpm from the Releases page.

Requirements (development)

• pnpm with Node.js 22 or 24
• Git on your PATH
• One of:
  • OpenAI Codex CLI logged in (the app re-uses ~/.codex), or
  • An OpenAI API key

Installation

pnpm install

Running the app

pnpm start

On first launch, open Settings and configure the Codex provider (CLI re-use or API key). Then create a project pointing at a git repository on disk.

Scripts

| Script | What it does | | ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | | pnpm start | Launch the Electron dev build via electron-forge | | pnpm test | Run vitest in watch mode | | pnpm test:run | Run the full test suite once | | pnpm lint | Run ESLint across src/ | | pnpm typecheck | Run tsc --noEmit | | pnpm db:generate | Generate a drizzle migration from schema.ts | | pnpm package | Produce an unpacked Electron app | | pnpm make | Produce platform installers | | pnpm build | Run typecheck + lint + tests and produce installers | | pnpm build:npm | Produce dist/ for the npm tarball (used by prepack) | | pnpm release | Build then publish a release via electron-forge |

Data locations

• App database: ~/.code-monkey/code-monkey.db (SQLite via better-sqlite3)
• Per-task worktrees: ~/.code-monkey/worktrees/<repo>/<branch>

Uninstalling by deleting the above directory is safe.

Keyboard shortcuts

• C — create a task (in the Tasks tab)
• Enter — send a message in the agent composer; Shift+Enter for a newline

License

MIT