dex

AI development tool with extensible skill system and ACP protocol support.

Install

npm install -g dex-cli

Requires Node.js >= 20 and an Anthropic API key.

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your-key-here
# or
dex config set apiKey your-key-here

Quick Start

dex review              # Review uncommitted changes
dex review --staged     # Review staged changes only
dex commit-msg          # Generate a commit message
dex explain src/app.ts  # Explain a file
dex refactor src/old.ts # Get refactoring suggestions
dex test-gen src/api.ts # Generate tests
dex fix src/bug.ts      # Fix bugs with AI agent (tool use)

Pipe support:

git diff | dex review           # Pipe a diff
cat src/auth.ts | dex explain   # Pipe code

Commands

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | dex review [--staged] | Code review | | dex commit-msg | Generate commit message | | dex explain <file> | Explain code | | dex refactor <file> | Refactoring suggestions | | dex test-gen <file> | Generate tests | | dex fix <file> [-i "issue"] | Fix bugs with agentic tool use | | dex chat [--tools] | Interactive AI chat with tool access | | dex run <skill> | Run any skill by name | | dex serve | Start ACP server for editor integration | | dex doctor | Check system setup | | dex config list\|get\|set | Manage configuration | | dex skill list\|info\|init\|add\|remove | Manage skills | | dex completion bash\|zsh\|fish | Shell completions |

Global Flags

• --verbose / -v — Show debug output and token usage
• --json — Structured JSON output
• --version / -V — Show version

Custom Skills

Create your own skills:

dex skill init my-skill    # Generate skeleton
cd my-skill
# Edit handler.ts and manifest.json
dex skill add .            # Install globally
dex my-skill               # Run it

manifest.json

{
  "name": "my-skill",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "My custom skill",
  "inputs": {
    "args": [{ "name": "file", "description": "Target file", "required": true }],
    "flags": [{ "name": "verbose", "type": "boolean", "default": false }],
    "context": ["current-file", "file-tree", "git-diff", "stdin"]
  },
  "agent": {
    "maxTurns": 5,
    "allowedTools": ["read_file", "write_file", "list_files", "bash"]
  }
}

Available Context Sources

| Source | Description | |--------|-------------| | git-diff | Unstaged changes | | git-diff-staged | Staged changes | | git-log | Recent commit history | | file-tree | Project directory tree | | current-file | File specified by file arg | | package-json | Project package.json | | stdin | Piped input |

Available Tools (for agentic skills)

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | bash | Execute shell commands | | read_file | Read file contents | | write_file | Create/modify files | | list_files | List directory tree |

ACP Server (Editor Integration)

Start the ACP server for Zed, JetBrains, or other editors:

dex serve

The server communicates via stdio JSON-RPC 2.0. Configure your editor to use dex serve as an ACP agent.

Supported Methods

• initialize — Returns capabilities and available skills
• session/new — Create a new session for a skill
• session/prompt — Execute a skill within a session
• session/cancel — Cancel an active session

Shell Completions

# Bash
eval "$(dex completion bash)"

# Zsh
eval "$(dex completion zsh)"

# Fish
dex completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/dex.fish

Configuration

dex config list              # Show all settings
dex config set model claude-opus-4-20250514  # Change model
dex config set maxTokens 16384              # Increase token limit

Settings are stored in ~/.dex/config.json (global) and .dex/config.json (project).

Environment variables: ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, DEX_MODEL.

License

MIT