happy-sisyphus

A modern desktop chat frontend for the Bonsai CLI AI assistant — runnable with a single npx command.

📦 npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/happy-sisyphus

happy-sisyphus turns the Bonsai command-line AI assistant into a dark-themed desktop chat application. Your editor (VS Code, etc.) stays exactly where it is; this window becomes a friendly conversational interface to a single, persistent Bonsai session running quietly in the background.

Quick start

You don't need to clone anything, install build tools, or compile a thing. Just run:

npx happy-sisyphus

The desktop window opens immediately. On first launch it walks you through Bonsai setup automatically (see How it works).

Prefer to keep it around? Install it globally:

npm install -g happy-sisyphus
happy-sisyphus

Requirements: Node.js ≥ 18 and npm. Works on Windows 10+, macOS, and Linux. A Bonsai account is required (the app runs bonsai login for you).

Why use this?

The Bonsai CLI is a full-screen terminal (Ink TUI) app. That's powerful, but it means:

• You have to keep a terminal window open and manage raw-mode keystrokes yourself.
• Every Continue? snapshot prompt needs a manual arrow-key + Enter.
• There's no persistent, scrollable conversation view, no changed-files panel, and no one-click export.

happy-sisyphus fixes all of that while keeping the real Bonsai TUI as the source of truth:

| Pain with raw CLI | What happy-sisyphus gives you | |---|---| | Manual install / login / start each time | Auto-boot: installs Bonsai if missing, runs login, then start | | Babysitting the Continue? prompt | Auto-confirm: moves to Yes and presses Enter for you | | Session dies when you close the terminal | One persistent session — prompts stream into the existing process | | No history / export | Copy conversation, Export Markdown, replay on reload | | Hard to see what changed | Changed-files panel with optional git diff preview | | No shortcuts | Ctrl/⌘+Enter send · Esc stop · Ctrl/⌘+L clear · drag files to reference paths |

In short: you get the ergonomics of a chat app with the fidelity of the real terminal.

Who is this for?

• Developers using the Bonsai CLI who want a nicer, always-on interface than a bare terminal.
• Anyone who wants zero-setup — npx happy-sisyphus runs a pre-built app; there's no dev server, no native compilation, no npm install on your machine at runtime.
• Windows / macOS / Linux users — the embedded terminal uses node-pty (ConPTY on Windows) so the TUI renders faithfully everywhere.
• People who keep their own editor — this doesn't replace VS Code; it complements it and can open it for you.

Features

• Auto boot — ensures Bonsai is installed (npm i -g bonsai if missing), runs bonsai login (opens your browser, shows "Waiting for Bonsai login…"), then bonsai start.
• Auto-confirm — answers Bonsai's Continue? snapshot prompt for you.
• Persistent session — prompts are written into the existing Bonsai process; it's never restarted per prompt.
• Live streaming — Bonsai's output is rendered faithfully in an embedded xterm.js terminal.
• Changed-files panel — watches your project directory (via chokidar), with optional git diff preview.
• Sidebar — project root, status, files-changed and prompt counts.
• Toolbar — Restart Bonsai · Clear Chat · New Session · Open VS Code · Copy Conversation · Export Markdown.
• Reconnect — reloading the window replays the terminal scrollback; the Bonsai process keeps running. If Bonsai crashes, Restart Bonsai brings it back without restarting the app.
• Keyboard shortcuts — Ctrl/⌘+Enter send · Esc stop generation · Ctrl/⌘+L clear input. Drag files onto the prompt to reference their paths.

How it works

When you run npx happy-sisyphus, the CLI entry point (bin/index.js) locates the Electron runtime that ships as a dependency and launches the pre-built app in out/ — no compile step happens on your machine, so it starts instantly.

From there, the app manages a real Bonsai session for you:

Desktop window (React + Tailwind + xterm.js)
        │  Electron IPC (contextBridge)
Electron main (Node)
        │  node-pty  (pseudo-terminal)
Persistent `bonsai start` process  ──►  your project directory  ──►  VS Code files

Because Bonsai is a full-screen Ink TUI (it renders ANSI and reads raw-mode keystrokes), it's driven through a real PTY via node-pty. Its Yes/No prompt is answered with arrow-key + Enter keystrokes — not line-based stdin writes — and the terminal panel shows the real TUI as ground truth.

Startup flow

| Step | Where it's handled | |------|--------------------| | npm i -g bonsai (skipped if installed) | BonsaiSession.isInstalled() → boot() | | bonsai login + "Waiting for login…" | BonsaiSession.runLogin() (exit 0 = success) | | bonsai start + auto-answer Yes | BonsaiSession.startSession() + maybeAutoConfirm() | | Persistent session, write prompts to stdin | sendPrompt() on the single live PTY | | Stream stdout to the UI | pty.onData → IPC session:data → xterm | | Monitor file changes | FileWatcher (chokidar) → IPC files:changed | | Reconnect if UI refreshes | ring buffer replayed on session:attach | | Restart on crash without restarting UI | pty.onExit → offline → Restart Bonsai |

Building from source (contributors)

Most users never need this — npx happy-sisyphus runs the published, pre-built app. If you want to hack on it:

npm install     # also runs electron-rebuild for node-pty (native module)
npm run dev      # launch in development

Build a distributable:

npm run build      # bundles main/preload/renderer with electron-vite
npm run package    # packages the app with electron-builder

node-pty is a native module and must be compiled against Electron's ABI. Building it needs platform build tools:

• Windows: Visual Studio Build Tools (Desktop C++) — usually already present with Node.
• macOS: Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install).
• Linux: build-essential + python3.

Project layout

bin/
  index.js                 CLI entry — launches Electron against pre-built out/
src/
  shared/types.ts          Types + IPC channel names shared by all processes
  main/
    index.ts               Window + IPC wiring + app lifecycle
    BonsaiSession.ts       Persistent PTY, lifecycle FSM, auto-confirm, ring buffer
    FileWatcher.ts         chokidar watcher → changed files
    persistence.ts         History/session JSON under userData
    ansi.ts                ANSI-strip helper for prompt detection
    ShellTerminal.ts       Embedded shell terminal support
  preload/index.ts         contextBridge → window.bonsai
  renderer/
    index.html
    src/
      App.tsx              Shell layout + setup/error overlays
      hooks/useSession.ts  IPC subscription + state
      components/          StatusBar, Sidebar, Toolbar, TerminalPanel, PromptInput, ChangedFiles

Notes & limitations

• Token usage is shown only if Bonsai surfaces it (otherwise omitted).
• Diff preview is best-effort via git diff and hidden for non-git projects.
• Image paste is deferred unless the CLI supports it; file paths are supported via drag-and-drop.

Requirements

• Node.js ≥ 18 and npm
• A Bonsai account (the app runs bonsai login for you)
• Windows 10+ / macOS / Linux — on Windows, node-pty uses the built-in ConPTY

License

MIT © theunknownodysseus

Links

• npm package: https://www.npmjs.com/package/happy-sisyphus
• Bonsai CLI: https://trybons.ai