Ikie

Agentic coding CLI — your AI pair programmer in the terminal.

Ikie reads, writes, and refactors code, runs commands, searches the web, and drives multi-step engineering tasks autonomously — all from your shell, with a polished interactive REPL and a one-shot mode for quick jobs.

npm install -g ikie-cli
ikie login
ikie "write a rust web server with graceful shutdown"

Highlights

• Autonomous agent loop — Ikie plans, edits files, runs builds/tests, reads the errors, and self-corrects until the task is done.
• Plan mode & agent mode — research read-only and propose a plan, or execute with full tool access. Toggle live with Shift+Tab.
• 28 built-in tools — files, shell, search, git, web, memory, sub-agents.
• Skills — installable instruction packs that give Ikie expert knowledge for a specific kind of task (UI/UX, research, framework conventions, …).
• MCP support — extend Ikie with Model Context Protocol servers (GitHub, databases, browser automation, and any custom MCP).
• Polished terminal UX — markdown rendering, slash-command menu, 7 color themes, image paste (Ctrl+V), session save/load, and live token/usage tracking.
• Safe by default — mutating actions ask for permission once (press a to always-allow for the session); reads of secret files (.env, keys) are guarded.

Quick start

# 1. Install globally
npm install -g ikie-cli

# 2. Sign in to your Ikie account
ikie login

# 3a. One-shot — run a single task and exit
ikie "add input validation to src/api/users.ts and write tests"

# 3b. Interactive — start a REPL session
ikie

Requirements: Node.js 20+ and an Ikie account (ikie login).

Modes

Ikie runs in one of two modes, shown in the prompt header:

| Mode | What it can do | | --- | --- | | agent (default) | Full access — edit files, run commands, everything. | | plan | Read-only research. Ikie explores and proposes a plan but makes no changes until you approve. |

Switch any time with Shift+Tab (toggles in place), or with /plan, /agent, and /mode. When a plan is approved, Ikie automatically switches to agent mode and carries it out.

Tools

Ikie has 28 built-in tools, grouped by purpose:

• Files — read_file, write_file, edit_file (surgical exact-string edits), list_dir
• Search — search_files (glob), grep (regex over contents)
• Shell — bash (builds, tests, package managers; & backgrounds long-running processes)
• Git — git_status, git_diff, git_log, git_commit, git_branch
• Web — fetch_url (read any page as text), web_search (no extra API key — your login is enough)
• Memory — memory_write (persist notes across sessions, project- or global-scoped)
• Delegation — spawn_agent (hand isolated/parallel work to a focused sub-agent), ask_user
• Skills — use_skill, install_skill, remove_skill
• MCP — mcp_list, mcp_add (configured servers expose tools as mcp__server__tool)
• Mode — switch_mode

Skills

Skills are curated instruction packs (and optional bundled scripts) that load on demand when a task matches them. Install from a git URL or local path:

ikie skills install https://github.com/user/some-skill.git
ikie skills list
ikie skills remove some-skill

Inside a session, Ikie loads a matching skill automatically before doing the work. You can also manage them with /skills.

MCP (Model Context Protocol)

Extend Ikie with external MCP servers. When a server is configured, each of its tools appears as a first-class tool named mcp__<server>__<tool> — call them directly, no meta-tool dance.

Paste a Claude/Cline-style config and Ikie will wire it up:

claude mcp add magic --scope user --env API_KEY="…" -- npx -y @21st-dev/magic@latest

Or create a .mcp.json file in the project root (or .mcp.local.json for machine-local overrides, or ~/.ikie/mcp.json for global ones):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "magic": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@21st-dev/magic@latest"],
      "env": { "API_KEY": "…" },
      "enabled": true,
      "autoStart": true
    }
  }
}

In the REPL, use /mcp to list servers and their tools, /mcp add <line> to add one from a claude mcp add … line, /mcp remove <name>, and /mcp reconnect <name>.

In-session commands

Type / to open the command menu. Highlights:

| Command | Description | | --- | --- | | /help | Show all commands | | /plan · /agent · /mode | Switch or show mode (Shift+Tab toggles) | | /clear | Clear conversation history | | /compact | Summarize the conversation to free up context | | /session list\|load\|new\|delete | Manage saved sessions | | /memory [save] | View or save persistent notes | | /context | Show the detected project context | | /model <name> · /models | Switch or list models | | /settings [show\|model\|reset] | View/change persisted settings | | /skills | List, show, install, or remove skills | | /mcp · /mcp add · /mcp remove · /mcp reconnect | MCP server status and management | | /theme [name] | Change the color theme | | /usage · /tokens | Account usage/credit and token estimate | | /rpm <n> | Set the model request-per-minute limit | | /onboarding | Re-run the first-time tutorial | | !<cmd> | Run a shell command directly (output lands in the session) |

CLI usage

ikie "<message>"            One-shot command
ikie                        Start an interactive session
ikie login                  Sign in to your Ikie account
ikie logout                 Sign out
ikie skills <…>             Manage skills (list / install / remove)

Flags:
  -m, --model <id>          Use a specific model
  -y, --yes                 Auto-approve all tool executions
      --rpm <n>             Max model requests per minute (default: 10)
      --verbose             Debug output
      --onboarding          Re-run first-time onboarding
  -h, --help                Show help
  -v, --version             Show version

Themes

Seven built-in color schemes: nebula, cyberpunk, dracula, forest, slate, amber, and aurora. Switch with /theme <name>.

Permissions & safety

• bash, write_file, and edit_file ask before running. Press y to allow once, a to always-allow that tool for the session, n/! to deny.
• Reading project files is silent; reading credential files (.env, .ssh, keys, .npmrc, …) prompts first.
• Ikie warns before any command that could terminate its own session by killing processes on its host port.
• Run with -y / --yes to auto-approve everything (use with care).

License

MIT — see LICENSE.