Zero: The AI Coding Agent for Your Local Terminal

Introduction

Zero is a sophisticated AI coding agent built for your local terminal, putting you in command of your development workflow. It allows you to inspect codebases, modify files, execute commands, and leverage browser/terminal utilities, all while maintaining persistent local sessions. With Zero, you choose your preferred AI model and define the permission levels, ensuring a secure and tailored experience. It's designed to be a powerful, extensible, and privacy-focused assistant for developers.

Installation

Getting started with Zero is straightforward. Here are the most common installation methods:

npm

The npm package provides a convenient wrapper that installs the appropriate Zero binary for your platform (Linux, macOS, Windows on x64 and arm64).

npm install -g @gitlawb/zero
zero

Install Scripts

For Linux/macOS, you can use a simple curl command:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Gitlawb/zero/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

Windows users can install via PowerShell:

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Gitlawb/zero/main/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

From Source

If you prefer to build from source, Go 1.25+ is required:

git clone https://github.com/Gitlawb/zero.git
cd zero
go run ./cmd/zero

For more detailed installation instructions, refer to the official documentation.

Examples

Zero offers both an interactive TUI (Terminal User Interface) and a headless exec mode for scripting.

Interactive TUI

Simply run zero to start the TUI. A setup wizard will guide you through selecting a provider and model.

zero

Common slash commands within the TUI include:

• /model, /provider: Switch the active model or provider.
• /spec, /plan: Draft and review a plan before building.
• /image: Attach an image for vision-capable models.
• /resume, /rewind: Continue or roll back local sessions.

Headless exec

For one-shot commands or scripting, use zero exec:

zero exec "explain internal/agent/loop.go"
zero exec --model claude-sonnet-4.5 "refactor the config loader"
zero exec --use-spec "add rate limiting to the API client"

Zero also supports stream-JSON for programmatic input/output, making it suitable for CI/CD pipelines.

Why Use Zero

Zero stands out for several compelling reasons:

• Model Flexibility: Use your preferred AI model, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Groq, OpenRouter, DeepSeek, Mistral, xAI, Qwen, Kimi, GitHub Models, Ollama, LM Studio, or any OpenAI/Anthropic-compatible endpoint.
• Full Control: Maintain complete control over file writes, shell commands, network access, and out-of-workspace writes through Zero's robust permission and sandbox policy.
• Terminal-Native Experience: The TUI provides a rich interactive experience with model/provider pickers, image input, slash commands, live plan/tool rendering, scrollback, themes, and session management.
• Scriptability: The zero exec command is highly scriptable, supporting text/JSON/stream-JSON I/O, isolated worktrees, spec-first runs, and meaningful exit codes for CI environments.
• Local Context: All sessions are stored locally on disk, are searchable, resumable, and never uploaded as telemetry, ensuring your privacy.
• Extensibility: Extend Zero's capabilities with MCP servers, skills, plugins, hooks, and specialist subagents, all accessible from the same CLI.

Links

• GitHub Repository: https://github.com/Gitlawb/zero
• Installation Documentation: docs/INSTALL.md
• Stream-JSON Protocol: docs/STREAM_JSON_PROTOCOL.md