tau: Build and Run a Terminal Coding Agent

Overview

Tau is a terminal coding agent for tasks such as understanding a codebase, changing files, and running shell commands. It combines a reusable agent harness with a coding environment, so developers can use the included terminal interface or build a different frontend around the harness's event stream.

The project is aimed both at people who want a configurable coding assistant and at developers who want to study a relatively small implementation of an agent loop, tools, provider integration, and durable sessions.

Key Features

• Interactive terminal interface and non-interactive prompt mode.
• File-reading, file-writing, editing, and shell-command tools.
• Provider support for OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenAI Codex subscription auth, OpenRouter, Hugging Face, and OpenAI-compatible endpoints.
• Append-only JSONL session history with resume and branching.
• Project instructions, user skills, prompt templates, and custom themes.
• Provider-neutral events that can be consumed by custom frontends.
• Python library interfaces for building on the agent harness.

Use Cases

• Developers can ask for help understanding a repository or investigating a stack trace from the project directory.
• Teams can use an agent to make code changes and run commands while retaining inspectable session history.
• Agent developers can study the separation between model providers, agent logic, coding tools, and presentation.
• Python developers can use the event-driven harness as a starting point for a custom coding-agent frontend.

Project Facts

• Language: Python
• License: MIT
• Stars: 2.9k
• Forks: 369
• Topics: none listed
• Archived: no

Getting Started

Install with uv tool install tau-ai, then run tau from the project you want to work on. Tau requires a model provider; use /login in the app to connect one. See the repository README for setup options and provider details.

Alternatives

• qwen-code: Qwen Code supports multiple model providers and terminal, editor, desktop, web, chat, script, and SDK interfaces.
• zero: Zero is written in Go and emphasizes scriptable use, local sessions, and explicit controls over side effects.
• aider: Aider focuses on editing repositories with cloud or local models while integrating changes into a version-control workflow.
• pi: Pi is a TypeScript toolkit with a coding-agent CLI, terminal UI, and unified API for multiple LLM providers.

Considerations

Tau requires Python 3.12 or newer and a configured model provider. The repository describes the project as under active development, so behavior and interfaces may evolve. Its coding tools can read and modify files and execute shell commands, so review proposed actions and changes in the context of your environment.