Cafe Code

Made in Japan with love.

Warning: Large parts of the application are currently under development and have been completely rewritten. It may take some time for the system to become stable.

Cafe Code is very small, barely does a thing at all. Chat goes in and chat comes out, soft and sweet, without a shout.

Cafe Code is a tiny desktop GUI for coding agents. It is a fork of T3 Code, with a basket of bug fixes, a little sweep-up, and some very opinionated trimming for people who want the agent chat and not much else.

It is meant to stay light, calm, and out of the way — not freeze, drag, or get all sleepy like so many other clients do.

T3 Code said it wanted to be minimal. Cafe Code went even smaller.

No terminal drawer. No pretend IDE. No giant dashboard wearing a useful-looking hat. If you want a console, use a real console. If you want to inspect code, open it in VS Code.

Why Fork?

Because the app should stay small, fast, and predictable.

Bug fixes are welcome. Performance fixes are welcome. Reliability fixes are welcome. Security fixes are extra welcome.

Feature requests need to pass the tiny-window test: does this make Cafe Code smaller, calmer, faster, easier to understand, lower CPU, lower memory, or less annoying when something fails?

If yes, maybe.

If it turns Cafe Code into a pretend IDE, a pretend terminal, a release dashboard, a project-management suite, or a museum of buttons, no.

What Changed From T3 Code

This is the practical working list. It will probably get cleaned up later.

• Completely rewrote the lifecycle system to be more inline with Codex and Claude.
• Numerous bug fixes.
• Excessive debugging information.
• Rebranded the app around Cafe Code.
• Moved local app data into ~/.cafe-code.
• Removed the in-app terminal drawer and terminal UI.
• Removed hosted web-app assumptions and focused the project on the Electron app.
• Disabled update checks until Cafe Code has its own release path.
• Added a queue/follow-up workflow for prompts sent while a provider is running.
• Added provider-aware queue actions: steer when supported, interrupt when that is the honest behavior.
• Added thread moving between project folders and working directories.
• Added "Move to Recycle Bin", "Recently Deleted", restore, permanent delete, and empty recycle bin flows.
• Added a default editor setting for VS Code, Antigravity, Finder, or system default.
• Made file-change rows and path pills open real paths instead of truncated display text.
• Added a localhost-only debug endpoint behind --cafe-debug.
• Reduced needless Git polling and checkpoint churn.
• Hardened hidden checkpoint handling, ignored-file capture, and old ref pruning.
• Fixed provider/session edge cases around reconnects, stale running state, resume metadata, and null checkpoint timestamps.
• Removed or hid features that do not belong in a minimal coding-agent shell.

Run From Source

For now there are no desktop packages. No DMG, no updater, no notarized bundle, no "drag this into Applications" ceremony.

The npm package exists, but do not treat it as the fresh install path yet. It will probably be out of date until Cafe Code settles down a little more. The app is in pretty good shape now, but the fastest-moving build is still the repo itself.

Mostly tested on macOS. Windows seems to work. Linux may need a little tweaking; I have not had enough time on it yet.

Install Node.js 24.13.1 and Corepack, then run Cafe Code from a checkout. The repository pins the exact Yarn release through Corepack:

git clone https://github.com/cafeai/cafe-code.git
cd cafe-code
corepack enable
yarn install --immutable
yarn build:desktop
yarn workspace @cafecode/desktop start

Debug mode:

yarn workspace @cafecode/desktop start --cafe-debug

Browser Web UI Firewall Ports

If you want to open the Cafe Code Web UI from another device on your LAN, first enable network/LAN access in Cafe Code, then allow the desktop backend ports through your firewall. The default desktop ports are:

• HTTPS/WSS Web UI: 3775/tcp
• HTTP/WS fallback and certificate bootstrap page: 3773/tcp

For ufw:

sudo ufw allow 3775/tcp comment 'Cafe Code HTTPS'
sudo ufw allow 3773/tcp comment 'Cafe Code HTTP'

For local development with yarn dev:desktop, the default ports are:

sudo ufw allow 13775/tcp comment 'Cafe Code dev HTTPS'
sudo ufw allow 13773/tcp comment 'Cafe Code dev backend'
sudo ufw allow 5733/tcp comment 'Cafe Code dev Vite'

If Cafe Code prints a different port, or you run with CAFE_CODE_PORT, CAFE_CODE_HTTPS_PORT, CAFE_CODE_DEV_INSTANCE, or CAFE_CODE_PORT_OFFSET, allow the printed port instead.

Saved Remote Servers

The Connections settings can save direct connections to other reachable Cafe Code servers using a pairing URL or a host plus pairing code. Cafe Code scopes projects, threads, providers, and live subscriptions to the selected server.

Cafe Code does not create SSH or Tailscale tunnels. Configure the network, certificate, firewall, or reverse proxy separately, then use the server's pairing details. Desktop credentials are encrypted with Electron safe storage; browser credentials are retained only for the current browser session.

If you want Codex or Claude to do it for you, paste this into the CLI:

Install Cafe Code from source. Clone https://github.com/cafeai/cafe-code.git, install Node.js 24.13.1 and Corepack, run corepack enable, run yarn install --immutable, run yarn build:desktop, then start it with yarn workspace @cafecode/desktop start. Also verify Codex CLI is installed and logged in with codex login, and Claude Code is installed and logged in with claude auth login if I want Claude support.

The old npm path is still here for later, but it may lag behind current work:

npx @cafeai/cafe-code
npm install -g @cafeai/cafe-code
cafe-code

Cafe Code expects at least one provider to already be installed and authenticated:

• Codex: install Codex CLI and run codex login
• Claude: install Claude Code and run claude auth login
• OpenCode: install OpenCode and configure at least one upstream provider, or configure Cafe Code with an existing OpenCode server URL

Cafe Code currently ships Codex, Claude, and OpenCode provider integrations.

Local Development

Run the app from a checkout:

yarn install --immutable
yarn start:desktop

Run the desktop package directly:

yarn workspace @cafecode/desktop start

Debug mode:

yarn start:desktop:debug

The app prints a localhost-only debug URL on startup.

Useful checks:

yarn fmt
yarn lint
yarn typecheck
yarn test

Local Arch Package

Build a local pacman package from the Linux AppImage artifact:

yarn install --immutable
yarn dist:arch:local
sudo pacman -U release/arch/cafe-code-*.pkg.tar.zst

To build and install in one step:

yarn dist:arch:local --install

This helper builds a package from the current checkout and does not publish anything.

AUR Source Package

The cafe-code AUR target compiles Cafe Code from source and then packages the locally built AppImage. On Arch Linux, build it with:

yarn dist:aur:cafe-code

The package is written to packaging/aur/cafe-code/. Its PKGBUILD, generated .SRCINFO, launcher, desktop entry, and packaging license are kept in that directory so it can also be used as the contents of the standalone AUR Git repository.

To create the initial AUR listing, first create an AUR account and add your SSH public key. Then submit the package metadata:

git clone ssh://aur@aur.archlinux.org/cafe-code.git ../aur-cafe-code
cp -a packaging/aur/cafe-code/. ../aur-cafe-code/
cd ../aur-cafe-code
makepkg --printsrcinfo > .SRCINFO
git add .gitignore .SRCINFO LICENSE PKGBUILD cafe-code.desktop cafe-code.sh
git commit -m "Initial cafe-code package"
git push

The current recipe uses the immutable published commit for version 0.0.51 because that version has no matching Git tag. For future releases, update pkgver, reset pkgrel to 1, update the source commit and checksum, and regenerate .SRCINFO before pushing the AUR repository.

Debian Package

Build a Debian package for the host architecture:

yarn install --immutable
yarn dist:desktop:deb

Explicit architecture targets are also available:

yarn dist:desktop:deb:x64
yarn dist:desktop:deb:arm64

The package is written to release/. Install the emitted file with your graphical package installer or with sudo apt install ./release/<file>.deb.

日本語でちゅ

Cafe Code は、Codex とか Claude とお話するための、 ちいさめデスクトップアプリだわ。

T3 Code から fork して、 バグ直して、重いところ軽くして、 いらない機能はぽいぽいした。

ターミナルいらない。 でかいダッシュボードいらない。 ボタンだらけの謎コックピットもいらない。

コード見たいなら VS Code ひらこ。 コンソール使いたいなら、本物のコンソール使お。

Cafe Code は、チャットする。 作業を見る。 邪魔しない。 それだけ。えらい。

ソースから動かす

まだ DMG とか、インストーラーとか、アップデーターとかはないよ。 npm のパッケージもあるけど、今はそれを信じすぎないでね。 Cafe Code がもう少し落ち着くまでは、npm はたぶん少し古くなる。

Node.js 24.13.1 と Corepack を先に入れてね。Yarn のバージョンは リポジトリ側で固定してあるよ。

git clone https://github.com/cafeai/cafe-code.git
cd cafe-code
corepack enable
yarn install --immutable
yarn build:desktop
yarn workspace @cafecode/desktop start

デバッグしたいならこれ。

yarn workspace @cafecode/desktop start --cafe-debug

LAN の別デバイスから Cafe Code の Web UI を開きたいなら、先に Cafe Code 側でネットワーク/LAN アクセスを有効にして、ファイアウォールでこのポートを開ける。

• HTTPS/WSS Web UI: 3775/tcp
• HTTP/WS のフォールバックと証明書案内ページ: 3773/tcp

ufw ならこれ。

sudo ufw allow 3775/tcp comment 'Cafe Code HTTPS'
sudo ufw allow 3773/tcp comment 'Cafe Code HTTP'

yarn dev:desktop の開発中は、デフォルトではこっち。

sudo ufw allow 13775/tcp comment 'Cafe Code dev HTTPS'
sudo ufw allow 13773/tcp comment 'Cafe Code dev backend'
sudo ufw allow 5733/tcp comment 'Cafe Code dev Vite'

Cafe Code が別のポートを表示しているときや、CAFE_CODE_PORT、 CAFE_CODE_HTTPS_PORT、CAFE_CODE_DEV_INSTANCE、CAFE_CODE_PORT_OFFSET を使っているときは、その表示されたポートを開けてね。

だいたい macOS で見てる。Windows も動いてそう。 Linux はまだあまり見れてないから、ちょっと調整がいるかも。 でも今の Cafe Code は、けっこういいところまで来てる。

Codex とか Claude に丸投げするなら、これを投げてもいいよ。

Cafe Code をソースから入れてください。https://github.com/cafeai/cafe-code.git を clone して、Node.js 24.13.1 と Corepack を入れ、corepack enable、yarn install --immutable、yarn build:desktop、yarn workspace @cafecode/desktop start まで実行してください。Codex を使うなら codex login、Claude を使うなら claude auth login も確認してください。

npm 版は残しておくけど、今は古いかもしれない。

npx @cafeai/cafe-code
npm install -g @cafeai/cafe-code
cafe-code

Codex を使うなら先に codex login。 Claude を使うなら先に claude auth login。 そこは自分でログインしておいてね。

yarn fmt
yarn lint
yarn typecheck
yarn test

License

Cafe Code is AGPL-3.0-or-later.

The fork keeps the upstream attribution story intact; see the license and notice files for details.