yikes!

Run Claude Code and Codex like durable, controllable services — from the terminal, the browser, or Python.

yikes! is a terminal-first runtime for Claude Code and the Codex CLI. One word — yikes claude — starts (or reattaches) a real interactive session for the current project and drops you straight in: as easy as running claude, but durable, reattachable, optionally sandboxed, and reachable from a browser.

The same runtime is exposed three ways — an interactive terminal app, a login-gated web control surface, and a clean Python/CLI API — all backed by one shared controller.

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Why yikes!

For the cases where a one-shot prompt is not enough:

• One-word launchers — yikes claude / yikes codex start or reattach a real interactive session for the current directory. The session name follows the git project, so re-running resumes it; concurrent work lives in separate projects.
• Durable sessions — every session is a real tmux session that survives disconnects. Reattach from any terminal, list and overtake sessions, and drive them from scripts.
• Docker isolation — yikes claude -i runs the agent in a container with the project mounted and ports published, so risky work stays contained.
• A web control surface — yikes web serves a login-gated UI with one tab per session and sub-tabs ("panes"): the live terminal, the web app the agent is building (embedded), health tables, and links.
• Project config — a committed yikes.toml declares per-project defaults (backend, isolation, ports, panes); yikes setup can write it by inspecting the repo.
• Python-first core — the terminal app, web UI, and CLI share the same controller and service layer, so the runtime embeds cleanly elsewhere.

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Install

pip install yikes
yikes

yikes! drives the backend CLIs you already use, so install and log into the ones you want: Claude Code · Codex CLI. tmux is required for interactive sessions; Docker is optional (only for -i).

Working from a clone instead? git clone … && cd yikes && pip install -e ., then bash scripts/install-path.sh to put yikes on PATH for new shells.

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Quick start

yikes claude                  # start or reattach an interactive Claude session here
yikes codex                   # same, with the Codex CLI
yikes claude -i               # run it isolated in Docker (ports from yikes.toml)
yikes claude -m "scaffold a FastAPI app"   # seed the first prompt
yikes                         # chooser: claude / codex / terminal overview

Each launch shows a short pre-flight panel (mapped ports, how to leave with Ctrl-b d and return with yikes claude), then drops you into the live session. Per-project defaults live in a committed yikes.toml — run yikes init to scaffold one or yikes setup to have the backend inspect the repo and write it for you.

yikes sessions                # list durable sessions
yikes attach <name|id>        # overtake an attachable session
yikes close-all               # close every session (confirms first; -y to skip)
yikes web                     # serve the browser control surface

See the CLI reference for the full command surface, Docker isolation, and project config.

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Web control surface

yikes web serves a login-key-gated UI on all interfaces by default — the key is stored user-globally and login is rate-limited against brute force, so it is safe on a LAN. yikes web --url prints the ready-to-open login URL so you can reach it from another machine without copying the key by hand.

Each session tab carries panes (sub-tabs): the live terminal, an embedded view of the web app the agent is building (a full browser bar with reload, history, and a load/unload toggle), auto-refreshing health/status tables, and sidebar links. Panes are declared per project in yikes.toml [[panes]] — by port, never a hardcoded host — or added at runtime with the ＋ web button. A pane with a start command gets a Start/Stop control so yikes can run the dev server for you.

See the Web UI docs and Session panes.

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Runtime model

yikes! separates two orthogonal choices, instead of one overloaded mode switch:

Choice	Options	Meaning
Location	host · docker · (remote, planned)	Where the agent runs
Driver	cli · tmux · (api, planned)	How yikes! drives it

That keeps fast one-shot CLI calls, Docker isolation, and real interactive tmux sessions composable.

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Python API

The same service layer that powers the terminal, CLI, and web surfaces is available directly:

from pathlib import Path

from yikes import Backend, ChatService, Driver, ImageAttachment

conversation = ChatService().create_conversation(
    backend=Backend.CLAUDE,
    driver=Driver.DIRECT,
)

answer = conversation.ask(
    "What is shown here?",
    attachments=(ImageAttachment(Path("screenshot.png").resolve()),),
)
print(answer)

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Documentation

Full documentation lives in docs/ (architecture, CLI reference, tmux layer, Python library, embedding). Serve it locally with mkdocs serve; the diagrams are clickable with a zoom view.

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Development

poetry install && poetry run pytest -q

See docs/development.md for the full contributor setup (git hooks, integration tests, docs, and the release flow).

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MIT licensed · Copyright © 2026 Michael Ikemann.