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Avos-Lab/avos-dev-cli

avos-dev-cli

Git history for AI agents.

Avos CLI demo

Demo: docs/assets/avos-dev-cli.gif

Avos gives AI coding agents persistent, queryable memory so they can remember why code exists, what decisions shaped it, and how it was built — before they modify it.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Developer / AI Agent                         │
│              (Claude Code, Cursor, Terminal)                    │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        Avos CLI                                 │
│    connect · ingest · ask · history · session-start · session-end│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     Avos Memory Layer                           │
├─────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────┤
│   Repository Memory         │   Session Memory                  │
│   ├── PRs & commits         │   ├── session goals               │
│   ├── issues & comments     │   ├── files touched               │
│   ├── documentation         │   ├── decisions made              │
│   └── historical context    │   └── audit trail                 │
└─────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│          Agents retrieve context before reasoning               │
│                    or modifying code                            │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and the terminal. Python 3.10+. Apache-2.0.


Quick Start (60 seconds)

# Install
pip install avos-dev-cli

# Set credentials
export AVOS_API_KEY="your-key"
export GITHUB_TOKEN="your-token"

# Connect your repository
avos connect org/repo

# Ingest history (last 90 days)
avos ingest org/repo --since 90d

# Ask a question
avos ask "Why do we use Kafka here?"

That's it. Your repository now has queryable memory.


The Problem

AI coding agents forget.

They can read the current file tree, but they cannot know:

  • why a function exists
  • what constraints shaped a module
  • which old assumptions still matter
  • what happened in previous PRs
  • how a feature was implemented across a session

This causes bad rewrites, repeated mistakes, and fragile changes.

The Solution

Avos attaches portable memory to your repository.

Agents can query this memory before reasoning about code, giving them long-term context about the system — not just the current snapshot.


What Avos Enables

  • Persistent memory across agent sessions
  • PR-aware reasoning about past changes
  • Queryable knowledge from code, docs, and artifacts
  • Traceable decision history for agents
  • Audit trails for compliance and accountability
  • Portable memory that moves between agents and tools

Two Memory Planes

Repository Memory (long-term)

Stores the durable history of the codebase: PRs, commits, issues, comments, and documentation.

Powers avos ask and avos history.

Session Memory (implementation trail)

Stores the working context of each coding session: goal, files touched, decisions, errors, tests run, and remaining risks.

Powers avos session-start, avos session-end, and avos session-ask.

Together, these let you understand both the history of the repository and the audit trail of how a change was built.


Example Use Cases

AI coding agents

Agents can remember previous design decisions and reuse solutions across sessions.

avos ask "Why was retry scheduler added?"
avos history "retry scheduler"

Engineering teams

Teams can query historical reasoning before modifying old code.

avos ask "What constraints shaped the auth module?"

Autonomous workflows

Agents coordinating on complex tasks can share persistent knowledge.

avos session-start "Implement payment retry"
# ... agent works ...
avos session-end

Onboarding

New engineers or agents can understand the trajectory of the codebase.

avos ask "What is this subsystem responsible for?"
avos session-ask "How was this retry flow implemented?"

Command Reference

Command What it does
avos connect org/repo Attach a repository to Avos Memory
avos ingest org/repo --since 90d Import PRs, issues, commits, and docs into repository memory
avos ingest-pr org/repo 123 Ingest a single PR (after push/merge)
avos ask "question" Search repository memory for evidence-backed answers
avos history "subject" Reconstruct the chronological history of a subsystem or concept
avos session-start "goal" Start a tracked coding session
avos session-end End the session and store the implementation trail
avos session-status Check if a session is currently active
avos session-ask "question" Search session memory for implementation context
avos worktree-add <path> <branch> "goal" --agent name Create a git worktree with auto session start
avos worktree-init Initialize avos in an existing git worktree
avos hook-install Install pre-push hook (auto-installed on connect)

Global Options

--json      Emit machine-readable JSON (for AI agents and automation)
--verbose   Enable debug output
--version   Show version

Automatic Commit Sync

When you connect a repository, avos automatically installs a pre-push git hook that syncs commits to Avos Memory on every git push. This keeps your team's memory up-to-date without manual avos ingest runs.


JSON Output for AI Agents

Every command supports --json for strict machine-readable output:

avos --json session-status
avos --json ask "how does auth work?"
avos --json ingest-pr org/repo 123

All JSON responses follow the same envelope:

{
  "success": true,
  "data": { ... },
  "error": null
}

On error:

{
  "success": false,
  "data": null,
  "error": {
    "code": "ERROR_CODE",
    "message": "Human-readable message",
    "hint": "How to fix it",
    "retryable": true
  }
}

For ask and history, JSON output is produced by LLM converter agents and requires the REPLY_MODEL environment variables. For all other commands, JSON output is deterministic (no LLM dependency).


AI Agent Integration

Avos ships with built-in integration files for AI coding platforms.

Cursor

.cursor/
├── rules/avos-agent-workflow.mdc     # Always-on workflow rules
└── skills/
    ├── avos-session/SKILL.md         # Session lifecycle
    ├── avos-search/SKILL.md          # Memory search with avos ask
    ├── avos-history/SKILL.md         # Chronological history
    └── avos-ingest-pr/SKILL.md       # Single-PR ingest after push

Claude Code

.claude/
├── CLAUDE.md                         # Project-level instructions
├── commands/                         # Slash commands
├── agents/                           # Sub-agents for research/session management
└── instincts/                        # Auto-trigger behaviors

Other Platforms

.codex/instructions.md                # Community stub
.agents/README.md                     # Integration guide for new platforms

Recommended Workflow

Before changing old code

avos ask "why does this function exist?"
avos history "module-or-function-name"

During a coding session

avos session-start "Fix retry backoff in payment worker"
# ... do work ...
avos session-end

After pushing a PR

avos ingest-pr org/repo 456

Multi-Agent Parallel Development

Avos supports multiple agents working in parallel via git worktrees:

# Create a worktree with automatic session start
avos worktree-add ../feature-x feature-branch "Implement auth" --agent agentA

# Or initialize an existing worktree
cd ../existing-worktree
avos worktree-init
avos session-start --agent agentB "Build pagination"

In a worktree, --agent is required to distinguish parallel sessions.


Architecture

avos_cli/
├── cli/main.py              # Typer CLI entry point
├── commands/                # Orchestrators (one per command)
├── artifacts/               # Builders that produce canonical text for memory
├── services/                # Memory API, GitHub, LLM, citation validator
├── agents/                  # LLM prompt templates for output formatting
├── models/                  # Pydantic models
├── config/                  # State files, hash store, lock manager
└── utils/                   # Output formatting, logging

Design principles:

  • Each command is an independent orchestrator with constructor DI
  • Stateless CLI, stateful memory (via memory_id)
  • Graceful degradation: if LLM synthesis fails, fallback to evidence-backed raw output

Environment Variables

Variable Required for Description
AVOS_API_KEY All commands Avos Memory API key from https://avoslab.com/
AVOS_API_URL All commands API endpoint (default: https://avosmemory.avoslab.com)
GITHUB_TOKEN connect, ingest, ingest-pr GitHub personal access token
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY ask, history, session-ask Anthropic API key for LLM synthesis
OPENAI_API_KEY ask, history, session-ask Alternative: OpenAI API key
REPLY_MODEL --json for ask/history Model identifier for output formatting
REPLY_MODEL_URL --json for ask/history API endpoint for reply model
REPLY_MODEL_API_KEY --json for ask/history API key for reply model

Development

git clone https://github.com/Avos-Lab/avos-dev-cli.git
cd avos-dev-cli
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests
pytest

# Lint and type check
ruff check avos_cli/
mypy avos_cli/

Coverage target: 90%+ (enforced in CI).


Compliance and Auditability

Session memory preserves a searchable trail of who changed what, why, what tests were run, and what risks remained. This is useful for engineering reviews, internal accountability, and regulated environments.

However: Avos is not itself a compliance certification. Session memory is supporting evidence, not a full compliance program.


Why This Project Exists

AI agents will become long-lived collaborators on codebases.

But without memory, they cannot accumulate knowledge. They forget decisions, repeat mistakes, and lose context between sessions.

Avos explores what persistent memory for autonomous agents should look like.


Contributing

We welcome contributions to the CLI, integrations, and developer workflows.

Areas we're especially interested in:

  • New memory connectors
  • Retrieval algorithms
  • Agent integrations (Codex, OpenCode, etc.)
  • Developer tooling

See CONTRIBUTING.md for setup and PR process.


Documentation


License

Apache-2.0

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Git history and session memory for AI coding agents working in the same repository.

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