Clif

~20MB. Native. AI-native. Your code never leaves your machine.

Install · Features · Architecture · Development

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Cursor is 400MB. VS Code is 350MB. Zed doesn't do AI.

Clif is ~20MB. A native Rust binary with a 7KB SolidJS frontend. VS Code-quality editing via Monaco. Real terminal via PTY. Git built into the backend. AI when you want it, silence when you don't.

No Electron. No telemetry. No subscription. Open source.

Download v1.3.0

 

   

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macOS — "App can't be opened"

Clif is open source but not yet notarized with Apple ($99/year). macOS blocks unsigned apps by default. This is normal for open source software — run one command to fix it:

xattr -cr /Applications/Clif.app

Then open Clif normally. This removes the quarantine flag that macOS sets on downloads. Why does this happen?

From source —

git clone https://github.com/DLhugly/Clif.git && cd Clif
npm install && npm run tauri dev

Features

Monaco Editor — 70+ languages, IntelliSense, multi-cursor, minimap, code folding. The same engine as VS Code.

Real Terminal — Native PTY via Rust. Your actual shell with 256-color, resize, 10K scrollback. Not a simulation.

Dev Preview — One-click npm run dev, auto-detects localhost URLs, live iframe preview. Run and see your app without switching windows.

Git — Branch, status, stage, commit, per-file +/- diff stats, visual commit graph. All Rust, no shelling out.

AI — OpenRouter (Claude, GPT-4, Gemini, 100+ models), Ollama (fully local), Claude Code CLI. All opt-in. Works fine offline with zero keys.

5 Themes — Midnight, Graphite, Dawn, Arctic, Dusk. Editor, terminal, and UI stay in sync.

Keys — Ctrl+`` terminal, Ctrl+B sidebar, Ctrl+S save, Ctrl+Shift+P palette.

The Size Flex

	Binary	Runtime	RAM idle
Clif	~20MB	7KB	~80MB
Cursor	~400MB	~50MB	~500MB+
VS Code	~350MB	~40MB	~400MB+
Zed	~100MB	native	~200MB

Tauri 2 compiles to a single native binary. SolidJS has no virtual DOM overhead. Rust handles all heavy lifting — file I/O, git, PTY, AI streaming — with zero garbage collection.

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│             Tauri 2 (Rust)              │
│  File I/O · Git · PTY · AI · Search    │
│                  │                      │
│            IPC (invoke/events)          │
│                  │                      │
│           SolidJS + TypeScript          │
│       Monaco Editor · xterm.js          │
│           Tailwind CSS 4                │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Layer	Tech	Size
Backend	Tauri 2 + Rust	~20MB compiled
UI	SolidJS	7KB runtime
Editor	Monaco	tree-shaken
Terminal	xterm.js + portable-pty	real PTY
Styles	Tailwind CSS 4	zero runtime
Build	Vite 6	<5s HMR
CI/CD	Semantic Release	auto-versioned

Development

npm install              # deps
npm run tauri dev        # dev mode + hot reload
npm run tauri build      # production binary
cd src-tauri && cargo check  # check rust

src/                     # SolidJS frontend
├── components/          # editor, terminal, layout, explorer
├── stores/              # reactive state (signals + stores)
├── lib/                 # IPC wrappers, keybindings, themes
└── types/               # TypeScript interfaces

src-tauri/src/           # Rust backend
├── commands/            # fs, git, pty, ai, search, settings
└── services/            # file watcher, ai providers

Conventional commits — feat: bumps minor, fix: bumps patch, feat!: bumps major. Semantic release handles the rest.

FAQ

Why does macOS say "App can't be opened"? macOS Gatekeeper blocks apps that aren't signed with a $99/year Apple Developer certificate. Clif is open source and safe — run xattr -cr /Applications/Clif.app in Terminal to remove the quarantine flag, then open normally.

Is Clif safe? 100% open source. Read every line: github.com/DLhugly/Clif. No telemetry, no network calls unless you enable AI. The xattr command just removes Apple's download flag — it doesn't disable any security.

Why not just pay for code signing? We will. For now, the $99/year Apple Developer fee goes toward more important things. Proper signing + notarization is on the roadmap.

License

MIT

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20MB. Native. Private. Fast.