practicode

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Personal coding practice, right in your terminal.

practicode is a small Rust TUI for stdin/stdout practice: problem on the left, code on the right, judge loop in the same terminal.

What You Get

• Local stdin/stdout judging for Python, TypeScript, Java, and Rust.
• A two-pane terminal UI with problem text, editor, output, and command palette.
• Local-first problem history under ignored .practicode/, problems/, and submissions/ paths.
• Optional Codex or Claude Code help for hints and generated next problems.

Install

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ for npm installation.
• Rust and Cargo. The npm package builds the Rust binary during install, and also on first run if needed.
• A runtime for the language you practice in: Python, Node.js for TypeScript, JDK for Java, or Rust.

npm

npm install -g practicode
practicode

The npm package has a postinstall step that runs cargo build --release --locked from the package root so the Rust TUI binary is ready. Set PRACTICODE_SKIP_BUILD=1 to skip that install-time build; the practicode launcher will try the same locked Cargo build on first run if the binary is missing.

Cargo

cargo install practicode
practicode

Local checkout

git clone https://github.com/baba9811/practicode.git
cd practicode
npm install
npm start

Check Install

practicode --version
practicode --smoke
practicode --help

Daily Loop

On first run, practicode opens a setup panel. After that, the code editor starts focused.

first run: review /profile setup
write code
Esc, then /
choose /run
choose /next when it passes

Typing / outside the editor opens the command palette. Use up/down to move, Enter to run or complete the selected command, and Esc to cancel. Press ? for in-app help or Ctrl+C to quit.

Hints, failed cases, answers, and user profile panels are copy-friendly: drag in the output pane to use your terminal's normal text selection/copy behavior. When the code editor is visible in the right pane, mouse focus is enabled for that editor. Use Esc, e, or /code to return from output to code.

Submissions are saved as you type under submissions/<problem-id>/solution.<ext>.

CLI Flags

Flag	Action
--help, -h	Show non-interactive help
--version, -V	Print the installed version
--smoke	Print the current problem title and exit

Commands

Command	Action
/run	Judge the current submission
/code	Return to the code editor
/next	Open the next unsolved problem, or ask AI only when none remain
/generate easy string problem	Ask AI to create a new problem in the background
/back	Go back through problem history
/problems	Browse problems with up/down or j/k, open with Enter
/open 2	Open by number, id, or slug
/answer	Show the reference answer
/hint	Ask the selected AI for a concise hint
/hint explain my bug	Ask the selected AI about the current problem and submission
/profile	Show your current user profile
/difficulty auto	Set difficulty preference: auto, easy, medium, hard
/topics arrays, strings	Set preferred topics for future problems
/avoid dp, graph	Set topics to avoid in future problems
/generate-languages python, rust	Limit generated answer languages, or use all
/generate-ui ko, en	Limit generated problem text languages, or use all
/provider codex	Set AI provider and show local CLI/daemon status
/model auto	Use the provider default model for /hint and AI-backed /next
/effort auto	Use the provider default effort, or set low, medium, high, xhigh; Claude also supports max
/note	Edit problem-generation notes used by AI-backed /next and /generate
/notes	Show saved problem-generation notes
/language python	Set code language: python, ts, java, rust
/ui en	Set UI language: en, ko, ja, zh, es
/theme dark	Set theme: dark or light
/update	Show update instructions when a newer version is available
/exit	Quit

Older command names such as /prev, /list, /giveup, and /lang still work as aliases.

The default UI language is English. Switch it any time with /ui ko, /ui ja, /ui zh, or /ui es.

Your user profile is saved in .practicode/problem-state.json. It keeps UI language, code language, theme, preferred difficulty, preferred topics, topics to avoid, generation language scope, and AI provider/model/effort. auto difficulty follows gradual progression; a fixed difficulty asks local selection and AI generation to prefer that level.

Inside /profile, use up/down to move and Space or Enter to cycle common settings, AI provider/model/effort, or generated answer/UI languages. The notes row opens an editor for .practicode/problem_notes.md. Use slash commands for free-form lists such as /topics arrays, strings.

Problem Flow

/next is local-first: it opens the next unsolved local problem before generating anything. When no unsolved problem remains, it asks the selected AI provider to create one.

Use /generate <request> when you explicitly want to create a new problem in the background while you keep solving the current one. The generated problem stays local and /next will pick it up later.

If /next has to generate because no local problem remains, it runs in the foreground. Editing and commands are paused so state cannot change halfway through that AI task. Press Space for the warmup timing drill, or q/Ctrl+C to quit.

/generate a slightly harder string problem
/generate hashmap practice, easy
/generate sorting problem, no graph yet

Codex is the default provider:

/provider codex
/model auto
/effort auto

Claude Code is also supported:

/provider claude
/model sonnet
/effort high

Generated problems and submissions stay local:

Path	Purpose
.practicode/problem_bank.json	Local/custom/generated problems
.practicode/problem_notes.md	Optional personal problem-generation notes
.practicode/problem-state.json	Current problem, history, settings
problems/	Generated problem markdown/index files
submissions/	Your answer files

Those paths are ignored by git, so your practice history stays yours.

Update

The app checks for newer npm releases in the background and shows /update in the status line when one is available. Disable that check with PRACTICODE_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1.

npm update -g practicode
cargo install --force practicode

Safety And Security

• /run executes your local submission as a normal process. practicode runs it from .practicode/build/<problem-id>/run, but this is not an OS sandbox. Only run code you trust.
• /hint sends the current problem and submission to the selected AI provider CLI.
• AI-backed /next and /generate can run a custom shell command from settings.ai_next_command; save only commands you trust.
• npm installs run the package postinstall script described above. It only invokes Cargo with the checked-in lockfile from this package root; it does not read local .env/.npmrc files or contact the configured AI provider.
• npm releases are published from GitHub Actions with registry signatures and provenance enabled in package.json. The release workflow is also prepared for npm Trusted Publishing/OIDC; maintainers should prefer that over long-lived publish tokens when the package setting is enabled on npm.
• Local .env, .npmrc, .practicode/, problems/, and submissions/ are ignored by git. Do not commit tokens, private prompts, or answer keys.

Development Checks

cargo fmt --check
cargo test
cargo clippy --all-targets --all-features -- -D warnings
cargo run -- --smoke
cargo audit --deny warnings
npm pack --dry-run
npm run smoke

CI runs the Rust audit gate with cargo audit --deny warnings; release publishing stops before crates.io/npm publish if that audit fails. This repo has no npm dependencies or lockfile today, so npm audit and pnpm audit are not applicable until a matching lockfile is added.

Contributing

External contributions use the fork and pull request flow in docs/CONTRIBUTING.md.

Maintainer-only review and release notes live in docs/MAINTAINING.md.

Code layout and extension boundaries live in docs/ARCHITECTURE.md.

License

practicode is MIT licensed. Third-party dependency license notes are in THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md.