a shell for the reversed world.

FREE-first Claude Code-style terminal coding agent. Multi-provider: Anthropic, Codex, Gemini, Kimi, DeepSeek or self-hosted LLMs.

Privacy. Control. No hidden throttles. Versatility. Economy.

Overview · Ahead of the curve · Features · Install · Operation · Providers · Contributing

Warning

Pre-release software. Otherside is under active development. Expect bugs, rough edges, and breaking changes.

Overview

Otherside gives you Claude Code-style AI coding power with multiple providers.

Start TOTALLY FREE with a Google account through the built-in Gemini provider, add local LLMs through any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, and combine them with Anthropic, Codex, Kimi, and DeepSeek in the same workflow. Otherside searches real codebases, edits files, runs commands, verifies results, and keeps the same tools and sessions across providers.

Everything important is built in: provider auth, model switching, persistent sessions, bridge mode, permissions, diffs, native RTK, and Caveman mode. No telemetry, no vendor lock-in, fewer restrictive rails, and full control over where your code goes.

RTK cuts noisy shell/tool output before it burns context. Caveman keeps replies terse and technical instead of bloated. Otherside keeps evolving with battle-tested tools, workflows, and best practices for coding, cybersecurity, infrastructure, automation, and other high-leverage terminal workflows.

Ahead of the curve

Here are some of the next-wave features we added to push your work further: FREE provider paths, local LLMs, intelligent memory, goal-driven execution, token discipline, and terminal-native tools designed for high-leverage coding sessions.

• Goal guardrails: set a success condition with /goal and keep the agent working until the outcome is actually approved.
• Dream memory consolidation: run /dream to distill recent work into structured project memory, keeping long-running context useful across sessions.
• Optimized system prompt: a cleaner prompt stack with fewer useless rails and artificial limitations, tuned for work quality, deeper reasoning, and better tool use instead of vendor-side convenience.
• FREE Google/Gemini access: start with a Google account and use strong coding models through FREE Google/Gemini access.
• Native RTK + Caveman: token discipline built into the agent, with less noisy context, fewer bloated replies, and more useful work per session.
• Provider combinations: blend FREE, local, and hosted models in one workflow instead of betting everything on one backend.
• Security-ready workflows: code review, security review, and deep repository audits built directly into the terminal agent.
• Bridge mode preview: OpenAI-compatible serving is taking shape for external tools, custom integrations, and agent chains.

Features

Complete native toolset	Built-in shell, search, web, read, edit, and write tools for real work inside real codebases. The agent acts, verifies, and reports; it doesn't just suggest.
One workflow, many providers	Built-in support for Anthropic, Codex, Gemini, Kimi, DeepSeek, and any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Combine FREE Google/Gemini, local LLMs, and hosted providers without rebuilding your setup.
Persistent project memory	/dream turns recent work into structured memory so Otherside can carry useful context across sessions instead of starting cold every time.
Zero-telemetry control	No product analytics, no hidden relay, no background tracking. Your code goes from your machine to the provider you choose, with no hidden throttles or surprise limits added without your consent.
Single-binary install	One lightweight executable to install, launch, and carry between projects. No heavyweight app stack required.
Bridge mode ⚠️	[in progress] otherside serve exposes /v1/chat/completions so external tools can drive the same loop.

Token economy

Configurable in /config:

• caveman: prompt-level response compression. Tighter outputs, fewer tokens.
• rtk: routes shell tool output through rtk when the binary is on PATH.

Both can be flipped mid-session.

Installation

# 1. Install (macOS + Linux, x64 + arm64)
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/daanielcruz/otherside-cli/main/install.sh | bash

# 2. Launch the TUI. First run walks you through provider login.
otherside

The installer drops a single ~60 MB binary at ~/.local/bin/otherside. Set OTHERSIDE_INSTALL_DIR=/usr/local/bin (or any writable path) before piping into bash to install elsewhere.

Build from source (Bun 1.3+)

git clone https://github.com/daanielcruz/otherside-cli.git
cd otherside-cli
bun install
bun run build         # outputs ./dist/otherside
bun run build:install # also copies to ~/.local/bin

Verify

otherside --version

If otherside isn't on your PATH, add ~/.local/bin to your shell rc:

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Operation

Three modes share the same harness.

# Interactive TUI (default)
otherside

# Resume a saved session for the current project
otherside --resume <session-id>
otherside -c   # most recent session in this cwd

# One-shot run (scripts, CI, cron)
otherside -p "refactor the session loader to use the shared path helper"

# Pipe stdin
cat logs.txt | otherside -p "find the stack trace that caused the segfault"

# OpenAI-compatible bridge preview on port 8080
otherside serve --port 8080

# Skip every permission prompt
otherside --yolo

Providers

Each provider carries its own auth, wire fingerprint, tool adaptation, and model catalog behind a single interface.

otherside --provider deepseek
otherside --provider codex-oauth --model gpt-5.5
otherside --provider openai-custom --model <your-model>

Provider	Slug	Auth
Anthropic	anthropic-oauth	OAuth
Codex	codex-oauth	OAuth
Gemini	gemini-oauth	OAuth
Kimi	kimi	API Key
DeepSeek	deepseek	API Key
OpenAI Custom	openai-custom	API Key

Login per provider:

otherside login          # pick from the list
otherside login deepseek # target a specific provider
otherside logout deepseek

openai-custom works with any OpenAI-compatible endpoint: LM Studio, llama.cpp, vLLM, Hugging Face TGI, or any self-hosted runtime.

Contributing

Clean-room TypeScript + Bun. PRs welcome.

git clone https://github.com/daanielcruz/otherside-cli.git
cd otherside-cli
bun install
bun run typecheck   # tsc --noEmit
bun run lint        # biome check
bun run test        # bun test
bun run build       # ./dist/otherside

Requires Bun ≥ 1.3. macOS + Linux on x64 and arm64.

Star history

_{Every CLI has two sides. You're looking at one of them.}