OpenClide

Build a Clide-like terminal + AI coding companion for macOS — from a design spec, not a source drop.

OpenClide is the first repository in a new kind of open-source project: we publish the idea, the architecture notes, the design decisions, and the initialization prompts for Claude Code — but not the product's source.

Given modern coding agents, these artifacts are enough. You hand them to Claude Code, iterate, and you get a working app. Your code belongs to you; our design belongs to everyone.

This is the companion design spec for Clide by Paean / a8e.

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What's in here

openclide/
├── MANIFESTO.md           # why we open-source the spec, not the source
├── docs/
│   ├── vision.md          # product stance, non-negotiables, anti-goals
│   ├── architecture.md    # component map, process model, data flow
│   ├── design-principles.md
│   └── features/          # one doc per major surface
│       ├── terminal-panes.md
│       ├── workspace-file-tree.md
│       ├── agent-sidebar.md
│       ├── local-cli-agent-integration.md
│       ├── loop-mode.md
│       └── magic-summary.md
├── prompts/               # paste-and-go prompts for Claude Code
│   ├── 00-bootstrap.md
│   ├── 01-scaffold.md
│   ├── 02-terminal-core.md
│   ├── 03-agent-sidebar.md
│   └── 04-local-agent.md
└── skills/
    └── design-review/     # a Claude Code skill that critiques your
                           # implementation against this spec

Quickstart

1. Install Claude Code.
2. Clone this repo next to (or inside) your target project folder.
3. Open your empty project in Claude Code and paste prompts/00-bootstrap.md.
4. Follow up with the phase prompts in order.
5. When in doubt, point Claude Code at the relevant docs/features/*.md and ask it to "reconcile my implementation with this spec."

You'll end up with your codebase — not ours. Rename it, license it, ship it, sell it. Your decisions; your code.

Why this model

See MANIFESTO.md.

TL;DR: When AI can reliably turn a good spec into working software, the spec becomes the high-leverage artifact. Open-sourcing source code is still valuable, but it doesn't scale to letting thousands of teams ship their own variant of your product without forking. Open-sourcing the design does.

License

• Docs and prompts: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). Use them, remix them, ship products built from them. Credit is the only ask.
• Any code you write from these prompts: yours entirely. No viral clauses. No attribution requirement on your product.

Related projects

• Clide (the product these specs describe): https://clide.paean.ai
• Paean platform: https://paean.ai
• a8e (agent platform): https://a8e.ai

Contributing

Open a PR with:

• Clarifications or corrections to a docs/** file.
• A new feature spec that slots into our design.
• A new Claude Code prompt that demonstrably produces better output than the existing one (include a before/after transcript).

We don't accept PRs that add implementation code — by design.

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Built by Paean. Follow the philosophy at a8e.ai.