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A desktop workspace for AI coding agents

CodeAlta Desktop runs coding agents on your local projects: sessions in tabs you can split, a code editor, terminals and git changes in one window, with the model providers, agent prompts, MCP tools and plugins you choose.

Get started Desktop or TUI? GitHub

CodeAlta Desktop Recommended

dotnet tool install -g CodeAlta
alta

For Windows, macOS and Linux. Requires .NET 10.

CodeAlta TUI for the terminal

dotnet tool install -g CodeAlta.Tui
altatui

CodeAlta Desktop

The complete CodeAlta experience

Sessions, code, terminals and changes side by side, and every setting in one window.

CodeAlta Desktop with three sessions arranged in split panes: a parent session and two delegated child sessions

Arrange your workspace

Drag a session tab to an edge to split the window side by side or stacked. Tabs from different projects stay open together.

Code, terminals and changes

Each project has a code editor, terminals that agents can use too, and a Changes tab with the diff of every file.

Watch the agent work

Open a tool call to follow a command in a live terminal, or to read a file or a diff in the colors of its language.

Automations and worktrees

Run a prompt every morning or on a new issue, and give each session its own branch in its own folder.

Agents that see the window

An agent can take a screenshot of CodeAlta, click and type, and write a plugin that the app reloads while it runs.

One Settings window

Providers, models, agent prompts, skills, plugins, MCP servers, logs and appearance are pages of the same window.

Desktop or TUI?

Start with CodeAlta Desktop

CodeAlta also has a terminal UI. Both apps run the same agents on the same ~/.alta profile, so a session started in one continues in the other. The desktop app does much more.

	Desktop	TUI
Providers, sessions, agent prompts, skills, MCP servers, plugins	Yes	Yes
Delegated agents, notes, reminders, asks	Yes	Yes
Sessions side by side, in panes you split	Yes	No
Code editor with the files of the project and a search	Yes	Partly One file at a time
Git changes: diffs, commits, branches	Yes	No
Terminals, which agents can use too	Yes	No
Automations: on a schedule, on a new issue or pull request	Yes	No
Worktrees created and removed from the app	Yes	No
Agents that see and drive the app, and an MCP server	Yes	No
Plugins written and reloaded while the app runs	Yes	No
Light and dark themes, 13 color schemes	Yes	Partly Terminal themes
Runs in a terminal	No	Yes

The full comparison

A closer look

Built for real work on real repositories

Use the switch on a screenshot to see the same screen in the Desktop app or in the TUI.

Run several agents at once

A session can start child sessions for bounded tasks, wait for their reports, review the diffs and commit. Parent and children stay visible in the sidebar while they run.

Sessions and delegation

A parent session with its delegated child sessions in CodeAlta Desktop

A parent session with its delegated child sessions in CodeAlta TUI

See what the agent does

Tool calls are grouped in the timeline with their status and what they wrote. Open one to follow a command in a terminal while it runs, or to read the file or the diff it worked on.

The timeline

Details of a tool call in CodeAlta Desktop

Review every change

Each turn ends with the list of modified files and their added and removed lines. Open a file to read its diff before you accept the work.

Modified files

Diff of a file modified by the agent in CodeAlta Desktop

Diff of a file modified by the agent in CodeAlta TUI

Use the models you already have

Sign in with a ChatGPT or GitHub Copilot subscription, or add API keys for OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral, xAI, Azure OpenAI and OpenAI-compatible servers. Choose the provider, model and reasoning effort per session.

Model providers

Model catalog listing the models of every provider in CodeAlta Desktop

Model catalog listing the models of every provider in CodeAlta TUI

Edit files next to the session

On the desktop, each project has a code editor with its files, a search in files and the open files as tabs. Put it beside the session that is working on the code. In the TUI, Ctrl+E opens a file in an editor tab.

Code editor

Pick your colors

The desktop has light and dark themes with 13 color schemes. The TUI has its own set of terminal themes.

Appearance settings

CodeAlta in several color themes in CodeAlta Desktop

CodeAlta TUI

The same agents in your terminal

A keyboard-first terminal UI with tabs, a full-width timeline, a prompt editor and dialogs for everything else.

Workflows

More than one prompt at a time

Combine agent prompts, MCP servers, skills, delegated sessions, notes, reminders and plugins. You ask for the outcome and the agents use what the host provides.

Agent prompts

Switch between Default and Plan modes, or write your own prompts for review, triage or release work.

MCP servers

Add stdio or HTTP Model Context Protocol servers, inspect their tools and activate them for a session.

Advanced workflows

Agents can ask for structured approval, keep notes, set reminders and coordinate other sessions.

Sessions

Sessions are saved on disk. Queue prompts, steer a running turn, compact the context and come back later.

Skills

Agent Skills-compatible SKILL.md packages add reusable instructions for a project or for all of them.

Plugins

Extend the host with trusted local .NET plugins when prompts and configuration are not enough. In the desktop app, an agent writes one for you and reloads it while the app runs.

Principles

What CodeAlta is built on

Efficient Transparent Keyboard-first Session-oriented Provider-agnostic Native .NET Error-aware Extensible

Start your first session

Install CodeAlta Desktop, enable one provider and send a prompt on one of your projects.

Get started