@motesoftware/nanocoder

Nanocoder

A local-first CLI coding agent that brings the power of agentic coding tools like Claude Code and Gemini CLI to local models or controlled APIs like OpenRouter. Built with privacy and control in mind, Nanocoder supports multiple AI providers with tool support for file operations and command execution.

Installation

For Users (Recommended)

Install globally and use anywhere:

npm install -g @motesoftware/nanocoder

Then run in any directory:

nanocoder

For Development

If you want to contribute or modify Nanocoder:

Prerequisites:

• Node.js 18+
• npm

Setup:

• Clone and install dependencies:

git clone [repo-url]
cd nanocoder
npm install

• Build the project:

npm run build

• Run locally:

npm run start

Or build and run in one command:

npm run dev

Configuration

AI Provider Setup

Option A: Ollama (Local AI)

ollama pull qwen3:0.6b  # or any other model

Option B: OpenRouter (Cloud AI)

Create agents.config.json in your working directory (where you run nanocoder):

{
  "nanocoder": {
    "openRouterApiKey": "your-api-key-here",
    "openRouterModels": ["foo-model", "bar-model"]
  }
}

Note: The agents.config.json file should be placed in the directory where you run Nanocoder, allowing for project-by-project configuration with different models or API keys per repository.

Commands

The CLI supports several built-in commands:

• /help - Show available commands
• /clear - Clear chat history
• /model - Switch between available models
• /provider - Switch between AI providers (ollama/openrouter)
• /exit - Exit the application

Features

• Multi-provider support: Seamlessly switch between Ollama (local) and OpenRouter (cloud)
• Smart fallback: Automatically falls back to OpenRouter if Ollama is unavailable
• Tool calling: AI can execute tools to interact with your system
  • File reading and writing
  • Bash command execution
• Interactive commands: Built-in command system for managing the chat session
• Colorised output: Enhanced terminal experience with syntax highlighting
• Model switching: Change AI models on the fly

Contributing

We're a small team building Nanocoder and would love your help! Whether you're interested in:

• Adding support for new AI providers
• Improving tool functionality
• Enhancing the user experience
• Writing documentation
• Reporting bugs or suggesting features

All contributions are welcome! Please feel free to:

• Open an issue to discuss your idea
• Fork the repository and create a pull request
• Join discussions in existing issues

For development setup, see the For Development section above.

License

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2025 Mote Software Ltd

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.