practicode

practicode

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

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

The code editor starts focused.

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.

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 now
/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 practice 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
/provider codex	Set AI provider and show local CLI/daemon status
/model auto	Use the provider default model for /hint and AI-backed /next
/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 practice profile is saved in .practicode/problem-state.json. It keeps UI language, code language, theme, preferred difficulty, preferred topics, and topics to avoid. auto difficulty follows gradual progression; a fixed difficulty asks local selection and AI generation to prefer that level.

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 now.

/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

Claude Code is also supported:

/provider claude
/model sonnet

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 can run a custom shell command from settings.ai_next_command; save only commands you trust.
• Local .env, .npmrc, .practicode/, problems/, and submissions/ are ignored by git. Do not commit tokens, private prompts, or answer keys.

Development Checks

cargo test
cargo run -- --smoke
cargo audit

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.