GCode

A local, interactive AI coding CLI. Chat with a free LLM (via OpenRouter) that can read/write/edit files, run shell commands (with your approval), search your codebase, and work with git.

Contributing

GCode is community-built, and contributions of every kind are welcome — bug reports, docs, tests, and features.

• First-time contributor? Start with a good first issue or a help wanted issue — both are reserved for contributors submitting their first PR to GCode.
• Read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request.

Install

pip install -e .

On Windows? See the Windows setup and troubleshooting guide for native, WSL2, and Git Bash instructions and known limitations.

Setup

GCode reads your API key from ~/.gcode/.env (not a project-root .env). Create it from the template and add your OpenRouter API key:

mkdir -p ~/.gcode
cp .env.example ~/.gcode/.env

Then edit ~/.gcode/.env:

OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-...

Get one at https://openrouter.ai/keys. (OPENAI_API_KEY is also accepted as a fallback.)

Configuration file

GCode reads optional settings from a .gcoderc file (in the project root, or ~/.gcode/.gcoderc for user-wide defaults). The format is simple key = value lines with # comments. Command-line flags and environment variables still take precedence over the file.

# .gcoderc
model = nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b:free
auto_approve = false
bash_timeout = 300
system_prompt = You are GCode, a coding agent.

Supported keys:

Skills

A skill is a Markdown file with extra instructions for GCode to follow — a house style, a domain checklist, project-specific conventions. Drop one into .gcode/skills/.md (project-local) or ~/.gcode/skills/.md (user-wide, available in every project); a project skill overrides a user