Chau7

Your coding agents are running. All of them. Across models, across windows, sometimes at 3 AM. Chau7 is the macOS terminal that notices they exist, tracks what they cost, and lets you steer from the outside. Named after a sock. We're not even sorry.

What it does

• See every agent. Detects 13+ AI tools automatically: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Windsurf, Copilot, Aider, Cline, Continue, Goose, Devin, Mentat, Amazon Q, Amp. Knows when they finish, fail, or need approval. Zero config.
• Know what it costs. Per-run token counts, cost tracking, tool call distribution. Across providers, across models. All in one place.
• Steer from the outside. 36 MCP tools over a local Unix socket. Read terminal output, send input, approve tool use, launch agents, stop them. Control from another terminal, a script, or your phone.
• Trust it. Everything stays on your machine. No analytics, no heartbeats, no "anonymous" usage data. API keys forwarded by the local proxy, never stored. Full privacy details.
• The terminal underneath. Rust backend via FFI. Metal GPU rendering, triple-buffered, VSync-synced. Context Token Optimization cuts ~40% off agent token usage. Tabs auto-group by git repo. Not Electron. Not a wrapper.

FAQ

Why is it named Chau7? Long story involving a sock, a French RPG audio comedy, and questionable life choices. The origin story explains everything. Or nothing. Depends on your tolerance for absurdity.

Why AGPL? Chau7 is free software. Use it on your machine, modify it, share it. If you offer a modified version as a service, share your changes too. That's the deal.

Does the proxy send my data anywhere? No. chau7-proxy runs locally. API keys pass through to the original provider. Nothing is stored, nothing is transmitted elsewhere. See SECURITY.md for the full picture.

Is it stable? It's a beta built by one person with a lot of AI agents helping. It works well enough that we use it every day. It crashes occasionally. We fix things fast.

Layout

apps/
  chau7-macos/              # Swift + AppKit + Metal macOS app
    rust/                   # Rust workspace (4 crates)
      chau7_terminal/       #   Terminal emulator FFI bindings
      chau7_parse/          #   Parsing helpers
      chau7_optim/          #   Context Token Optimization engine
      chau7_md/             #   Terminal markdown renderer
    chau7-proxy/            # Go TLS proxy for API analytics
  chau7-ios/                # Native iOS companion app
services/
  chau7-relay/              # Cloudflare Workers relay
  chau7-remote/             # Go relay client for macOS
Scripts/                    # Repo-level CI and build orchestration

• macOS app
• iOS app
• Rust terminal crate
• Relay service
• Remote agent
• Remote protocol
• Scripts reference
• Feature inventory
• Documentation map

Install

brew tap aeptus/chau7
brew install --cask chau7

Or grab the DMG from the latest release. Ad-hoc signed, not notarized yet. First launch may require: right-click Chau7.app, then Open.

Build

The fast way (knit the sock, wear the sock):

cd apps/chau7-macos
./Scripts/knit           # build release + launch
./Scripts/knit debug     # build debug + launch (for when you want to see what went wrong)
./Scripts/knit --no-run  # build only (commitment issues, we get it)

knit hot-swaps the binary into your existing app bundle. No full rebuild, no re-signing dance. If no bundle exists yet, it falls back to the full build-and-run.sh ceremony.

The slow way (for when you want to feel in control):

cd apps/chau7-macos
swift build              # compile
swift test               # verify you didn't break anything
./Scripts/build-app.sh   # create a proper .app bundle with notifications and everything

Requirements: macOS 14+, Xcode 26+. The Rust terminal backend and Go proxy are pre-built in the repo. If you want to rebuild them: Rust toolchain for rust/chau7_terminal, Go 1.25+ for chau7-proxy.

Local CI

brew install lefthook
./Scripts/install-hooks

pre-commit runs the fast gate (format + lint + build). pre-push runs the full gate (format + lint + build + test across Swift, Rust, Go, and the relay).

Rule #1

Document decisions near the code. Every subdirectory has a README explaining its contents. When someone reads a file, the why should be reachable without leaving the directory. If you're looking for the canonical doc entry points, see the documentation map.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md. We read every PR. Yes, actually.

License

AGPL 3.0. Privacy. Third-party notices in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.