Builds, long-running network calls, and file watches no longer block
the turn. A new "CMD&: <cmd>" marker (analogue of CMD:) tells the REPL
to spawn the command in the background, return immediately, and poll
for completion between user inputs.
Process model: shell-wrapped to avoid needing fork()/execv() FFI.
nohup sh -c '(<cmd>) > <log> 2>&1; echo $? > <status>' </dev/null
>/dev/null 2>&1 & echo $!
The child is reparented to init; we hold only the PID and the path to
the .status sidecar. Completion is detected by the .status file
existing (the wrapper writes it as its last act). No waitpid needed —
the child isn't ours after the popen subshell exits.
Storage: <history.dir>/bg/<id>.log + <id>.status. The directory is
created lazily at startup (mkdir -p). Requires history.dir to be
configured; without it CMD&: emits an error status and the model
sees an "[bg failed to start]" exec-output note.
check_bg_done() runs at the top of each main-loop iteration alongside
check_every_due(). When a job is detected as exited, the REPL:
- emits a status line "[bg:<id> exited <code>, <bytes>, <secs>s wall] <cmd>"
- appends the same string to ctx as exec output, so the model sees
the completion on its next turn (natural follow-up: "ok the build
finished; let me check the log")
Meta surface:
:bg-spawn <cmd> start a bg job directly (no AI needed; also
useful for testing without depending on the
model emitting CMD&:)
:bg-list show running/done jobs (id, pid, state, runtime, cmd)
:bg-output <id> dump the log file to stdout
:bg-kill <id> SIGTERM (note: only delivers if the PID is
still the actual command — long-lived shells
may need pkill by name)
Scope (deliberately limited for v1):
- No callback-mode readline: bg completion detection is pre-prompt,
not mid-readline. If a build finishes while the user is typing,
notification comes when they hit Enter.
- Permission policy DSL (#9) does NOT apply to CMD&: — the
asynchronous gating model wasn't designed for the y/N flow.
Filed as follow-up if needed.
- Norris not extended: helpers.exec_cmd is still synchronous; the
planner doesn't dispatch bg jobs.
- Plan mode interaction: CMD&: in plan mode emits "PLAN: & <cmd>"
and a "[plan] would bg-run: <cmd>" exec-output note, no spawn.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
aish
aish — AI-augmented conversational shell.
A single REPL that interleaves shell command execution and language-model conversation, backed by a llama.cpp HTTP broker. Implementation is LuaJIT 2.x with FFI bindings to libcurl, GNU readline, and libc — no C extensions, no build step, one source tree.
Why
Three flows that currently live in three windows fold into one:
- "Run this command and show me the output" — fast feedback loop, no copy-paste between terminal and chat.
- "Explain or write code based on the output we just looked at" — exec output is automatically injected into the model's context.
- "Plan and execute a multi-step task with confirmation gates" — landing in Phase 3 as Chuck Norris autonomous mode.
aish is not a wrapper around bash. It's a first-class interactive environment where the shell is one of several execution channels.
Status
| Component | State |
|---|---|
| Repository skeleton | ✅ in this commit |
| Phase 0 manifest | ✅ docs/PHASE0.md — locked |
| Phase 0 implementation | 🔜 next session |
| Phase 1+ | 📋 enumerated in PHASE0.md §11 |
Every module file currently raises not implemented (Phase 0 pending)
when called. luajit main.lua fails loudly at the first un-implemented
function, never silently.
Quick orientation
| Read this | If you want to know |
|---|---|
docs/PHASE0.md §1–2 |
What aish is and what Phase 0 ships |
docs/PHASE0.md §3 |
Technology decisions (LuaJIT, FFI, readline, libcurl, llama.cpp) |
docs/PHASE0.md §4 |
Directory layout — these file names are stable across all phases |
docs/PHASE0.md §5 |
How input is dispatched (meta / shell / AI) |
docs/PHASE0.md §6 |
Broker contract: /v1/chat/completions, CMD: extraction |
docs/PHASE0.md §10 |
Config schema and resolution order |
docs/PHASE0.md §11 |
Phase sequence (what lands when) |
docs/PHASE0.md §13 |
Open questions, tracked per phase |
CLAUDE.md |
Project conventions for AI-assisted contributors |
Directory layout
aish/
├── main.lua # entry point
├── repl.lua # readline loop, dispatch, prompt
├── broker.lua # llama.cpp HTTP client
├── router.lua # input classifier (meta/shell/AI)
├── executor.lua # command exec + CMD: extraction
├── context.lua # in-memory turn history
├── history.lua # disk persistence (Phase 1+)
├── safety.lua # destructive-op gate (Phase 3+)
├── renderer.lua # output formatting
├── config.lua # default model registry + preferences
├── ffi/
│ ├── curl.lua # libcurl easy interface
│ ├── readline.lua # GNU readline
│ ├── pty.lua # forkpty (Phase 1+)
│ └── libc.lua # chdir, errno, strerror
└── docs/
└── PHASE0.md # locked substrate
Build / runtime dependencies
System packages (Debian / ALARM / Arch names):
luajit(>= 2.0)libcurl4/libcurl-openssl-3runtimelibreadline8runtimelibc6runtime (always present)
No compilation, no luarocks, no make. Just luajit main.lua.
Running
Once Phase 0 ships:
luajit main.lua # uses ~/.config/aish/config.lua
luajit main.lua --config ./config.lua # explicit config path
AISH_CONFIG=/path/to/config.lua luajit main.lua
Config resolution order is documented in docs/PHASE0.md §10.
Configuration
config.lua is a Lua file returning a single table. The committed
config.lua in this repo is both the canonical example and the
development-fallback config (lowest precedence). Copy it to
~/.config/aish/config.lua and edit endpoints to your local llama.cpp
servers, or point AISH_CONFIG at your own.
The default endpoints assume mfritsche's home network:
fast→dirac.fritz.box:8081(Qwen2.5-Coder-7B q4 8k ctx)deep→dirac.fritz.box:8080(Qwen2.5-Coder-7B q4 32k ctx)cloud→hossenfelder.fritz.box:8082(forwards to OpenRouter)
Replace these with your own llama.cpp endpoints if you're not on that LAN.
License
Not yet selected. Default-private until decided.
Project conventions
See CLAUDE.md for contribution conventions, commit style,
and the phase-loop discipline this project follows.