Ai Code Interface.el

No install snippet on purpose. A working MCP config is a command, its arguments and an environment block — the last two are where API keys live, so this catalogue never stores them and cannot publish them. Follow the link above for the authors' own instructions.

[[file:./ai-code-interface.png]]

AI Code Interface

[[https://melpa.org/#/ai-code][https://melpa.org/packages/ai-code-badge.svg]] [[https://stable.melpa.org/#/ai-code][https://stable.melpa.org/packages/ai-code-badge.svg]] [[https://github.com/tninja/ai-code-interface.el/graphs/contributors][https://img.shields.io/github/contributors/tninja/ai-code-interface.el.svg]] [[https://github.com/RoggeOhta/awesome-codex-cli][https://awesome.re/mentioned-badge.svg]]

AI Code Interface is a backend-agnostic Emacs workflow layer for AI-assisted software development.

Use Codex, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Pi, agent-shell/ACP, and other coding agents while keeping the same Emacs workflow for context, prompting, code changes, review, TDD, Git, tasks, and session management.

** Why AI Code Interface?

AI coding agents change quickly. AI Code Interface keeps your developer workflow stable while allowing the agent underneath to change: the backend can change; your Emacs workflow does not have to.

If you want the deepest possible integration with one specific agent runtime, a dedicated client may be a better fit. If you use or evaluate multiple coding agents and want one consistent Emacs workflow, AI Code Interface is built for that.

Workflow portability is the core idea:

Keep the same context and prompt workflow.
Keep the same code-change, review, refactoring, and TDD workflow.
Keep the same task, Git, MCP, and session workflow.
Switch the AI backend without rebuilding your Emacs setup.

** Design Philosophy

AI Code Interface unifies developer workflows, not agent runtimes.

Native coding CLIs keep ownership of their own interaction model, tool execution, retries, queueing or steering, permissions, and other runtime behavior. AI Code Interface integrates with those capabilities rather than reimplementing them.

Structured external backends such as agent-shell/ACP can provide deeper lifecycle and UI integration when available, without making those semantics a requirement for every backend. This keeps the common workflow portable while allowing each backend to use its native strengths.

See [[https://github.com/tninja/ai-code-interface.el/tree/main#ai-coding-cli-backend][AI coding CLI backend]] for the full backend list and configuration details.

Screenshot

[[./transient_menu.png]]

** New User Quick Start

If you are new to this package, follow this order:

Read this section
Run the setup in Installation
Try one workflow in Typical Workflows Example
Configure backend details in AI coding CLI backend

Minimal setup:

#+begin_src emacs-lisp (use-package ai-code :config (ai-code-set-backend 'codex) ;; Optional: use a narrower transient menu on smaller frames ;; (setq ai-code-menu-layout 'two-columns) (global-set-key (kbd "C-c a") #'ai-code-menu)) #+end_src

First 60 seconds:

C-c a a: Start the currently selected AI CLI session
C-c a c: Ask AI to change current function/region
C-c a q: Ask question only (no code change)
C-c a z: Jump back to AI session buffer

The first time you open C-c a, AI Code also shows a small quickstart buffer with these core actions. You can reopen it later from C-c a h (Help / Quick Start).

** Installation

Enable installation of packages from MELPA by adding an entry to package-archives after (require 'package) and before the call to package-initialize in your init.el or .emacs file:

#+begin_src emacs-lisp (require 'package) (add-to-list 'package-archives '("melpa" . "https://melpa.org/packages/") t) (package-initialize) #+end_src

Use =M-x package-refresh-contents= or =M-x package-list-packages= to ensure that Emacs has fetched the MELPA package list
Use =M-x package-install= to install =ai-code= package
Import and configure =ai-code= in your init.el or .emacs file:

Ai Code Interface.el

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