clide

An IDE for Claude Code CLI. Native rendering, terminal-first interaction, pql-powered queries, canvas and graph surfaces. Linux and macOS.

Architecture

Single Flutter package at the repo root. The app hosts everything in-process: IPC server, subsystem handlers (pane, files, editor, git, pql), and the extension framework. Claude session persistence is --resume <session-id> against Claude Code's transcript files (D-77, superseding the tmux-backed D-41).

• lib/ — all Dart code. Core subsystems (lib/src/), kernel services (lib/kernel/), UI widgets (lib/widgets/), built-in extensions (lib/builtin/), the extension framework (lib/extension/).
• PTY — lib/src/pty/ spawns child processes via Dart FFI posix_openpt() + posix_spawn() directly; no external helper binary.
• native/ — vendored native libraries (libtree-sitter.so with wasmtime embedded). Linux only today.
• pql — external supporter tool. Clide wraps it for every query surface; never re-implements it.

Claude drives the UI through a clide CLI surface (Bash, not MCP). Every CLI subcommand has a UI affordance and every UI action has a CLI equivalent (D-6).

Built-in extensions

canvas, claude, claude_control, cli_install, decisions, deeplink, default_layout, diff, editor, extensions_ui, files, git, grammars_core, graph, ipc_status, keybindings_ui, markdown, menubar, output, pql, problems, search, settings_ui, terminal, theme_picker, tickets, todos, view, vim, welcome.

Building

Requires Flutter (stable channel) and pql on the host. pql is a hard dependency — the pre-push gate runs pql decisions validate and the governance + ticket workflow is built on it (see its repo for install). One-time setup:

make hooks && flutter pub get
pql init                 # once, in the repo root — wires up the pql skill + perms

Then:

make run              # launch the desktop app
make test             # fast suite: analyze + format + unit + widget + golden
make test-core        # core subsystem tests (IPC, PTY, git, pane registry)
make test-a11y        # accessibility contract tests
make test-integration # real app boot integration tests
make build-linux      # flutter build linux
make build-macos      # flutter build macos
make push-check       # pre-push gate: decisions + core + fast + a11y + coverage + changelog

Status

Active development; the interaction model, panel system, and settings engine have landed. The Python Textual predecessor is archived under legacy/.

Documentation

• docs/architecture.md — current architecture (read this first).
• CONTRIBUTING.md — how to clone, build, test, file tickets, and write D-records.
• docs/initial-plan.md — historical design doc; preserved as a snapshot of the 2026-04 plan, much of it now superseded.
• governance/decisions/ — confirmed decisions (D-NNN), open questions (Q-NNN), rejected alternatives (R-NNN).
• CLAUDE.md — Claude-addressed working notes (guardrails, repo layout).

License

MIT. See LICENSE.