anthill

# Anthill Anthill turns a coding task into a workflow you can see. You draw the steps, or let your agent draft them: who does each one, and where work loops back. Then you watch Claude Code, Codex, Pi or VS Code's agent carry it out, step by step, on a live diagram. Anthill plans and observes. It never runs, stops or steers an agent: the work happens in your own CLI session, signed in as you. Use it when a task is big enough to need a plan, such as a feature with review and tests or a refactor shared between several agents, and you want to see where the session actually is. ## Install **macOS (Apple Silicon):** download the `.dmg` from [Releases](https://github.com/anthillapp/anthill/releases), open it and drag Anthill to Applications. **Linux:** Anthill runs as a local web app, built from source: ```bash npm install && npm run build npm install --global ./apps/cli anthill # opens Anthill on 127.0.0.1 ``` **Windows (experimental):** there is no release or installer for Windows yet. You can build Anthill from source to try it, the same way as on Linux, with Node.js 22 and Git: ```powershell git clone https://github.com/anthillapp/anthill.git cd anthill npm install npm run build npm install --global ./apps/cli anthill # opens Anthill on 127.0.0.1 ``` It hasn't been validated on Windows yet, so some features, integrations and local storage may not work, and there is no compatibility, data-safety or support guarantee. Anthill says so once when it first starts, keeps an *Unsupported Windows build* chip in view, and turns off anything known not to work, saying why. If something breaks, [report a Windows issue](https://github.com/anthillapp/anthill/issues/new?template=windows.yml). macOS: desktop app and CLI. Linux: CLI. Windows support is coming soon – building from source is possible for experimentation, but Windows is not yet officially supported and some features may not work. You need at least one of [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code), [Codex](https://github.com/openai/codex), [Pi](https://pi.dev) or [VS Code](https://code.visualstudio.com) with its agent, installed and signed in. ## Plugins The plugin lets your coding session hand its workflow to Anthill, so you don't have to copy and paste a prompt. It is optional, but it is the recommended way. It needs Node.js on your `PATH`. **Claude Code:** ```bash claude plugin marketplace add anthillapp/anthill claude plugin install anthill@anthill ``` **Codex:** ```bash codex plugin marketplace add anthillapp/anthill codex plugin add anthill@anthill-local ``` Then start a new session. **VS Code (beta):** VS Code has no command for plugins, but it opens two links that do the install, each after you confirm it in VS Code: the first adds Anthill's marketplace, the second installs the plugin from it. macOS: ```bash open "vscode://chat-plugin/add-marketplace?ref=anthillapp/anthill" open "vscode://chat-plugin/install?source=anthillapp/anthill&plugin=anthill" ``` Windows (PowerShell): ```powershell Start-Process "vscode://chat-plugin/add-marketplace?ref=anthillapp/anthill" Start-Process "vscode://chat-plugin/install?source=anthillapp/anthill&plugin=anthill" ``` Linux: the same links with `xdg-open`. Then start a new session in the Agents window (**New**: **⌘N** on macOS, **Ctrl+N** on Windows and Linux) and try `/anthill:workflow watch <your task>`. If you installed the plugin from `nstr/anthill` before the repository moved, uninstall that one in **Customizations ▸ Plugins** first, or you will have two. **By hand**, if the links do not open VS Code: first add Anthill's marketplace to VS Code's settings, then install the plugin from that marketplace. 1. Open Settings (**⌘,** on macOS, **Ctrl+,** on Windows and Linux) and search for `chat.plugins.marketplaces`. Under **Chat › Plugins: Marketplaces**, choose **Add Item**, enter `anthillapp/anthill` and choose **OK**. The marketplace that is already there stays. Or in `settings.json` (**Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON)** in the Command Palette, **⇧⌘P** / **Ctrl+Shift+P**). The setting replaces VS Code's list, so keep its own marketplace in it: ```json "chat.plugins.marketplaces": ["github/awesome-copilot#marketplace", "anthillapp/anthill"] ``` 2. Open the Agents window: run **Open Agents Window** from the Command Palette, or press **⇧⌥⌘A** on macOS, **Ctrl+Shift+Alt+A** on Windows and Linux. 3. Choose **Customizations** at the top left, then **Plugins**, then **Browse Marketplace** next to Available. 4. Type `anthill` in the search box, choose **Install** on **anthill**, then **Trust** when VS Code asks about `anthillapp/anthill`. 5. **Back to Installed** now lists anthill with "1 skill · 1 MCP server". Start a new session (**New**: **⌘N** on macOS, **Ctrl+N** on Windows and Linux) and try `/anthill:workflow watch <your task>`. When VS Code asks for permission, allow Anthill's tools (`exchange: …`) with **Allow in this Session**. For terminal commands, choose **Allow Once** from the button's arrow menu: **Allow in this Session** on a terminal command offers to auto-approve every command. More in the [Claude Code](plugins/anthill-claude/README.md), [Codex](plugins/anthill-codex/README.md) and [VS Code](plugins/anthill-vscode/README.md) plugin guides. Pi has no plugin. Copy the prompt from Anthill and paste it into Pi. ## Use There are two modes. The difference is who owns the plan. **design**: you shape the plan before any work starts. The agent asks what it needs to know, drafts the workflow and stops. Edit it in Anthill, press **Save**, and tell the session to go. ```text /anthill:workflow design Add retry-once to the checkout flow # Claude Code, VS Code $anthill design Add retry-once to the checkout flow # Codex ``` <img src="https://getanthill.ai/readme/anthill-design.svg" width="100%" alt="Design mode: the agent asks one question, drafts the workflow in Anthill and stops. You edit it, press Save, and tell the session to go."> **watch**: the agent plans and starts at once, and Anthill shows the work as it happens. ```text /anthill:workflow watch Rework the importer # Claude Code, VS Code $anthill watch Rework the importer # Codex ``` <img src="https://getanthill.ai/readme/anthill-watch.svg" width="100%" alt="Watch mode: the agent plans and starts at once, and Anthill shows each step as it happens."> Without a plugin, build the workflow in Anthill, press **Copy prompt**, and paste it into your CLI. Anthill recognises the session and follows it the same way. ## Principles - **Local.** Workflows are plain `.workflow.json` files. Run data stays on your machine. There is no account and no sync. - **No requests out, except diagnostics.** Anthill sends nothing anywhere except the anonymous diagnostics [below](#where-anthill-keeps-things), and you can turn those off. Your CLI talks to its own provider as usual; Anthill does not. - **Read-only.** Anthill reads what your CLI already writes on disk and never sees private reasoning. In your project it writes only the agent files you hand over (`.claude/agents/`, `.codex/agents/`). - **Instructions, not enforcement.** Order, conditions and loop limits are instructions for the agent. Anthill shows whether they were followed. It cannot force them. <a id="where-anthill-keeps-things"></a> ## What leaves your machine Three kinds of diagnostics. All three are on by default, and each can be turned off in **Settings → Privacy**: - **Anonymous usage analytics** (PostHog): a random app identifier and the names of a few actions, such as opening Anthill or saving a workflow. No prompts, workflow contents, paths or clicks. - **Error reports** (Sentry): stack locations, with messages and user data removed. IP addresses are not stored. - **Crash reports** (macOS, Sentry): a memory dump when the app crashes. It may contain data that was in memory at the time. On macOS only release builds send diagnostics; the Linux CLI sends them too unless you turn them off. Nothing else leaves your machine. Details are in [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md#where-anthill-keeps-things). ## Links [Website](https://getanthill.ai) · [r/AnthillApp](https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthillApp/) · [Buy me a coffee](https://buymeacoffee.com/anthill) · [Report an issue](https://github.com/anthillapp/anthill/issues) · [Build from source and contribute](CONTRIBUTING.md) MIT licensed. See [LICENSE](LICENSE).