This is a less feature-rich Python version of agent-chat-cli, which uses the claude-agent-sdk under the hood. Terminal UI is built on top of the very impressive Textual.
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This tool is for those who want slightly more control over their MCP servers via configurable system prompts, and a minimal terminal-based MCP form factor for interaction. Many more things are possible thanks to the Claude Agent SDK, but the main purpose, at least for me, is a simple, humble and performant MCP interface to whatever tools I typically use day-to-day.
Note: The Python version is visually sturdier than the Node.js version. No more crazy terminal flashing like in Claude Code!
This app uses uv for package management so first install that. Then:
git clone https://github.com/damassi/agent-chat-cli-python.git
# Install deps and setup .env
make installUpdate the .env with your ANTHROPIC_API_KEY and then run:
make start
# Alternatively, if in dev (see below)
make devAdditional MCP servers are configured in agent-chat-cli.config.yaml and prompts added within the prompts folder. By default, MCP servers are loaded dynamically via inference; set mcp_server_inference: false to load all servers at startup.
- Install pre-commit hooks via pre-commit
uv run pre-commit install
- Typechecking is via MyPy:
uv run mypy src
- Linting and formatting is via Ruff
uv run ruff check src
Textual has an integrated logging console which one can boot separately from the app to receive logs.
In one terminal pane boot the console:
make consoleNote: this command intentionally filters out more verbose notifications. See the Makefile to configure.
And then, in a second terminal pane, start the textual dev server:
make dev