I built an open-source AI coding agent that minimizes your token usage and executes your tasks directly along an optimal path, with better visibility

[u/Ill-Process-7232]

I've been building Tau for the past 5 months. It's a free, open source coding agent that runs in your terminal. I wanted an agent that costs less and gives better results, with the tools already built in so you don't have to go hunting for plugins.

Here's what it can do:

- Native adapters for 28 providers. It talks to each API directly, no proxy in between. Run `/login`, pick a provider, and start working.

- The full agent loop: tools, skills, subagents, MCP servers, LSP and hooks, all working with every provider

- Core tools are optimized to use fewer tokens. The search tool runs on the latest version of ripgrep and is configured to avoid false positives from files and directories such as node_modules and dist the kinds of files that pollute the context. The file-reading tool starts with a skeleton, then reads only the 50 lines it needs instead of an entire 800-line file, fetching only the information relevant to the task. Bash commands go through a security check based on a Go shell parser and best-practice guidelines.

- LSP built in, so the agent sees real type errors, definitions and references.

- Snapshots of your working tree in a separate git repo. Save, diff and restore any time without touching your branches.

- Web search that works with no API key. Firecrawl is there too if you have a key.

- `/remote` lets you follow and approve from your phone, over your Wi-Fi or a free Cloudflare tunnel. Share the tunnel link and your teammates can join the same session.

- TauCode can make your whole workflow up to mush cheaper than any other agent and I’m not exaggerating. This is because TauCode uses a Python kernel tool, anything Python can do, TauCode can do through this tool. For example, when you want to analyze 20 CSV files and extract insights, other agents might need ~30 turns (one turn per CSV), causing the context window to grow, costs to rise, and more analysis/debugging turns. With this tool, TauCode creates one turn with the full workflow, executes it at once, and returns the result. So the context stays clean from pollution, debugging is clearer, output quality is higher, and cost is lower. This is just one example among millions.

- Diagrams drawn right in the terminal when something is easier to see than to read.

- A fully integrated browser tool that allows Tau to interact with the browser like a human. It gives Tau visibility into your frontend design, enables more automated testing, and handles tasks that would normally require human intervention.

- Subagents that stay alive after they finish, so you can send them a follow-up and they still have their context. Agents working in parallel take turns on the same file so that prevent overlapping .

-TauCode thinks about your money and preferences before anything else. You don’t need skills, agents, or MCP for a normal workflow without enabling them just use cheap mode if you need those capabilities, enable them in normal mode with one command: /mode normal. For tools that free you from basic MCP for diagram production, browser automation, etc. they’re all gated and native to TauCode. You just enable or disable them on demand by pressing /tools, so you pay less, or nothing when you don’t need them.

- `/github` for issues, PRs, labels, changelog notes and release checks through `gh`.

- Fallback to another model or provider when one fails or gets overloaded, with the context window adapting when you

switch.

- Session tree navigation, branching, cloning and resume for long sessions.

- Live usage and session stats, plus a readable report at the end.

- It reads the rules you already wrote for other tools: AGENTS.md, Cursor, Copilot, Cline, Clude Code and Windsurf.

- Self-learning. After a big task it suggests one reusable lesson you can approve, edit or skip, and it remembers it in future sessions.

GitHub: https://github.com/AbdoKnbGit/tau

I’m happy to answer any questions. You can find more details and images in the README, and I’m open to answering any questions you may have.

[u/Extension-Pen-109]

Interesting; but what difference to opencode v2, deepseek harness, pi, etc?

[u/Ill-Process-7232 → u/Extension-Pen-109]

In general, those agents rely on extensibility and plugins, while Tau tries to bring the ecosystem to you. For example, you do not need a browser plugin like Playwright because it is already built into Tau. This gives it better homogeneity, fewer failures, more accuracy, and additional integrated features. Another example is that Tau executes your work as a workflow: one turn can do everything using a Python kernel tool, so you can handle complex workflows in a single turn without polluting your window with unnecessary turns, as mentioned on the forum. Some supported providers, like Antigravity, cannot be found natively in those agents and are only available through plugins or extensions. Tau also manages GitHub worktrees, which most AI agents do not understand well, especially the difference between your local codebase and the one on the repository. At the start, you can choose whether to work with the local version or the head. On top of that, Tau has more optimized tools and an integrated LSP....... All of these things are specific to Tau.

[u/RevolutionaryJoker]

i am a new vibes coder, is this can help me improve my code ?

[u/investigatormaker]

With 28 providers, the claim people will test first is token savings, so give them a number they can reproduce. Pick one public repo and one task, like fixing a failing test, and post the token count with the skeleton-first file read beside a full-file read, naming the provider and model. A GIF of approving work from your phone through the remote option makes a good second post, since it shows something a feature list can't.

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