Native · No Electron · No Subscription

The AI code editor
that works at the speed of thought.

ClifPad is a hyper-fast native IDE powered by your choice of AI. Instant codebase generation. Context-aware completions. Built-in terminal and Git. Say goodbye to Electron bloat and cloud lock-in.

Download ClifPad cargo install clifcode

macOS ARM macOS Intel Windows Linux .deb npm i -g clifcode

All releases & checksums · Free & open source · FSL-1.1 → Apache 2.0

20MBbinary

0mslatency

100+LLMs supported

100%Rust + Native

A Real IDE

Not just a wrapper. A true environment.

Full IDE with Monaco editing, multi-terminal, git, and an AI agent sidebar. All native Rust.

Monaco Editor

70+ languages, IntelliSense, multi-cursor, minimap. Same engine as VS Code, fraction of the size.

Multi-Terminal

Native PTY via Rust. Multiple tabs, kill, clear. Launch ClifCode or Claude Code with one click.

Git Built In

Branch, stage, commit, push/pull, per-file diff stats, visual commit graph. All Rust, no shell wrappers.

Agent Sidebar

Built-in chat agent with 9 tools. Reads files, writes code, runs commands. Context compaction for long tasks.

20 Themes

Nord, Dracula, Tokyo Night, Catppuccin, Rosé Pine, and 15 more. Editor, terminal, and UI all coordinated.

Any LLM

OpenRouter (100+ models), OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama (fully local). Bring your own key, pick your model.

Security Scanner

Detects hardcoded API keys, private keys, passwords, SQL injection, eval/exec, and more. Runs before every git commit. Full repo scan from the status bar. The AI checks its own work.

The AI reviews its own security implications.

Before any commit, ClifPad scans staged files for hardcoded secrets, exposed credentials, SQL injection patterns, and dangerous code. Critical issues block the commit until you fix them or explicitly override. No other AI editor does this.

API Keys Private Keys SQL Injection eval() / exec() Logged Secrets HTTP URLs

Performance

Smaller. Faster. Lighter.

No Electron. Tauri 2 + SolidJS + Rust. Every byte earned.

ClifPad

20MB

installed

Cursor

400MB

installed

VS Code

350MB

installed

Zed

100MB

installed

7KB

UI runtime (SolidJS)

~80MB

RAM at idle

<1s

Launch time

ClifCode TUI

AI agent for your terminal.

Like Claude Code, but works with any LLM. 9 tools, context compaction, session persistence. Pure Rust.

clifcode

◆ Model claude-sonnet-4 ◆ Mode auto-edit
◆ Path ~/projects/my-app

❯ refactor auth to use JWT tokens

▶ read src/auth/mod.rs
▶ read src/auth/session.rs
✎ edit src/auth/mod.rs +42 -18
✎ edit src/auth/session.rs +15 -8
▸ run cargo test ✓ 23 passed

✦ ClifCode Refactored to JWT. Added expiry + refresh.
∙ 2.1k tokens ∙ ~$0.03

$ cargo install clifcode
$ npm i -g clifcode

9 Tools

read, write, edit, find, search, list, run, cd, submit

Any LLM

OpenRouter, OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama, or any compatible endpoint

Auto-Compaction

3-tier context management. Runs indefinitely without hitting limits

Sessions

Auto-saves every conversation. Resume any session by ID

Git Integration

Commits on completion with user confirmation. Undo with /undo

Auto-Update

Background version check. /update self-replaces the binary

3 Modes

suggest (confirm), auto-edit (diff), full-auto (hands-off)

Cost Tracking

Per-turn tokens and estimated cost displayed inline

~3MB Binary

Pure Rust. No runtime. Runs on macOS, Linux, Windows

	ClifCode	Claude Code	Aider
Any LLM	100+ models	Anthropic only	Multi-provider
Local models	Ollama	No	Ollama
Tool-calling agent	9 tools	Yes	Diff-based
Context compaction	3-tier auto	Yes	Manual
Session persistence	Resume any	Yes	No
Runtime	Rust (native)	Node.js	Python
License	FSL-1.1	Apache-2.0	Apache-2.0

Open Source

Build it yourself.

Clone the monorepo and run either product in under a minute.

# ClifPad (desktop IDE)
$ cd clif-pad-ide && npm install && npm run tauri dev

# ClifCode (terminal agent)
$ cd clif-code-tui && cargo run --release

macOS: if ClifPad says "App can't be opened", run xattr -cr /Applications/ClifPad.app

The AI code editor
that works at the speed of thought.

Not just a wrapper. A true environment.

Monaco Editor

Multi-Terminal

Git Built In

Agent Sidebar

20 Themes

Any LLM

Security Scanner

The AI reviews its own security implications.

20 themes. All coordinated.

Smaller. Faster. Lighter.

AI agent for your terminal.

9 Tools

Any LLM

Auto-Compaction

Sessions

Git Integration

Auto-Update

3 Modes

Cost Tracking

~3MB Binary

Build it yourself.

Interested in partnering or investing?

The AI code editorthat works at the speed of thought.

Not just a wrapper. A true environment.

Monaco Editor

Multi-Terminal

Git Built In

Agent Sidebar

20 Themes

Any LLM

Security Scanner

The AI reviews its own security implications.

20 themes. All coordinated.

Smaller. Faster. Lighter.

AI agent for your terminal.

9 Tools

Any LLM

Auto-Compaction

Sessions

Git Integration

Auto-Update

3 Modes

Cost Tracking

~3MB Binary

Build it yourself.

Interested in partnering or investing?

The AI code editor
that works at the speed of thought.