Overview
aico is an AI coding agent that runs in a terminal, a local web portal, VS Code, or a desktop app for Windows and Linux. It is free for personal use, self-hosted, and works with a user-supplied model. It requires Node 22.5 or newer and supports OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenRouter, Gemini, Moonshot Kimi, DeepSeek, Z.AI and local Ollama models.
Rather than keeping a chat buffer, aico maintains an append-only event log and derives each request from it, so tool calls and results stay structured across turns and history is addressable by sequence number. A verification step, VerifyApp, opens generated web pages in a real browser and reports uncaught exceptions, console errors, failed requests, what rendered, and whether named controls respond. A turn that produced a web page cannot end as completed until a passing verdict exists for the file as it stands.
The product also includes steering of a running turn at step boundaries, a plan mode that removes write tools, backgrounding of long-running commands, a supervision ledger for agents, dev servers, schedules and watchers, an MCP server mode, permission prompts, a workspace sandbox, spend ceilings, and sub-agents with their own prompts and tool whitelists. Context management masks old tool output and condenses earlier steps into a handoff.
Pricing
Free
Detailed plans have not been confirmed in our catalog. Check the official website for current limits and billing terms.
Visit WebsitePrices and limits may change. Confirm the currency, billing period, seat minimum and usage caps on the official website.
Use Cases
- Developers use aico to run an AI coding agent from the terminal, a local web portal, VS Code, or a desktop app.
- Users use aico to verify generated web pages in a real browser before a turn can complete.
- Teams use aico to steer a running agent mid-flight without cancelling the turn.
- Users use aico to plan changes before any write tools are available.
- Teams use aico to keep dev servers from hanging a turn.
- Users use aico to let another AI hand it work over MCP.
- Teams use aico to supervise agents, dev servers, schedules and watchers in one ledger.
- Users use aico to run it against a local Ollama model at no cost.
Features
AI assistant
Natural language interface
Workflow automation
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to share your experience!
FAQ
Is aico free, and can I see the source?
It is free for personal and noncommercial use, and the full source is public under the PolyForm Noncommercial licence; commercial use needs a licence from the author. There is no account, no telemetry and no hosted service in the middle, and users pay their chosen model provider directly at their prices.
How is it different from Claude Code or Cursor?
It is model-agnostic and local-first, with a bring-your-own API key for Claude, GPT, Gemini, Kimi, DeepSeek, GLM or a local model, and the whole thing runs on the user's machine. The design differences cited are an append-only session log that can be resumed after a crash, a browser verification step that opens what it builds, and one ledger supervising everything running in the background.
Is aico an alternative to Devin, Replit Agent, Lovable or Bolt.new?
It occupies the same space but is a different shape: aico is self-hosted and free for personal use, with no markup on provider costs and per-app git history from the first commit. It reports 73 of 80 (91%) real SWE-bench Lite instances resolved across two independent random samples, but does not have their scale of real-world use or Devin's independently-audited track record.
Which AI models can it use?
OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenRouter, Google Gemini, Moonshot Kimi, Z.AI GLM, DeepSeek, any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, and local models through Ollama. The model name decides the provider, so switching model never means also remembering to switch provider.
Does it work in the terminal, or does it need an editor?
Either. aico is a terminal agent; aico serve starts a local web portal on 127.0.0.1; and the VS Code extension gives it a panel of its own beside Chat, where edits apply as workspace edits that can be undone and the selection travels with the question. One engine drives all three, and there is no inline completion.