agent-shell
Emacs package for chatting with and driving AI coding agents via the Agent Client Protocol.
Emacs users like it as their main interface for coding agents123, praising its hackability and the surrounding Emacs ecosystem.456 The main complaints are that it was broken with Claude and behind the Claude TUI for one user7, and that its abstraction made switching models in OpenCode fail for another.8
Why people recommend it
Emacs integration · 3
Emacs users call it incredible and love the ecosystem forming around it.
“I use agent-shell.el and it is incredible”
“I use agent-shell and I love the ecosystem that's being created there”
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“I use it via the gnu emacs integration :P”
Hackability · 2
The interface is endlessly hackable, and agents can write elisp to tailor the workflow.
“With https://github.com/xenodium/agent-shell/ , this is the only UI I use for working with agents.”
“I use agent-shell and I love the ecosystem that's being created there”
Daily driver · 2
Some use it as their only agent UI or main workflow, even with several projects open.
“With https://github.com/xenodium/agent-shell/ , this is the only UI I use for working with agents.”
“I use agent-shell with Projectile on Doom Emacs as my main workflow these days, and it works very well”
Better than TUIs · 1
One user calls it a much better way to interact with agents than vendor TUIs.
“it's currently broken with Claude for me and is way behind the claude TUI.”
ACP client · 1
One user runs other agents such as Argon through it as an ACP client.
“I have been using Argon on and off via agent-shell - https://github.com/xenodium/agent-shell and unofficial ACP client.”
Caveats and dissent
Claude breakage · 1
One user found it broken with Claude and behind the Claude TUI.
“it's currently broken with Claude for me and is way behind the claude TUI.”
Model switching · 1
One user could not change the OpenCode model through its abstraction layer.
“the abstraction that agent-shell puts on top of it is too much. I can't figure out how to change the model.”
Often compared with
Who recommends it in their own words
From the makers not counted in the ranking
“agent-shell is vendor-neutral: it speaks ACP, so you can drive Claude, Codex, Gemini... without relearning your tools.”
Threads where it came up
- Emacs 31 Is Around the Corner: The Changes I'm Daily Driving 2 mentions
- Gemini 4 Carbon is the new #1 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index v5 1 mention
- Emacs Turns 50 1 mention
- DeepSeek Harness Desktop for macOS and Windows 1 mention
- Show HN: Agent-shell – vendor-neutral chat with AI agents in Emacs 1 mention
- Mitchellh starts a new company: Superlogical 1 mention
Data: agent-shell.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 9
“I have been using Argon on and off via agent-shell - https://github.com/xenodium/agent-shell and unofficial ACP client.”
“I use agent-shell and I love the ecosystem that's being created there”
“With https://github.com/xenodium/agent-shell/ , this is the only UI I use for working with agents.”
“it's currently broken with Claude for me and is way behind the claude TUI.”
“I use agent-shell with Projectile on Doom Emacs as my main workflow these days, and it works very well”
“I use agent-shell.el and it is incredible”
“configuration for gptel, agent-shell, and various hydras”
“the abstraction that agent-shell puts on top of it is too much. I can't figure out how to change the model.”
“I use it via the gnu emacs integration :P”