🧭 User guide¶

Daily-driving SLMCode without turning your repo into modern art. 🎨 (Unless modern art was the goal. In that case… carry on.)

Day-to-day loop 🔁¶

cd your-project
slmcode init
# optional: AGENTS.md at repo root (be stern, be kind)
# edit .slmcode/PROJECT.md

slmcode                      # premium TUI
slmcode run -v "Add validation to the login handler"
slmcode board
slmcode studio

Habit	Command	Vibe
🔎 Explore only	`run --agent explorer "…"`	Maps, not edits
🎯 Pin craft	`run --skill atomic-coding "…"`	Tiny diffs or bust
👀 Watch board	`watch`	ASMR for kanban
🛡️ Safe writes	`config set permission review` → `apply`	Trust, but verify

More copy-paste → 🧪 Recipes.

Pipeline (what happens) 🏭¶

flowchart TD
  Q[Query 🎯] --> I[Instructions + skills]
  I --> C[Context]
  C --> E{Explore?}
  E -->|reuse ♻️| P[Plan / split]
  E -->|deep 🕵️| X[Explorer] --> P
  P --> Coord[Coordinator 🧭]
  Coord --> W[Workers 🛠️]
  W --> R[Review ↔ correct 🔍]
  R --> L[Learn / test / skills 🦋]

Force a fresh dig: SLMCODE_FORCE_EXPLORE=1 slmcode run -v "…".

Deep dive → 🧠 Concepts.

Surfaces 🎛️¶

Surface	Doc	Mood
Premium TUI + chat	🖥️ TUI & chat	Keyboard wizard
Studio GUI + API	🎨 Studio	Click enjoyer
Full CLI	⌨️ CLI reference	Script goblin

Skills & specialists 🧩¶

Skills teach house style; specialists execute roles.

slmcode skills
slmcode run --skill multipass-quality "…"
slmcode run "Fix login @skill:atomic-coding"

→ 🦋 Skills · 🧩 Agents

Project memory (the real DB) 💾¶

Markdown. On disk. Boring on purpose. Future-you can grep it. Past-you cannot gaslight it.

File	Role
`.slmcode/PROJECT.md`	Durable facts
`.slmcode/CONTEXT.md`	Working focus + discoveries
`.slmcode/MEMORY.md`	Lessons / pitfalls
`.slmcode/SKILLS.md`	Index + recent lessons
`.slmcode/skills/learned/`	Auto-grown conventions
`.slmcode/sessions/`	Resumable runs
`.slmcode/pending/`	Staged review writes
`AGENTS.md` / `CLAUDE.md` / `.cursorrules`	Auto-injected instructions

slmcode context append "Prefer table-driven tests"
slmcode docs show MEMORY.md

Permissions 🛡️¶

Mode	Behavior
`auto`	Write now ✍️
`dry-run`	Simulate 🎭
`review`	Stage → `slmcode apply` 👀

slmcode config set permission review
slmcode run "refactor foo"
slmcode apply && slmcode diff

Shell: shell_permission: allow | ask | deny — independent of file writes. → ⚙️ Config

Quality knobs 🎛️¶

slmcode config set think_passes 2
slmcode config set retries 2
slmcode config set parallel 2
slmcode config set max_context_kb 16

Symptom	Try
🥴 Wanders	Lower context, pin `atomic-coding`, stern `AGENTS.md`
🥴 Weak JSON	More think passes / retries; better tool-calling model
🐢 Too slow	Lower parallel; explore reuse; faster provider

→ ❓ FAQ

Sessions & resume 🛟¶

slmcode session list
slmcode session resume run-…
# TUI: /stop then /resume

Ctrl+C mid-run is a feature, not a crime — it checkpoints.

Develop from a checkout 🛠️¶

make lint && make test && make docs-build
RUN_E2E=1 make e2e

🧃

Hydration tip: if a run feels cursed, check doctor, then permissions, then whether you asked for a rewrite of the universe. Usually it’s #3.

☀️ Made with ♥ by UnicoLab