Your code. Your models. Your machine. No cloud required.
A source-available, local-first IDE with built-in LLM inference, 52 autonomous MCP tools, browser automation, RAG-powered code intelligence, and 9 cloud AI providers — all in a single Electron desktop app.
VS Code is an incredible editor — but it was designed before the AI era. Every AI extension bolted onto VS Code requires a cloud subscription, sends your code to external servers, and gives you limited control over the models, prompts, and tooling.
guIDE was built from the ground up as an AI-native IDE:
| VS Code + Extensions | guIDE | |
|---|---|---|
| AI integration | Bolt-on extensions (Copilot, Cursor) | Built into the core architecture |
| Local LLM | Not supported natively | node-llama-cpp with CUDA/Vulkan GPU acceleration |
| Your data | Code sent to cloud APIs | Runs entirely on your machine — no telemetry, no cloud dependency |
| Tool use | Extensions call their own cloud APIs | 52 MCP tools the AI calls autonomously — files, terminal, browser, git, memory |
| Browser automation | Requires separate tools (Playwright, Puppeteer) | Built-in BrowserView with 15 browser tools the AI controls directly |
| Cost | $10-20/month for Copilot | Free forever with local models. Optional cloud with free-tier providers pre-configured |
| Context | Limited to open files | RAG indexes your entire codebase. Persistent memory across sessions |
| Customization | Extension marketplace | Direct source access — modify prompts, tools, UI, everything |
- Privacy: Your code never leaves your machine. No training on your proprietary code.
- Speed: Local inference with GPU acceleration. No network latency.
- Offline: Works without internet. Perfect for classified environments, airplanes, or unreliable connections.
- Cost: No subscriptions. Download a model once, use it forever.
- Control: You choose the model, the context window, the GPU layers. Fine-tune the system prompt.
- Monaco Editor — The same editor engine as VS Code: syntax highlighting, IntelliSense, multi-cursor, minimap, bracket matching, code folding
- Integrated Terminal — Full PTY terminal (node-pty + xterm.js) with multiple tabs, AI-powered IntelliSense suggestions
- File Explorer — Tree and grid views, multi-select, drag & drop (internal + from Windows Explorer), copy/paste (Ctrl+C/X/V), context menus
- Command Palette —
Ctrl+Shift+Pfor quick access to all commands - Split Editor —
Ctrl+\for side-by-side file editing - Inline Chat —
Ctrl+Ifor AI-powered inline code editing directly in the editor - Next Edit Suggestions — Tab-to-accept ghost text completions (AI predicts your next edit)
- Markdown, HTML & SVG Preview — Live preview toggle for documentation, web pages, and vector graphics
- JSON Preview — Collapsible tree view with syntax highlighting for JSON files
- CSV/TSV Table Preview — Sortable table view for data files
- YAML/TOML/XML Preview — Syntax-highlighted formatted preview
- Code Runner — F5 to run in 50+ languages and file types (Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, C/C++, Rust, Go, Java, Ruby, PHP, Haskell, Clojure, Nim, Zig, Fortran, and many more)
- Cross-File Search — Search and replace across your entire project with optional AI-powered semantic search
- 8 Themes — Dark Default, Monokai, Dracula, Nord, Solarized Dark, GitHub Dark, Light, Catppuccin Mocha
- 364 File Icons — Vivid SVG icons for every file type via file-icon-vectors
- Custom Titlebar — Native-feeling frameless window with integrated menu
- Bracket Content Selection —
Ctrl+Shift+[to select contents between matching brackets - Git Blame Decorations — Inline author and date annotations for each line
- Paste with Auto-Imports — Automatically adds missing imports when pasting React/common code
- Custom Instructions —
.prompt.mdfiles for project-specific AI context injection - Drag Files into Chat — Drop code files directly into the AI chat for context
- Mermaid Diagrams in Chat — Live SVG rendering of Mermaid.js diagrams in AI responses
- Context Window Indicator — Visual progress bar showing token usage in chat input
- Local LLM Inference — Load any GGUF model (Qwen, Llama, Mistral, DeepSeek, etc.) via node-llama-cpp
- CUDA & Vulkan GPU Acceleration — Auto-detects your GPU and offloads model layers
- Adaptive Context Window — Automatically maximizes context based on available system RAM (up to 32K tokens)
- Flash Attention — Memory-efficient attention for larger context windows
- Streaming Responses — Real-time token-by-token output with thinking model support
- Smart Context Budgeting — Priority-based prompt assembly (memory → tools → errors → RAG → code → web search)
- Agentic Mode — Multi-step autonomous coding with up to 100 iterations
- Plan Mode — Toggle between direct execution and plan-first reasoning in chat
- Multi-Agent / Background Agents —
/agentcommand to spawn autonomous background tasks - Thinking Models — Collapsible reasoning display for models with chain-of-thought (DeepSeek, Qwen R1)
- MCP Server Management UI — Visual panel to configure, enable/disable, and monitor MCP servers
- Node.js Debugging — Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) integration for breakpoints, stepping, variable inspection
- Python Debugging — debugpy DAP (Debug Adapter Protocol) support
- Debug Panel — Full UI with breakpoints list, variables, call stack, stepping controls (
Ctrl+Shift+D)
All providers come pre-configured with API keys — start chatting immediately:
| Provider | Models | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Google Gemini | 2.5 Flash, 2.5 Pro, 2.0 Flash | Default provider — generous free tier |
| Groq | Llama 3, Mixtral | Ultra-fast inference |
| OpenRouter | 100+ models | Dynamic model fetching |
| Cerebras | Llama 3.1 | Fastest cloud inference |
| SambaNova | DeepSeek, Llama, QwQ | Fast and free |
| APIFreeLLM | Community models | Free tier |
| OpenAI | GPT-4o, GPT-4 Turbo | Bring your own key |
| Anthropic | Claude Sonnet 4, Claude 3.5 | Bring your own key |
| xAI | Grok 3, Grok 3 Mini | Bring your own key |
Automatic Fallback Chain: If one provider hits rate limits, guIDE automatically tries the next.
When Agentic mode is enabled, the AI can use any of these tools autonomously:
File Operations (17 tools)
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
read_file | Read file contents (supports partial reads by line range) |
write_file | Create or overwrite files |
edit_file | Replace specific text in a file (surgical edits with undo support) |
delete_file | Delete files |
rename_file | Rename or move files/directories |
copy_file | Copy files |
append_to_file | Append content to the end of a file |
create_directory | Create folders |
list_directory | List folder contents |
find_files | Find files by glob pattern |
get_file_info | Get file size, dates, metadata |
search_codebase | BM25 search through indexed code |
get_project_structure | Full project tree overview |
grep_search | Regex search across files |
search_in_file | Search within a specific file |
diff_files | Compare two files |
replace_in_files | Find and replace across multiple files |
Browser Automation (15 tools)
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
browser_navigate | Navigate to any URL |
browser_click | Click elements using CSS selectors |
browser_type | Type into input fields |
browser_screenshot | Capture page screenshots |
browser_get_content | Read page text/HTML content |
browser_evaluate | Execute JavaScript on the page |
browser_list_elements | List all interactive elements with CSS selectors |
browser_wait_for_element | Wait for an element to appear |
browser_scroll | Scroll up/down on the page |
browser_wait | Wait for page to settle |
browser_back | Navigate back in history |
browser_select | Select dropdown options |
browser_hover | Hover over elements |
browser_get_url | Get the current page URL |
browser_get_links | Get all links on the page |
Terminal & System (4 tools)
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
run_command | Execute shell commands (configurable timeout) |
install_packages | Install npm/pip packages |
check_port | Check if a port is in use |
http_request | Make HTTP requests |
Git (7 tools)
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
git_status | Current branch and changed files |
git_commit | Stage all and commit |
git_diff | View file diffs |
git_log | View commit history |
git_branch | Create/switch/list branches |
git_stash | Stash or apply changes |
git_reset | Reset changes |
Web, Memory & Utilities (9 tools)
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
web_search | DuckDuckGo search (no API key needed) |
fetch_webpage | Fetch and extract page content |
save_memory | Persist notes across sessions |
get_memory | Recall saved information |
list_memories | List all saved memory keys |
analyze_error | Trace errors through codebase |
undo_edit | Undo a previous file edit |
list_undoable | List files with undo history |
open_file_in_editor | Open a file in the editor UI |
- BM25 Codebase Indexing — Indexes your entire project for relevant code retrieval
- Context-Aware Responses — AI knows about your codebase without sending it anywhere
- Auto-Indexing — Re-indexes when you open a project folder
- Integrated Browser — Browse the web as a tab in the editor viewport
- AI-Controlled — The 15 browser tools let the AI navigate, click, type, and read pages
- Auto-Show — Browser tab opens automatically when AI uses browser tools
- URL Bar — Manual navigation with back/forward/reload controls
- Smart Element Listing — After every page interaction, guIDE auto-lists interactive elements so the AI knows what to click next
- Source Control Panel — View changed files, stage/unstage, commit
- Branch Management — Checkout, create, view ahead/behind indicators
- Inline Diffs — View file diffs for staged and unstaged changes
- Voice Input — Groq Whisper-powered speech-to-text for hands-free prompting
- Text-to-Speech — Read AI responses aloud using system speech synthesis
- CPU & RAM Gauges — Real-time system resource usage in the status bar
- LLM Performance — Tokens/sec and context usage indicators
- Drag & Drop — Drop images directly into the chat
- Clipboard Paste — Paste screenshots with Ctrl+V
- File Attach — Click the paperclip button to attach images
- Vision Models — Auto-detects vision-capable models for image analysis
- Node.js 18+ and npm 9+
- Visual C++ Build Tools (for native modules on Windows)
- NVIDIA GPU + CUDA drivers (optional, for GPU acceleration)
git clone https://github.com/FileShot/guIDE.git
cd guIDE
npm install
npm run devOr on Windows, double-click START_NOW.bat.
Place .gguf model files in either:
- The project root directory
- A
models/subdirectory
The IDE auto-detects and loads the first available model. Switch models via the AI Chat panel dropdown.
Recommended:Qwen 2.5 Coder 7B Q4_K_M (~4.7 GB)
guIDE automatically detects your GPU and optimizes accordingly:
| GPU | Behavior |
|---|---|
| NVIDIA (CUDA) | Auto-detected, model layers offloaded to GPU |
| AMD (Vulkan) | Auto-detected via Vulkan backend |
| CPU-only | Falls back gracefully with optimized context sizing |
For a 4GB VRAM GPU (e.g., RTX 3050 Ti):
- ~20-28 of 32 model layers offloaded to GPU
- KV cache stored in system RAM for larger context windows
- Flash attention enabled for memory efficiency
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl+Shift+P | Command Palette |
Ctrl+B | Toggle Sidebar |
Ctrl+` | Toggle Terminal |
Ctrl+J | Toggle AI Chat |
Ctrl+I | Inline Chat (AI edit at cursor) |
Ctrl+Shift+E | File Explorer |
Ctrl+Shift+F | Search in Files |
Ctrl+Shift+G | Source Control (Git) |
Ctrl+Shift+D | Debug Panel |
Ctrl+Shift+X | Extensions / MCP Servers |
Ctrl+S | Save File |
Ctrl+Shift+S | Save All Files |
Ctrl+N | New File |
Ctrl+O | Open File |
Ctrl+P | Quick Open File |
Ctrl+F | Find in File |
Ctrl+H | Find & Replace |
Ctrl+\ | Split Editor |
Ctrl+Shift+[ | Select Bracket Contents |
F5 | Run Current File |
Tab | Accept Next Edit Suggestion |
F11 | Toggle Fullscreen |
electron-main.js # Main process — IPC hub, AI chat handler, 100-iteration agentic loop
preload.js # Context bridge — secure API surface for renderer
scripts/
launch.js # Dev launcher (Vite + Electron, concurrent)
main/
llmEngine.js # node-llama-cpp — CUDA/Vulkan, GPU layer management, flash attention, thinking models
modelManager.js # GGUF model scanning & hot-swap
ragEngine.js # BM25 codebase indexing & retrieval (no embedding model needed)
terminalManager.js # node-pty terminal management
webSearch.js # DuckDuckGo web search (HTML scraping, no API key)
mcpToolServer.js # 52 MCP tools — autonomous LLM actions with fuzzy name matching
browserManager.js # Electron BrowserView + Chrome CDP + element listing
memoryStore.js # Persistent AI memory store (JSON on disk)
cloudLLMService.js # 9 cloud providers with automatic fallback chain
gitManager.js # Git operations (simple-git)
src/
components/
Layout/ # Main layout, activity bar, status bar, menu bar, command palette, theme picker, welcome guide
Editor/ # Monaco editor, tabs, search/replace, split editor, markdown/HTML preview, code runner
Chat/ # AI chat panel — streaming, thinking display, tool terminal output, image input
Terminal/ # xterm.js integrated terminal with multiple tabs
Search/ # Cross-file search with regex support
FileExplorer/ # File tree (list + grid), multi-select, drag & drop, copy/paste, 364 file icons
Browser/ # Embedded browser panel with URL bar and overlay management
SourceControl/ # Git source control panel — stage, commit, diff, branches
services/ # Frontend service layer (editor, file system, LLM, electron bridge)
types/ # TypeScript type definitions
config/ # Editor & LLM configuration constants
This is a solo project. Here's an honest breakdown:
- The entire AI integration layer — agentic loop, tool execution pipeline, context budgeting, stuck detection, auto-continue, nudge system
- 52 MCP tool implementations — every tool handler, parameter validation, result formatting
- Browser automation system — BrowserView management, element listing, CSS selector extraction, auto-inject page state
- RAG engine — BM25 indexing, token-aware context retrieval
- Cloud LLM service — 9-provider abstraction with automatic fallback chain, streaming, vision support
- Memory system — persistent cross-session AI memory
- All React components — layout, chat panel, file explorer, source control, browser panel, theme system
- System prompt engineering — tool definitions, browser workflow, thinking model detection
- Electron IPC architecture — 100+ IPC handlers connecting renderer to main process
- File explorer features — grid/list view, multi-select, drag & drop, copy/paste, context menus
- Theme system — 8 themes with CSS variable overrides mapping 30+ Tailwind arbitrary colors
- Electron — desktop shell and native OS integration
- React + TypeScript — UI framework
- Monaco Editor — code editor component (same engine as VS Code)
- node-llama-cpp — GGUF model loading and inference
- xterm.js + node-pty — terminal emulator and PTY
- Tailwind CSS — utility-class styling
- Vite — build tool and dev server
- simple-git — git operations
- DuckDuckGo — web search (HTML scraping, no official API)
- file-icon-vectors — SVG file type icons
- electron-builder — Windows NSIS installer packaging
| Component | Technology |
|---|---|
| Desktop Shell | Electron 27 |
| Renderer | React 18 + TypeScript |
| Build Tool | Vite 4 |
| Code Editor | Monaco Editor 0.44 |
| LLM Inference | node-llama-cpp 3.15 (CUDA/Vulkan) |
| Terminal | node-pty + xterm.js 5.4 |
| Styling | Tailwind CSS 3 |
| RAG Search | BM25 (no embedding model needed) |
| Browser | Electron BrowserView + Chrome CDP |
| Web Search | DuckDuckGo (HTML scraping) |
| Installer | electron-builder (NSIS) |
| File Icons | file-icon-vectors (364 SVGs) |
# Build the renderer (React app)
npx vite build
# Package as Windows installer (.exe)
npx electron-builder --winThe installer (guIDE Setup 2.0.0.exe) will be in dist-electron/.
Brendan Gray — Computer Science Student
- GitHub: github.com/FileShot
- Project: github.com/FileShot/guIDE
Built as a solo project. This is my work — please respect the license.
If guIDE is useful to you, consider supporting continued development:
- GitHub Sponsors:github.com/sponsors/FileShot
- Bitcoin:
32Sr7HbBSuNaTSn2AndAoDFK7cWmRtaxA2
Source Available — Copyright (c) 2025-2026 Brendan Gray. All Rights Reserved.
You may view, download, and use this software for personal, non-commercial purposes. You may not rebrand, redistribute, sell, or claim this work as your own.
See LICENSE for full terms.
guIDE — Your code, your models, your machine.