The Open-Source AI Coding Agent That Outperforms Claude Code

Features | Swarms | Installation | Quick Start | SDK | Docs | Contributing

Note (2026-08-20): Remote master was backed up to branch backup-2026-08-20 before this push.

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What is LevelCode?

LevelCode is an open-source AI coding assistant that edits your codebase through natural language instructions. Unlike single-model tools, LevelCode coordinates specialized agents that work together to understand your project and make precise changes.

Benchmark Results

LevelCode beats Claude Code at 61% vs 53% on our evaluations across 175+ coding tasks over multiple open-source repos that simulate real-world tasks.

Agent	Success Rate	Token Efficiency	Speed
LevelCode	61%	45k avg	32s avg
Claude Code	53%	62k avg	45s avg
Aider	48%	38k avg	28s avg
Continue	42%	51k avg	38s avg

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Features

Multi-Agent Architecture

When you ask LevelCode to "add authentication to my API," it coordinates:

1. File Picker Agent - Scans your codebase to understand the architecture and find relevant files
2. Planner Agent - Plans which files need changes and in what order
3. Editor Agent - Makes precise, contextual edits
4. Reviewer Agent - Validates changes before applying

This multi-agent approach delivers:

• Better context understanding
• More accurate edits
• Fewer errors compared to single-model tools

Use Any Model via OpenRouter

Unlike Claude Code which locks you into Anthropic's models, LevelCode supports any model on OpenRouter:

• Claude (Opus, Sonnet, Haiku)
• GPT-4o, GPT-5
• DeepSeek (V3, Coder)
• Qwen (Coder, 2.5)
• Gemini (Pro, Flash)
• Llama 3.3, Mistral
• And 200+ more models...

TypeScript SDK

Build LevelCode into your applications with our production-ready SDK:

import{LevelCodeClient}from'@levelcode/sdk';constclient=newLevelCodeClient({apiKey: process.env.OPENROUTER_API_KEY,// or ANTHROPIC_API_KEYcwd: '/path/to/project',});constresult=awaitclient.run({agent: 'base',prompt: 'Add error handling to all API endpoints',handleEvent: (event)=>console.log(event),});

Custom Agent Workflows

Create your own specialized agents with TypeScript generators:

exportdefault{id: 'git-committer',displayName: 'Git Committer',model: 'openai/gpt-4o',toolNames: ['read_files','run_terminal_command','end_turn'],instructionsPrompt:
'Create meaningful git commits by analyzing changes and crafting clear commit messages.',async*handleSteps(){yield{tool: 'run_terminal_command',command: 'git diff'};yield{tool: 'run_terminal_command',command: 'git log --oneline -5'};yield'STEP_ALL';},};

Agent Swarms

Scale beyond a single agent. LevelCode's Agent Swarm system lets you spin up an entire coordinated development team that works together on complex tasks -- each agent with a specialized role, communicating through a structured message protocol.

# Enable swarms
levelcode
> /team:enable
# Create a team with a project brief> /team:create name="auth-team" brief="Build OAuth2 login with Google and GitHub providers"# Monitor your swarm in real time> /team:status

The swarm system automatically assigns agents to the right development phase and coordinates handoffs between them:

Capability	Details
24 Specialized Roles	From intern to CTO -- each with calibrated autonomy, tools, and review requirements
6 Development Phases	Requirements, Design, Implementation, Testing, Review, Deployment -- with automatic phase gating
Real-Time TUI Panel	Live dashboard showing agent status, messages, tasks, and phase progress
Structured Messaging	Agents communicate via a typed protocol with inbox polling and message routing
Task Assignment	Hierarchical task breakdown with dependency tracking and automatic delegation
File Locking	Prevents conflicts when multiple agents edit the same files concurrently

See the full Agent Swarms Guide for configuration, role definitions, custom team templates, and advanced workflows.

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Installation

CLI Installation

# Using npm (recommended)
npm install -g @levelcode/cli
# Using npx (no install needed)
npx @levelcode/cli
# Using bun
bun install -g @levelcode/cli

SDK Installation

# Using npm
npm install @levelcode/sdk
# Using bun
bun add @levelcode/sdk

From Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yethikrishna/levelcode.git
cd levelcode
# Install dependencies
bun install
# Run in development mode
bun dev

System Requirements

• Node.js 18+ or Bun 1.3.5+
• Git (optional, for version control features)
• Terminal with ANSI color support

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Quick Start

LevelCode works fully standalone — no backend server, no account, no login required. Just set your API key and start coding.

1. Set Your API Key

Choose one of the following:

# Option A: OpenRouter (200+ models including Claude, GPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, etc.)export OPENROUTER_API_KEY="sk-or-v1-..."# Option B: Anthropic (Claude models directly)export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."

Get your key from OpenRouter or Anthropic.

2. Run LevelCode

# Navigate to your projectcd your-project
# Start LevelCode
levelcode

That's it. No sign-up, no backend, no configuration needed.

3. Start Coding with AI

Just tell LevelCode what you want:

• "Fix the SQL injection vulnerability in user registration"
• "Add rate limiting to all API endpoints"
• "Refactor the database connection code for better performance"
• "Add unit tests for the authentication module"

LevelCode will find the right files, make changes across your codebase, and validate everything works.

CLI Options

# Use FREE mode (lightweight, lower cost)
levelcode --free
# Use MAX mode (most capable)
levelcode --max
# Run in a specific directory
levelcode --cwd /path/to/project
# Continue a previous conversation
levelcode --continue
# Show all options
levelcode --help

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SDK Usage

Basic Usage

import{LevelCodeClient}from'@levelcode/sdk';// Works standalone — just provide your API keyconstclient=newLevelCodeClient({apiKey: process.env.OPENROUTER_API_KEY,// or ANTHROPIC_API_KEYcwd: process.cwd(),});// Run a coding taskconstresult=awaitclient.run({agent: 'base',prompt: 'Add TypeScript types to all function parameters',handleEvent: (event)=>{if(event.type==='file_edit'){console.log(`Edited: ${event.filePath}`);}},});console.log('Output:',result.output);

Custom Agents

import{LevelCodeClient,AgentDefinition}from'@levelcode/sdk';constcodeReviewer: AgentDefinition={id: 'code-reviewer',displayName: 'Code Reviewer',model: 'anthropic/claude-3-opus',toolNames: ['read_files','grep','end_turn'],instructionsPrompt: `You are a senior code reviewer. Focus on security, performance, and maintainability. Provide actionable feedback with code examples.`,};constclient=newLevelCodeClient({apiKey: '...'});constreview=awaitclient.run({agent: 'code-reviewer',agentDefinitions: [codeReviewer],prompt: 'Review the recent changes in src/auth/',handleEvent: console.log,});

CI/CD Integration

# .github/workflows/levelcode-review.ymlname: AI Code Reviewon: [pull_request]jobs:
review:
runs-on: ubuntu-lateststeps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Setup Bunuses: oven-sh/setup-bun@v1
- name: Install LevelCoderun: bun install -g @levelcode/cli
- name: Run AI Reviewenv:
OPENROUTER_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.OPENROUTER_API_KEY }}run: levelcode "Review changes and suggest improvements" --output review.md
- name: Post Reviewuses: actions/github-script@v7with:
script: | const review = require('fs').readFileSync('review.md', 'utf8'); github.rest.issues.createComment({ issue_number: context.issue.number, owner: context.repo.owner, repo: context.repo.repo, body: review });

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Project Structure

levelcode/
├── cli/ # Terminal UI application
│ ├── src/ # CLI source code
│ ├── bin/ # CLI binaries
│ └── scripts/ # Build scripts
├── sdk/ # TypeScript SDK
│ ├── src/ # SDK source code
│ └── e2e/ # End-to-end tests
├── agents/ # Multi-agent system
│ ├── base2/ # Base agent configurations
│ ├── editor/ # Code editing agents
│ ├── file-explorer/ # File discovery agents
│ ├── researcher/ # Documentation research
│ ├── reviewer/ # Code review agents
│ └── thinker/ # Planning agents
├── common/ # Shared utilities
├── packages/ # Internal packages
│ ├── agent-runtime/ # Agent execution runtime
│ └── internal/ # Internal utilities
├── web/ # Web dashboard (optional)
├── evals/ # Evaluation benchmarks
└── docs/ # Documentation

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Configuration

Create a levelcode.config.ts in your project root:

import{defineConfig}from'@levelcode/sdk';exportdefaultdefineConfig({// Default modelmodel: 'anthropic/claude-3.5-sonnet',// Per-agent model overridesagents: {editor: {model: 'anthropic/claude-3-opus',maxTokens: 8000,},filePicker: {model: 'anthropic/claude-3-haiku',},},// Files to ignoreignore: ['node_modules/**','*.lock','dist/**','.git/**',],// Custom tools (optional)tools: [],});

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Required
OPENROUTER_API_KEY	OpenRouter API key (200+ models)	One of these
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	Anthropic API key (Claude direct)	is required
LEVELCODE_MODEL	Default model to use	No
LEVELCODE_DEBUG	Enable debug logging	No

Standalone Mode: LevelCode runs fully standalone by default. No backend server, database, or account is needed. Just set one API key above and you're ready to go.

Hosted Mode: For team features, billing, and the agent marketplace, visit levelcode.ai.

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Documentation

Document	Description
Installation Guide	Detailed installation instructions
Configuration	All configuration options
SDK Reference	Complete SDK API documentation
Custom Agents	Creating custom agents
Custom Tools	Building custom tools
Agent Swarms	Multi-agent team coordination and swarm workflows
Architecture	How LevelCode works

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Contributing

We love contributions from the community! Whether you're fixing bugs, creating agents, or improving docs.

Development Setup

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/yethikrishna/levelcode.git
cd levelcode
# Install dependencies
bun install
# Run in development mode
bun dev
# Run tests
bun test# Type check
bun typecheck

Ways to Contribute

• Bug Fixes - Help us squash bugs
• New Agents - Create specialized agents for specific tasks
• Model Support - Add new model provider integrations
• Documentation - Improve guides and examples
• Benchmarks - Add new evaluation tasks

See CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed guidelines.

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Roadmap

• Standalone Mode (no backend required)
• Direct OpenRouter/Anthropic API support
• VS Code Extension
• JetBrains Plugin
• Web Interface
• Team Collaboration
• Self-Hosted Server Mode
• Plugin Marketplace

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Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Discussions: GitHub Discussions
• Email: yethikrishnarcvn7a@gmail.com

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License

LevelCode is open-source software licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

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Acknowledgments

• Inspired by Claude Code, Aider, and Continue
• Powered by models from OpenRouter
• Thanks to all our contributors

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Created by Yethikrishna R

If you find LevelCode useful, please consider giving it a star!