Questions
Can I use Irie yet?
Yes, if you build it from its source code: see Install. Irie is early, and its first release, 0.1.0, has no download yet.
The roadmap shows what is built so far.
What’s a coding agent?
A coding agent is an AI program that works on code for you: it reads files, makes changes and runs commands. Claude Code is one, and there are many more.
Do I need to know the terminal?
A terminal is a window where you type commands instead of clicking. Irie lives in one, but most of what you type there is plain sentences.
On a Mac, Irie for Mac is made for people who never open a terminal: it shows each agent as a card, and its work as a conversation.
Which agents can Irie run?
Claude Code, and Irie shows when it’s working, needs you or is done. Any other agent that runs in a terminal can be started too, and Irie shows whether it’s still running.
Fuller support for Codex CLI, opencode, Gemini CLI and others is planned after version 1.
Other agents says how to start one, your own team’s included.
Can it use an AI model on my own computer?
A model is the AI behind an agent, and some run on your own computer for free. Irie can run a model server for you, Ollama, and start Claude Code on a model there with +local.
Anthropic doesn’t support Claude Code on other companies’ models, so how well it works is up to the model.
Before it starts one, Irie checks that the model can hold enough text for an agent’s work and that your computer can hold the model. If not, it says how to fix it, since a model with too little room can quietly lose its instructions.
What happens if I close the window?
Your agents keep working. Open Irie again and they’re all where you left them.
Does Irie send my code anywhere?
Irie runs on your computer and sends nothing over the internet of its own. Each agent talks to its own AI company, just as it would without Irie.
Irie keeps a log of what each agent did, such as the commands it ran, on your computer for 30 days.
What Irie is lists everything it keeps and sends, and how to check it yourself.
Does it change my agent’s settings?
It never edits your settings files. Each time it starts an agent, it adds its hooks, small commands the agent runs to say what it’s doing.
It also picks the model for each task. By default a task goes to the cheapest profile, a recipe of agent and model, that does such tasks well, from Haiku for small jobs to Opus 5.5 for hard ones.
You can change this in Irie’s settings, or name a profile for a task with +.
Could it delete my work?
Irie itself doesn’t delete your files, but the agents it starts change files where they work. Unless you name a project or a folder with @, each task gets a new, empty folder of its own.
Name a project with @, and its agent works in a worktree: a second working copy, which version 1 never deletes.
Add ! after the name, or name a folder outside git, the tool that keeps a project’s history, and the agent works on your own files there.
What does it run on?
Macs and Linux computers, with tmux, and on a Mac there’s also Irie for Mac, an app of its own. Windows isn’t planned for version 1.
What does it cost?
Irie is free, and anyone may read, change and share its code under the Apache 2.0 license. The agents it starts still run on your own AI account, and cost what they would without Irie.
Irie shows what each session costs, and sends small jobs to cheaper models that do them well.
If Irie ever makes money, it all goes back to the people who build it, after running costs. See how.
Can my company use it?
Yes. The Apache 2.0 license allows it at no cost, and Irie works inside your company’s Claude Code settings, with its AI provider.
Irie at work has the details, and says what isn’t there yet.
What does “Irie” mean?
i·rie /ˈaɪ.ri/ · adjective, Jamaican Patois
Good, pleasing, at peace. Everything’s all right.
“Everything irie.”
Say it EYE-ree.
Who makes it?
Anyone who contributes. Accepted changes are sized in Steak, Irie’s measure of who built what.
If Irie ever makes money, it all goes back to the people who build it, after running costs. Each person’s share follows their Steak.