Announcing Toad - a universal UI for agentic coding in the terminal
I’m a little salty that neither Anthropic nor Google reached out to me before they released their terminal-based AI coding agents.
Developer Tool
Summary
Simon Willison introduces Toad, a terminal coding assistant by Will McGugan using the Textual Python library. It aims to fix flickering issues found in Node-based tools and offers early access via sponsorship.
Highlights
- Toad uses Textual Python to eliminate terminal flicker by updating partial output regions.
- It competes with Claude Code and Gemini CLI, utilizing uvx for easy installation.
- Early access requires a $5,000 monthly sponsorship to influence project development.
- Optimizations focus on re-rendering only the last block of streaming markdown content.
- The project tests a new financial model for supporting experimental open-source software.
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Context
Audience
Software Developers
DomainSoftware Development
Formatblog post
Accessopen source future, sponsorship current
Topics
Related
TextualWill McGuganClaude CodeGemini CLIuvxagentic coding
