ACE - Agentic Coding Environment

Workflow harness for coding agents — and the developers who work with them.

Quick Start | Vision | Architecture | Tools Reference

Works with: Claude Code, Codex CLI, OpenCode, Gemini CLI, pi-agent, and more.

The Problem

Coding agents can write code, but they still lack the workflow layer around the code:

• Your tasks live in a SaaS dashboard your agent can't see
• Context is scattered across files the agent doesn't know to load
• Review feedback is verbal and untracked — nothing saved, nothing actionable
• Multi-step workflows require you to babysit every transition

ACE gives agent harnesses like Claude Code and Codex CLI the workflow layer they're missing — task pipelines, context bundles, review presets, and skills — as standard CLI commands both you and your agents run the same way.

What ACE Does

Tasks and ideas as files your agent can read

• Capture ideas and turn them into task specs with subtasks.
• Track progress in markdown files that live in your repo.
• Let any agent read the same task state you do.

ace-idea create "Add retry logic to webhook delivery" --tags reliability
ace-task create "Implement webhook retry" --priority high

ace-task | ace-idea

One command from task to shipped PR

• Provision an isolated worktree.
• Open a tmux window for focused execution.
• Kick off a multi-step assignment that runs implement, test, review, and ship.

ace-overseer work-on --task 8r3

ace-overseer orchestrates ace-assign, ace-git-worktree, and ace-tmux

Multi-model code review with tracked feedback

• Run the same diff through multiple LLM providers.
• Compare review output side by side.
• Track suggestions through a verified, pending, and resolved lifecycle.

ace-review --preset code-deep --pr 123

ace-review

Context loading on demand

• Load project context, workflow instructions, and guides through wfi://, guide://, and tmpl://.
• Bundle context for agents or load it directly yourself.

ace-bundle wfi://task/work

ace-bundle | ace-handbook | ace-search

Install

Use this full-stack path for a new project (Ruby 3.2+):

1. Add the ACE tools you need:

bundle add --group "development, test" \
  ace-idea ace-task ace-sim \
  ace-overseer ace-assign ace-git-worktree ace-tmux \
  ace-bundle ace-handbook ace-search ace-docs \
  ace-review ace-lint ace-test-runner ace-test-runner-e2e ace-retro ace-demo \
  ace-git-commit ace-git-secrets ace-git \
  ace-handbook-integration-claude ace-handbook-integration-codex
# Also available: ace-handbook-integration-gemini, ace-handbook-integration-opencode, ace-handbook-integration-pi

Dependencies like ace-llm, ace-git, ace-tmux, and all ace-support-* gems are pulled in automatically.

2. Install gems:

bundle install

3. Initialize project config (ace-config is provided by ace-support-config):

ace-config init

4. Sync agent assets:

ace-handbook sync

5. Verify provider discovery and project context:

ace-llm --list-providers
ace-bundle project

If bundle install fails immediately after a large ACE release, rerun with:

bundle install --full-index

Use --full-index only as temporary RubyGems propagation mitigation, then return to normal bundle install.

Principles

• CLI-first, agent-agnostic — every tool is a standard CLI command; if it can run bash, it can use ACE
• Everything in git — tasks, workflows, configs, and review sessions are markdown and YAML files in your repo
• Transparent and inspectable — dry-run support, readable configs, saved sessions; when something breaks, you can trace it
• Customizable cascade — each package ships defaults; override at user (~/.ace/) or project (.ace/) level without forking

The Toolkit

• Plan: ace-idea to capture and shape ideas, ace-task for markdown task specs with subtasks, ace-sim for scenario simulation.
• Build: ace-overseer to orchestrate task pipelines, ace-assign for multi-step assignments, ace-git-worktree for isolated worktrees.
• QA: ace-review for multi-model preset reviews, ace-test-runner for smart test execution, ace-lint for linting, ace-retro for retrospectives, ace-demo for terminal demo recording.
• Git: ace-git-commit for intention-aware commits, ace-git-secrets for credential leak scanning and revocation.
• Context: ace-bundle for context assembly, ace-handbook for workflows, guides, templates, and skills, ace-search for codebase search, ace-docs for doc freshness tracking.

40+ packages total, including shared libraries and agent platform integrations. See Tools Reference for the complete inventory.

Agent Platform Support

ACE skills project natively to multiple agent platforms. Install an integration package and workflows, guides, and skills appear in your agent's expected directory structure.

• Claude Code
• Codex CLI
• Gemini CLI
• OpenCode
• pi-agent

---

Quick Start | Vision | Architecture | Tools Reference