Why

Forge is living personal software built to make local coding-agent workflows easier to manage, focusing on:

Running multiple agent sessions without losing track of what each one is doing
Giving agents isolated workspaces for local changes
Letting each agent keep its own CLI and TUI instead of forcing a generic abstraction
Inspecting, reviewing, and feeding back on the work agents produce

Core Concepts

Projects are Git repositories you add to Forge. They are the source of truth.

Workspaces are lightweight APFS CoW clones of a project with their own forge/{name} branch, so you can spin up isolated working copies, run agent sessions against them, and merge back when done.

Features

GPU-accelerated terminal via Ghostty, with tabs and arbitrarily nested split panes
Project and workspace management with lightweight APFS CoW workspace cloning
Agent-aware terminal sessions with live status, notifications, and agent launching
Built-in Git status, diff, and review workflows with full file context and native text selection
Fuzzy command palette with intent-based sections for quick navigation
Workspace activity log with AI-powered summaries of agent work
Project configuration via forge.json for processes, port allocation, lifecycle scripts, and Docker Compose stacks
Customizable appearance and editor integration
Bundled CLI for IPC and automation

Project Configuration

Drop a forge.json in your project root to configure per-workspace:

Processes - dev servers, watchers, Docker Compose stacks
Ports - automatic allocation with environment variable injection so workspaces don't collide
Lifecycle scripts - setup and teardown commands that run on workspace create/destroy

Data Storage

Forge stores local state in ~/.forge/:

~/.forge/
  config.json
  projects.json
  state/
    sessions.json
    activity/
    forge.sock
  clones/
  reviews/

Per-project configuration lives in forge.json at the repository root (see docs/forge-json.md).

Requirements

macOS 15.0 or later
Xcode 16.0 or later
XcodeGen
SwiftFormat
SwiftLint

Development

Install the required developer tools:

brew install xcodegen swiftformat swiftlint

Common commands:

make                # Show all available targets
make deps
make project
make test
make build
make format
make lint
make release
make dev            # Run a development build (uses ~/.forge-dev for isolation)
make can-release

Open the project in Xcode after generating it:

open Forge.xcodeproj

Dependencies

GhosttyKit for GPU-accelerated terminal rendering, fetched by make deps
Bonsplit for split-pane management

make project, make build, and make release fetch the pinned GhosttyKit artifact automatically when it is missing.

Living Personal Software

We now have the ability to build software tailored to our current needs in ways that are finally practical. Forge is a living tool that changes with my workflow as the software development space evolves at a rapid pace.

I think personal software is worth exploring more seriously: software shaped around how you want to work, not just how existing tools expect you to work. I hope someone finds this project useful, or better yet, is inspired to explore it with their agent and then make their own version.