monocle

o_(◉) monocle

Review your AI agent's code as it writes it. Leave comments on diffs, submit structured feedback, and watch the agent fix things in real time — all from your terminal.

More screenshots →

Monocle is a TUI that runs alongside your AI coding agent. You review diffs in real time as the agent writes code, leave line-level comments — issues, suggestions, notes — and submit a structured review in one batch. The agent receives your feedback and starts fixing things immediately, just like a PR review but live.

Monocle connects to your agent via MCP tools or CLI commands over a Unix socket. With Claude Code and MCP channels, it pushes feedback directly into the agent's context the moment you submit. Other agents — OpenCode, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI — retrieve feedback on demand. MCP channels just make the process smoother.

Why

Without something like Monocle, reviewing agent-written code means rubber-stamping diffs you didn't read, copy-pasting feedback into a chat window, or just hoping the agent got it right. There's no way to say "fix these three issues and show me again."

Monocle gives you a proper review loop without slowing the agent down. It doesn't gate each file change behind an approval — your agent keeps working while you review at your own pace. When you're ready, leave line-level comments and submit. The agent receives your feedback immediately and starts addressing it. You see the updated diffs, review again, and iterate — like PR reviews, but in real time.

Requirements

• A coding agent: Claude Code, OpenCode, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, or any MCP-compatible agent
• A terminal with 256-color or true color support
• A Nerd Font for file icons (optional but recommended)

Installation

Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew install josephschmitt/tap/monocle

# Apple Silicon
# x-release-please-start-version
curl -Lo monocle.tar.gz https://github.com/josephschmitt/monocle/releases/download/v0.46.1/monocle_darwin_arm64.tar.gz
# x-release-please-end
tar xzf monocle.tar.gz
sudo mv monocle /usr/local/bin/

# Intel
# x-release-please-start-version
curl -Lo monocle.tar.gz https://github.com/josephschmitt/monocle/releases/download/v0.46.1/monocle_darwin_amd64.tar.gz
# x-release-please-end
tar xzf monocle.tar.gz
sudo mv monocle /usr/local/bin/

# x86_64
# x-release-please-start-version
curl -Lo monocle.tar.gz https://github.com/josephschmitt/monocle/releases/download/v0.46.1/monocle_linux_amd64.tar.gz
# x-release-please-end
tar xzf monocle.tar.gz
sudo mv monocle /usr/local/bin/

# ARM64
# x-release-please-start-version
curl -Lo monocle.tar.gz https://github.com/josephschmitt/monocle/releases/download/v0.46.1/monocle_linux_arm64.tar.gz
# x-release-please-end
tar xzf monocle.tar.gz
sudo mv monocle /usr/local/bin/

git clone https://github.com/josephschmitt/monocle.git
cd monocle
devbox run -- make build
# Binaries are in bin/

Quick Start

1. Register Monocle with your agent

monocle register          # interactive picker
monocle register claude   # or: opencode, codex, gemini, all

This configures MCP tools or skills depending on the agent. Claude Code gets an MCP server and slash commands; other agents get skill files. Use --global to write to the user-level config directory instead of the project. Override the default with --integration-mode mcp or --integration-mode skills.

Other agents

If your agent isn't natively supported, you can set up Monocle manually:

• MCP tools: If your agent supports MCP servers via stdio, point it at monocle serve-mcp. This exposes review tools (review_status, get_feedback, send_artifact, add_files) over stdio.
• Skills: Download skills.tar.gz from the latest release and extract the skill files into wherever your agent expects its skills.

2. Start reviewing

Start your agent and Monocle in separate terminals:

monocle

For Claude Code, Monocle registers an MCP server that exposes review tools directly — no bash permissions or skills needed. Other agents get skills that instruct them to run CLI commands.

Push notifications (Claude Code only)