Chell

A visual git client with an integrated terminal, designed for AI coding assistants.

Chell combines a simplified git interface with a full terminal environment, so you can run Claude Code, Aider, or any CLI-based coding assistant while keeping track of your changes.

Features

• Integrated terminal — Run your preferred AI coding assistant alongside git
• Simplified git — No staging, stashing, or complex workflows. Just commit and push.
• AI commit messages — Automatically generate commit messages from your changes
• Cross-platform — macOS, Windows, and Linux

Requirements

• Git — Must be installed and available in your PATH
  • macOS: xcode-select --install or brew install git
  • Linux: sudo apt install git or sudo dnf install git
  • Windows: git-scm.com
• AI coding assistant (optional) — Claude Code, Aider, or any CLI-based assistant you want to use in the terminal

Download

Get the latest release:

• macOS: Chell.dmg
• Linux: AppImage | .deb
• Windows: Installer | MSI

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• pnpm
• Rust toolchain
• Xcode Command Line Tools (macOS)

Setup

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Run in development mode
pnpm tauri dev

Building

# macOS
./scripts/build-macos.sh

# Linux
./scripts/build-linux.sh

# Windows (PowerShell)
.\scripts\build-windows.ps1

Build with version bump:

./scripts/build-macos.sh patch   # 0.1.0 → 0.1.1
./scripts/build-macos.sh minor   # 0.1.0 → 0.2.0
./scripts/build-macos.sh major   # 0.1.0 → 1.0.0

Environment Variables

Copy .env.local.example to .env.local and configure:

• APPLE_ID, APPLE_PASSWORD, APPLE_TEAM_ID — macOS notarization
• TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY — Update signing
• CLOUDFLARE_ACCOUNT_ID, CLOUDFLARE_R2_ACCESS_KEY, CLOUDFLARE_R2_SECRET_KEY — Release uploads

Tech Stack

• Framework: Tauri + Rust
• Frontend: React + TypeScript
• UI: shadcn/ui + Tailwind CSS
• Terminal: xterm.js
• Git: git2 (libgit2 bindings)

License

MIT