A Textual TUI that turns N parallel Claude Code sessions into one orchestrator-managed workspace — and lets the agent reshape the UI to fit the work.
pip install patchfeld
copied
Python 3.11+ · MIT · a studio for orchestrating agents
/* why use it */
Three Claude Code sessions across three terminal tabs is fine — until you're the one mentally juggling which is waiting on what. Patchfeld is a studio for orchestrating agents.
The orchestrator spawns children with their own prompts, allowed tools, and cwd. Each gets a transcript you can scroll, a state machine you can introspect, and a direct-message input box when you want to bypass the orchestrator.
“Open a diff viewer for the last edit”, “give me a 3-pane layout with file tree on the left”, “save that as review” — all of it routes through orchestrator tools and persists.
Reads transcripts, sends messages, interrupts, kills — all via in-process MCP tools layered on the Claude Agent SDK. No PTY parsing. No fragile regex.
Workspaces (per-cwd), layouts, themes, keybindings, transcripts, and a full agent history are stored on disk and restored on next launch. Atomic writes, append-only JSONL.
A Terminal widget is a real PTY — drop into the actual claude CLI, or your shell, in any panel. Mode-C custom widgets let the orchestrator ship Python at runtime when the curated library isn't enough.
Tokens, cost, and active children roll up across every running session. One window, one budget — refactor + tests + review without juggling tabs.
/* what it looks like */
Orchestrator chat on the left. Agent table and cross-agent activity feed on the right. StatusBar tracks tokens, cost, and active children across every session.
/* it's conversational */
The orchestrator owns the spec; you own the ideas. Every command below routes through a
structured tool call — spawn_agent,
set_layout,
save_layout,
bind_key — applied atomically with
rollback on failure.
Spawn three agents in parallel: tests running pytest -x --ff, lint running ruff + pyright, format running ruff format. Notify me when any of them fail.
spawn_agent × 3 · child rows in AgentTable · roll-up totals to StatusBar
Open a Review tab: orchestrator on top at 40%, below it a FileTree (30%) next to a DiffViewer (70%) showing the staged diff. Save it as review.
add_tab · set_layout · save_layout — applies atomically, rolls back on failure
Build a custom TokenChart widget that draws my token usage over the last hour as a sparkline, and put it as a 25% sidebar on the right.
set_layout with custom_widgets — Python source ships at runtime, isolated namespace
[migrator → orchestrator] (asking) Should I bump min Python to 3.11 or stay on 3.10?
Children get
notify_orchestrator
and
ask_orchestrator
injected automatically. A migration agent can stop and ask — you answer through
the orchestrator and the reply becomes the tool result on the child's side.
No modal. No context switch.
/* built-in widgets */
Splits, panels, sizes — the orchestrator emits a declarative spec and the engine swaps widgets in place. When the curated library doesn't fit, it can ship a custom Python widget at runtime in the same call.
OrchestratorChat
Rich transcript + input for the top-level Claude session.
AgentTable
Sortable list of children: name, status, elapsed, cost.
AgentTranscript
One agent's conversation, with a direct-message input.
Terminal
Real PTY — drop into the actual claude CLI or your shell.
FileEditor
Editable, syntax-highlighted; ctrl-s saves; warns on external changes.
DiffViewer
Unified-diff viewer (precomputed diff or before + after).
FileTree
Directory tree; emits FileSelected events on the bus.
SystemUsage
Compact CPU + RAM gauges with threshold-colored bars.
Plus
ActivityFeed,
FileViewer,
LogTail,
Markdown,
Notebook
— and any
.py
file you drop into ~/.config/patchfeld/widgets/.
/* install */
Patchfeld needs Python 3.11+ and the Claude CLI installed and authenticated.
It uses your ~/.claude/settings.json
for permissions and tool allowlists.
Recommended — isolated, on PATH.
pipx install patchfeld then run: patchfeld
Fast, modern. Same isolation as pipx.
uv tool install patchfeld then run: patchfeld
Plain pip, into a venv.
pip install patchfeld then run: patchfeld
First launch in a directory seeds the built-in dashboard and creates
.patchfeld/. Add it to your
.gitignore.