Run an external agent CLI
Use an installed coding-agent CLI in a Localix terminal, or continue one of its recorded native sessions. External history, transcript viewing and usage statistics are built into Localix.
Start a session
- Install and authenticate the CLI you want to use outside Localix.
- Start a Localix chat in the project where the CLI should work.
- Open the Localix agent pill above the composer and choose an installed coding agent. Localix links it to this chat and opens its terminal in the chat's working directory.
- Use the CLI's own terminal controls for authentication and permission prompts. The Localix chat and composer remain available alongside it.
You can also launch a CLI manually in a project terminal:
| Agent | Basic launch command |
|---|---|
| Claude Code | claude |
| Codex | codex |
| opencode | opencode |
| Gemini CLI | gemini |
| GitHub Copilot | copilot |
| Hermes | hermes |
Only detected executables appear in the agent-link menu and native-history views. The runtime prompt gives shell-capable Localix agents the installed CLI names and basic commands; there is no external-agent mini app, plugin or bundled slash command to enable.
Continue an existing session
Choose a native CLI session from the history panel for the selected directory. Localix creates or reuses a normal chat linked to that native identity, then requests its terminal. It preserves the recorded timestamps and keeps the external messages in the CLI's own history; it does not import those messages into the Localix chat.
For a transcript preview, browse External Agents under @resource: or open a session from
external statistics. Reading the preview starts no CLI and creates no chat. Open in … uses the
same linked-chat flow to continue the exact native session. All six adapters declare continuation
commands; an unavailable source produces an error instead of starting a different conversation.
Reopening a linked chat reuses its live terminal. If the terminal has closed, Localix needs a saved native identity to resume it. A CLI that closed before its identity was discovered cannot silently start afresh in that linked chat; see opening failures.
Let Localix investigate the conversation
Drag the external session into your Localix composer, use Link to chat in a preview opened from
that chat, or browse External Agents with @resource:. Ask the agent what it should investigate
and send the reference. It receives a bounded digest and the original key, then can use
ExternalAgentSessions to read more transcript windows, recorded tool calls and their results.
A link is a read-only reference, not an instruction to start a CLI. Starting and operating a terminal still uses the normal tool permissions. Inspect the resulting files, source-control changes and checks before relying on an external agent's answer.
Limits
- Only supported CLIs found on the executable search path are exposed. History files alone are insufficient.
- History format support is adapter-specific. Missing token usage remains unknown, and bounded transcript reads disclose omitted turns.
- Live terminal state is inferred from observed screens. An unknown state does not mean success.
- Native messages remain in the external history; linking adds identity, not transcript copies.
- Linked context is sent to your selected model provider, like other composer context.
- Localix does not edit the original external history files.