ivan-magda/swift-coding-agent

173 stars · Last commit 2026-06-26

A Swift reimplementation of a Claude Code-style coding agent, built stage by stage to explore what makes coding agents work

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# swift-coding-agent

Exploring the architecture of coding agents by rebuilding a Claude Code-style CLI from scratch in Swift.

![demo](demo.gif)

## Learning Series

A 9-part learning series covers the build on [ivanmagda.dev](https://ivanmagda.dev).

[Start the series →](https://ivanmagda.dev/posts/s00-bootstrapping-the-project)

## Why This Exists

Claude Code works better than most coding agents I've used, and I think the reason is restraint. I studied its tool surface and traced its loop to isolate which design choices do the work.

My working theory: **coding agents benefit more from a small set of excellent tools and a tight loop than from large orchestration layers.**

Claude Code ships few tools, and the ones it has are simple: a search tool, a file editor. They work well. The system trusts the model and skips the scaffolding most agents pile on.

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