@silo-code/sdk

Every project, always live —
built for the multi-agent workflow

Keep all your projects running simultaneously — terminals, agents, and layout intact — and switch between them in an instant.

Download for macOS →  ·  Download for Linux →  ·  Docs  ·  Roadmap  ·  Follow on X

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The problem with one-workspace-at-a-time editors

VS Code and Cursor are file-first editors. They're built around a single active workspace — which made sense when you were writing the code.

Now you're coordinating 3–5 AI coding agents simultaneously across different projects. Every time you switch context, you lose your terminal state. Your agents get interrupted. You spend more time rebuilding context than doing actual work.

Silo is built around the opposite model.

Open as many project workspaces as you need and tab between them instantly. Each workspace keeps its terminals running, its layout intact, and its agents working — exactly as you left it. Switching takes a keystroke, not a minute.

How it works

• Instant switching, zero reload — each project gets its own persistent tab; switch instantly without losing anything
• Layout that sticks — each workspace remembers its exact terminal tab arrangement; name tabs for specific jobs and they're waiting exactly where you left them
• Terminals and editors as equals — a terminal tab and an editor tab are the same thing; arrange them side by side, stack them, name them; span a workspace across multiple folders for monorepos or paired projects
• Free and open source, forever — MIT licensed, no subscription, no account, no enterprise tier; fork it, contribute to it, build on it
• Extension SDK — every built-in feature ships as an extension against the same public API you get; no ceiling on what you can add
• Local-first — everything runs on your machine; no cloud sync, no telemetry, no account required

Extend Silo with Claude Code

Silo ships a Claude Code skill that turns a plain-English description into a working extension — scaffolded from scratch, written in TypeScript, compiled, and hot-installed into the running app. No SDK knowledge required. Just describe what you want.

Step 1 — install the skill once:

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/silo-extension-builder && \
  curl -fsSL -o ~/.claude/skills/silo-extension-builder/SKILL.md \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/silo-code/silo/main/skills/silo-extension-builder/SKILL.md

Step 2 — describe what you want:

/silo-extension-builder Create a status bar item that shows the current git branch
and a dot when there are uncommitted changes.

Claude scaffolds the project, writes the TypeScript, compiles it, and installs it — all without leaving your terminal. The result is a real extension you own: edit the source, rebuild with npm run build, reinstall with silo install.

Things people have built this way in a single session:

• Git branch status bar — branch name + dirty indicator, updates on workspace switch
• GitHub Issues panel — lists open issues for the active repo via gh, with a refresh button
• Scratch pad — persisted notes panel that survives restarts
• Todo manager — reads and writes TODO.md in the active workspace, with checkboxes and inline add

Extensions install and uninstall live — no restart needed:

silo install ~/my-extensions/dave.git-branch
silo uninstall dave.git-branch

→ Full guide · Extension API

Who it's for

• You run Claude Code, Aider, or other AI coding agents and want to keep several going at once
• You work across multiple projects simultaneously and hate losing terminal state when switching
• You live in the terminal more than the editor
• You've hit the ceiling of what a single-workspace editor can do for your workflow

vs. VS Code / Cursor

	VS Code / Cursor	Silo
Switching projects	Reopens folder, loses terminal state	Instant tab switch — everything preserved
Multiple agents	One active workspace at a time	Many workspaces, all live simultaneously
Primary surface	File editor	Terminal + agents
Background terminals	Die or disconnect	Stay running
Extensible	Yes	Yes — open SDK, MIT licensed

Download

macOS (v0.4.0):

Build	Link
Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3)	Download .dmg
Intel Mac	Download .dmg

Linux (v0.4.0):

Build	Link
AppImage	Download .AppImage
Debian/Ubuntu	Download .deb

Windows — experimental builds are attached to every GitHub Release and may not work correctly. If you try it, please open an issue with what you find.

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Develop

Silo is a pnpm workspace (monorepo). Run commands from the repo root.

pnpm install
pnpm dev             # runs the "Silo Dev" build (isolated identity + data)

pnpm dev launches a separate Silo Dev app with its own icon and storage, so it runs side-by-side with an installed stable Silo without clobbering its state.

Task	Command
Dev app (isolated identity)	pnpm dev
Build a release bundle	pnpm --filter silo app:build
Typecheck	pnpm --filter silo exec tsc --noEmit
Lint (architecture boundary gate)	pnpm lint
Test	pnpm test
Docs site (live)	pnpm docs:dev

Repo layout

apps/desktop             # the Tauri desktop app (+ src-tauri Rust crate)
packages/sdk             # @silo-code/sdk — the public, types-first extension SDK
packages/extension-host  # the workbench host runtime (+ /internal surface)
packages/extensions-core / extensions-silo  # bundled first-party extensions
packages/ui              # internal shared components (private)
examples/extensions      # example extensions that dogfood the SDK
apps/docs                # @silo-code/docs — docs + API reference site (VitePress)

Releases

Releases are driven by Conventional Commits. On every push to main, release-please maintains a "release vX.Y.Z" PR that bumps the version everywhere and updates CHANGELOG.md. Merging that PR tags silo-vX.Y.Z, which triggers the release workflow to build macOS installers and publish them to GitHub Releases. The installed app checks for updates on launch and via Silo → Check for Updates….

Architecture

• Extensions touch the app only through ctx and @silo-code/sdk types. The boundary is enforced by the package graph and lint (platform ban + design-token CSS rule). See CLAUDE.md and docs/.
• The API reference is generated from source: pnpm docs:api → getsilo.dev

License

MIT Dave Weaver