Code Assistant¶

An orchestrator agent with code execution, file I/O, and shell access. It can write scripts, read and explain code, run tests, fix bugs, and execute shell commands -- all locally on your machine.

Quickstart (5 minutes)¶

1. Install and initialize¶

git clone https://github.com/open-jarvis/OpenJarvis.git
cd OpenJarvis
uv sync --extra dev
jarvis init --preset code-assistant

This writes a pre-configured ~/.openjarvis/config.toml for the code assistant.

2. Start a local LLM via Ollama¶

# Install Ollama: https://ollama.com
ollama pull qwen3.5:9b

3. Ask a coding question¶

jarvis ask "Write a Python script that reads a CSV file and prints the top 5 rows"

The orchestrator agent will plan the approach, write the code, and can execute it if you approve.

CLI Commands¶

# Ask a coding question (uses orchestrator agent by default with this config)
jarvis ask "Write a Python script that parses JSON from stdin"

# Read and explain existing code
jarvis ask "Read main.py and explain the architecture"

# Fix a bug
jarvis ask "Find and fix the bug in test_utils.py"

# Run tests
jarvis ask "Run the test suite and summarize any failures"

# Explicitly specify agent and tools
jarvis ask --agent orchestrator --tools code_interpreter "Calculate the first 20 Fibonacci numbers"

# Interactive chat for iterative coding
jarvis chat

Configuration Reference¶

The preset writes this to ~/.openjarvis/config.toml:

[engine]
default = "ollama"

[intelligence]
default_model = "qwen3.5:9b"
# default_model = "qwen3.5:35b"    # Better for complex code tasks

[agent]
default_agent = "orchestrator"      # Multi-turn with tool selection
max_turns = 10

[tools]
enabled = ["code_interpreter", "file_read", "file_write", "shell_exec", "web_search", "think", "calculator"]

Key settings¶

Setting	Default	Description
`intelligence.default_model`	`qwen3.5:9b`	The model for code generation. Use `qwen3.5:35b` for complex tasks like refactoring or multi-file changes.
`agent.default_agent`	`orchestrator`	Multi-turn agent that picks tools iteratively until it has an answer.
`agent.max_turns`	`10`	Maximum tool-calling iterations. Increase for multi-step tasks.
`tools.enabled`	7 tools	`code_interpreter` (execute Python), `file_read`, `file_write`, `shell_exec` (run shell commands), `web_search`, `think`, `calculator`.

Tools explained¶

Tool	What it does
`code_interpreter`	Executes Python code in a sandboxed environment and returns output.
`file_read`	Reads files with path validation. The agent can inspect source code, configs, logs.
`file_write`	Writes or modifies files. The agent can create scripts, patch code, write configs.
`shell_exec`	Runs shell commands (e.g., `git status`, `pytest`, `ls`).
`web_search`	Searches the web for documentation, Stack Overflow answers, etc.
`think`	Internal reasoning scratchpad for planning multi-step solutions.
`calculator`	Evaluates mathematical expressions.

Example Tasks¶

# Write a new script
jarvis ask "Write a Python script that converts YAML to JSON"

# Explain existing code
jarvis ask "Read src/openjarvis/core/events.py and explain the EventBus pattern"

# Debug a failing test
jarvis ask "Run pytest tests/test_memory.py -v and fix any failures"

# Refactor code
jarvis ask "Read utils.py and refactor the parse_config function to use dataclasses"

# Generate tests
jarvis ask "Read src/openjarvis/tools/calculator.py and write unit tests for it"

# Shell tasks
jarvis ask "Find all Python files larger than 100KB in this repo"

Safety Notes¶

The shell_exec and code_interpreter tools execute real commands on your machine. Keep these in mind:

shell_exec runs commands in your current user context. It can read, write, and delete files. Avoid running the agent on directories containing sensitive data without reviewing tool calls.
code_interpreter executes Python code. It has access to your Python environment and installed packages.
The agent asks for confirmation before executing potentially destructive commands when running in interactive mode (jarvis chat).
For stronger isolation, use the sandboxed agent: jarvis ask --agent sandboxed --tools code_interpreter "...", which runs inside a Docker/Podman container.

Troubleshooting¶

"Tool not found: code_interpreter" -- Make sure your config.toml includes code_interpreter in the tools.enabled list.

Agent loops without progress -- Increase max_turns if the task is complex, or use a larger model (qwen3.5:35b). The 9b model handles most single-file tasks; multi-file refactoring benefits from more parameters.

Shell command fails -- The shell_exec tool runs commands relative to where you launched jarvis. Use cd /path && command in your prompt if needed, or run jarvis from the project directory.

Web search not working -- Install with uv sync --extra tools-search and set TAVILY_API_KEY.

Code execution hangs -- The code_interpreter has a default timeout. Long-running scripts will be terminated. Break large tasks into smaller steps.