Agentic desktop IDE. Language agnostic, OS agnostic. Every surface is a dockable panel: split, reorder, close what you don't need. The built-in panels cover most workflows. If they don't, the SDK is there.
Tauri 2 · React 18 · Dockview · Monaco · MIT · no telemetry
Demo
polyporedemo1080.mp4
Install
Download the build for your platform from the latest release. Polypore updates itself after the first install.
| Platform | File |
|---|---|
| Linux | .AppImage (any distro), .deb (Debian/Ubuntu), .rpm (Fedora/RHEL) |
| macOS | .dmg (Apple Silicon or Intel) |
| Windows | _x64_en-US.msi or _x64-setup.exe |
On Linux the AppImage needs FUSE (fuse2 on Arch). Mark it executable and run it:
chmod +x Polypore_*_amd64.AppImage ./Polypore_*_amd64.AppImage
To build from source instead, see Getting started below.
The idea
The agentic tooling space moves fast. The right models, CLIs, and orchestration patterns shift faster than a typical IDE's release cycle. Polypore is structured to keep up. Every surface is a sandboxed panel behind a shared contract. Any piece of the IDE can be swapped, extended, or dropped without touching the core.
This is not a code editor with an agent panel added later. The layout, the memory system, the debug tooling, and the MCP server are all designed around the agent as the primary actor.
Panels
Eight panels are available from the + tab button:
| Panel | What it does |
|---|---|
| claude | Claude CLI terminal with slash-command quick-launch |
| codex | Codex CLI terminal with slash-command quick-launch |
| preview | Live runtime output: browser, CLI, or any dev server |
| editor | Monaco editor with per-project diagnostics |
| diff-stack | Side-by-side diff and scrubbable history feed |
| terminal | Standalone pty terminal |
| debug | Verify runs and diagnostics |
| memory | Project knowledge base with [[wikilinks]] and context inventory |
| agent | Formation canvas, skills, MCP management, and secrets |
SDK and plugins
Third-party panels are sandboxed iframes using the same HostRpcServer contract as the built-ins. Write a plugin in any framework, drop it in .polypore/plugins/<id>/, and it appears in the panel strip. Agents can drive it through the MCP server the same way they drive built-in panels.
polypore-ide MCP server
A Node MCP sidecar ships with Polypore. Claude Code picks it up from .mcp.json automatically. Gives agents direct IDE control through 22+ tools:
| Namespace | What agents can do |
|---|---|
polypore.debug.* |
Start sessions, set breakpoints, step, capture console/DOM/network |
polypore.memory.* |
Read/write the knowledge base, link entries, write handoff documents |
polypore.verify.* |
Declare and run verification suites |
polypore.tasks.* |
Create and update tasks visible in the IDE in real time |
polypore.phase.* |
Report workflow phase to the live UI |
polypore.secrets.* |
Make mediated HTTP requests without seeing the secret value |
polypore.skills.* |
Read the active skill library |
polypore.format.* |
Trigger formatters in-editor |
Secret broker
Secrets live in the OS keyring. When Polypore spawns an agent it strips every registered secret from the environment and replaces it with a POLYPORE_SECRET_HANDLE_<KEY> sentinel. Agents call polypore.secrets.use with an HTTP request; Polypore injects the value and masks it on the way back. The model never sees plaintext.
Polyflow skills
15 slash commands in packages/polyflow/ covering the full development loop:
/polyflow /polyflow-go /polyflow-brainstorming /polyflow-writing-plans /polyflow-executing-plans /polyflow-tdd /polyflow-iterate /polyflow-debug /polyflow-review /polyflow-design-interface /polyflow-prd /polyflow-improve-architecture /polyflow-qa /polyflow-glossary /polyflow-compact
Stack
| Shell | Tauri 2, Rust |
| Renderer | React 18, Vite, TypeScript |
| Panels | Dockview |
| Editor | Monaco |
| Terminal | xterm.js, portable-pty |
| MCP sidecar | Node, JSON-RPC |
| Persistence | SQLite via rusqlite |
| Secrets | OS keyring via keyring crate |
| File watching | notify |
| Contracts | JSON Schema, codegen'd into packages/sdk/ |
Getting started
Prerequisites: Node 20+, Rust stable (rustup). Linux also needs libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libgtk-3-dev libayatana-appindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev.
npm ci cd src-tauri && cargo build && cd .. npm run app
For renderer-only development (no Tauri bridge):
Scripts
| Command | |
|---|---|
npm run app |
Desktop app via Tauri |
npm run app:build |
Production bundle |
npm run dev |
Vite renderer on 127.0.0.1:1420 |
npm run typecheck |
Codegen + tsc --noEmit |
npm test |
vitest renderer suite |
npm run mcp |
MCP sidecar against cwd |
npm run mcp:smoke |
JSON-RPC tools/list smoke |
npm run mcp:pipeline-smoke |
End-to-end plugin + skill + secret |
cd src-tauri && cargo test |
Rust tests |
cargo clippy --no-deps -- -D warnings |
Rust lints |
Architecture
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Tauri shell (Rust, src-tauri/) │
│ ├─ host_broker (HTTP) → emits Tauri events to the renderer │
│ ├─ secret_broker (HTTP) → OS keyring, never returns plaintext │
│ ├─ agent runtimes → stdio adapters per CLI; ACP opt-in │
│ ├─ pty (portable-pty) ├─ persistence (rusqlite) │
│ ├─ snapshotter ├─ fs_watch (notify) │
│ └─ plugin:// protocol → serves .polypore/plugins/<id>/<asset> │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Renderer (React + Dockview) │
│ ├─ HostRpcServer (packages/host) shared contract for all plugins │
│ ├─ PolyporeHost loopback built-in plugins use this │
│ ├─ PluginLoader 3rd-party iframes use this │
│ └─ built-in panels (plugins/) │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ polypore-ide MCP sidecar (Node, packages/mcp-server/) │
│ ├─ 22+ tools → host_broker for live state changes │
│ └─ secrets.* → secret_broker, value never returned to agent │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Contracts live in schemas/ and codegen into packages/sdk/src/types.gen.ts and packages/sdk/src/validators.gen.ts. Run npm run codegen after editing a schema.
Environment variables
POLYPORE_PROJECT_ROOT |
Override cwd as the workspace root |
POLYPORE_ENABLE_ACP=1 |
Opt into the ACP adapter |
POLYPORE_CONFIG_DIR |
Secrets metadata location (default ~/.config/polypore) |
POLYPORE_UPDATE_ENDPOINT |
Override the auto-updater endpoint |
Contributing
See CONTRIBUTING.md.