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Chimera

Quickstart

Install

Section titled “Install”
Terminal window
pip install chimera-run
# or with uv
uv add chimera-run

For provider-specific extras:

Terminal window
pip install chimera-run[anthropic]  # Claude
pip install chimera-run[openai]     # GPT
pip install chimera-run[google]     # Gemini

Set up credentials

Section titled “Set up credentials”
Terminal window
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."
# or for compatible endpoints:
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.example.com"
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="your-token"
export ANTHROPIC_MODEL="your-model"

Your first agent

Section titled “Your first agent”
import chimera


provider = chimera.create_provider()
agent = chimera.Agent(provider=provider)
result = agent.run("What is 2 + 2?", env=None)
print(result.output)

Synthesize code

Section titled “Synthesize code”
import chimera


result = chimera.synthesize(
    spec="Create a function that checks if a number is prime",
    tests="python -m pytest tests/",
    workdir="./my-project",
)
print(f"Converged: {result.converged} in {result.iterations} iterations")

Use a preset

Section titled “Use a preset”

The canonical, fully-assembled stack is CodingAgent.from_preset(...):

from chimera.assembly.coding_agent import CodingAgent


# SWE-bench style (minimal scaffold, root-cause focus)
agent = CodingAgent.from_preset("swebench")


# Codex style (full tool suite)
agent = CodingAgent.from_preset("codex")


# Kimi style (action-first, KISS)
agent = CodingAgent.from_preset("kimi")


# Default full-featured coding agent
agent = CodingAgent.from_preset("coding_agent")

The legacy chimera.AgentPreset.SWE_AGENT.build(provider) family emits a DeprecationWarning and will be removed in v0.7.0. See Migration: AgentPreset → CodingAgent.

The 7-CLI tour

Section titled “The 7-CLI tour”

Chimera ships seven coding-agent CLIs, each composed from the same CodingAgent library but with different per-CLI defaults. The fastest way to pick one is the discovery commands:

Terminal window
# Show all 7 codenames + aliases + inspirations + parity row
chimera agents


# Recommend a CLI from a free-text description of what you want to do
chimera which "I want a TUI with mid-turn steering"
chimera which "host a long-running agent for multiple clients"


# Diagnose your environment (API keys, daemons, optional extras)
chimera doctor

Each CLI is invoked as a subcommand, with a short alias for the posture it adopts:

Terminal window
chimera mink           # alias: tui     — TUI-first interactive
chimera otter          # alias: multi   — server-first, HTTP+SSE / ACP serve
chimera ferret         # alias: sandbox — sandbox × approval composition
chimera weasel         # alias: mini    — minimal harness, four modes
chimera shrew          # alias: tiny    — small local model tuning
chimera stoat          # alias: shell   — shell-mode toggle, Kimi defaults
chimera badger         # alias: strict  — harness-rewrite + parity tracking

chimera resume <id> auto-detects which CLI minted a session id and hands the resume off to the right CLI; chimera resume (no id) picks the most recent run across all seven.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”