Choose Your Interface

Astonish provides multiple interfaces for different workflows and environments. Platform-based interfaces connect to the same platform and share sessions, memory, and flows. Astonish Code stands alone as a fully local coding tool that requires no platform.

Interfaces

Recommended Starting Point

New to Astonish? Start with Studio for the full visual experience, or Astonish Code if you want a local AI pair programmer in the terminal right now — no setup beyond an API key.

Astonish Code (Local Coding Tool)

A fully local, in-process coding agent — like Claude Code, Codex, or OpenCode. Runs directly in your project directory with no daemon, no platform, and no login required. Tools execute with your own permissions on the host filesystem.

astonish code                          # Start coding in current directory
astonish code -m anthropic:claude-4    # Pin a specific model
astonish code -C ./my-project          # Operate in a different directory
astonish code --auto-approve           # Bypass authorization prompts

Features unique to code mode:

• Plan mode — codegraph-powered planning that uses a pre-computed knowledge graph for highly efficient, dependency-aware plans in a fraction of the tool calls
• Ask mode — research-only Q&A to explore architecture and discuss approaches without changing files
• Rollback — revert both conversation and file changes to any earlier point
• Dual-backend switching (Ctrl+\) — switch to platform chat without leaving the TUI
• AGENTS.md project guidance — loads project conventions automatically
• Per-project sessions — each directory keeps its own conversation history

Best for: coding tasks, refactoring, local development, developers who want an AI pair programmer in the terminal.

See Code Mode documentation for full details.

Studio (Web UI)

The full visual interface running at http://localhost:9393. Includes the chat interface, visual flow designer, apps tab for generative UI, settings management, and real-time agent execution display with token tracking. Studio is served automatically by the daemon — just open http://localhost:9393 in your browser.

Best for: flow design, generative UI, managing apps and settings, visual execution monitoring.

CLI (Platform Chat)

A rich terminal chat interface with colors, markdown rendering, and interactive elements. Supports all agent capabilities including tool use, memory, and flow execution. Requires authentication via astonish login before use.

astonish login http://localhost:9393    # Authenticate against the platform
astonish chat                           # New session
astonish chat -p openai -m gpt-4o      # Specific provider/model
astonish chat --resume                  # Resume last session

Best for: platform-backed interactions, team memory, sandboxed execution, developers who prefer the terminal.

Remote CLI

The same CLI used for local access, pointed at a remote server. Authenticates via password or SSO, then provides the full CLI experience against the remote platform.

astonish login https://platform.yourcompany.com
astonish chat
astonish flows list
astonish status

Best for: team members accessing the shared platform remotely, CI/CD integration.

Telegram

Bot integration for mobile and desktop access. Supports database-backed allowlists and dynamic per-message routing in cloud deployments. Switch org and team context with in-channel commands.

Best for: quick questions on mobile, notifications, async interactions.

Email

Send messages to the agent via email. Supports plus-addressing for per-org routing (bot+orgname@domain.com). Responses are delivered back to the sender.

Best for: async workflows, forwarding content for processing, users who prefer email.

Slack

Workspace integration with team-scoped routing. Messages route to the correct org and team context based on the Slack workspace and channel configuration.

Best for: team collaboration, integrating agent responses into existing Slack workflows.

Comparison

Interface	Deployment	Real-time	Visual	Mobile	Requires Platform
Code	Local only	Yes	No	No	No
Studio	Local / Cloud	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
CLI	Local / Cloud	Yes	No	No	Yes
Remote CLI	Cloud only	Yes	No	No	Yes
Telegram	Local / Cloud	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Email	Local / Cloud	No (async)	No	Yes	Yes
Slack	Cloud only	Yes	No	Yes	Yes

Running Multiple Interfaces

Interfaces are not mutually exclusive. You can run Studio for visual work while using the CLI for quick tasks, and have Telegram configured for mobile access. All platform-based interfaces share the same sessions, memory, and platform context.

Astonish Code is standalone — it does not require the daemon and can run alongside any other interface. When logged in to a platform, press Ctrl+\ inside code mode to switch to the platform chat panel without leaving the TUI.

The daemon (astonish daemon start) must be running for platform-based interfaces (Studio, CLI, Remote CLI, Channels). The CLI authenticates against the daemon via astonish login.