heb. 'kotef' (קוטף) — 'one who picks/harvests' (wordplay with 'katef' כתף — 'a shoulder to support you')
"Give me a repo and a goal. I'll research, plan, and document everything — then code it safely."
Not another AI code editor. Kotef is an autonomous SDD Brain — it researches best practices, creates architecture specs, generates tickets, and only then writes code. Think of it as an Architect + Tech Lead in a CLI.
| 🧠 | SDD Brain Creates project.md, architect.md, best_practices.md, tickets |
| 🔍 | Deep Research Quality-scored web research with citations |
| 📋 | Intent Contracts Explicit constraints, DoD, forbidden paths |
| 🛡️ | Verification Loop Tests changes before committing |
| Other AI Coders | Kotef |
|---|---|
| Jump straight to code | Research → Architecture → Tickets → Code |
| Hallucinate APIs | Ground decisions in fresh web research |
| Ignore your patterns | Read and respect your codebase |
| Leave uncommitted mess | Auto-commit per feature with verification |
| Forget context between runs | Project memory + research cache |
Kotef's unique value: It's not trying to be an IDE. It's a brain that does the thinking (research, architecture, planning) so you can focus on reviewing and shipping.
Layered defense against hallucinations:
- RAG: Grounds decisions in fresh web research with citations
- Prompts: Explicit constraints, forbidden paths, uncertainty handling
- Verification: Tests changes before committing
- Guardrails: Intent Contract enforces DoD and constraints
# 1. Configure environment
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your API keys
# 2. Install & build
npm install && npm run build
# 3. Run
node bin/kotef run --root /path/to/repo --goal "Add user login feature"Interactive mode:
node bin/kotef chat --root /path/to/repo┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SDD BRAIN │
│ Creates .sdd/ folder with: │
│ • project.md — goals, constraints, DoD │
│ • architect.md — architecture decisions │
│ • best_practices.md — research-backed patterns │
│ • backlog/tickets/ — implementation tasks │
│ • KOTEF.md — project-level policies │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ RUNTIME FLOW │
│ planner → researcher → coder → verifier → ticket_closer │
│ │
│ • Intent Contract enforces constraints │
│ • Research cache avoids duplicate web calls │
│ • Project memory learns from past runs │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Tech: Node.js + TypeScript + LangGraph, deep web research with quality scoring, LSP diagnostics, git integration, execution profiles (strict/fast/smoke/yolo).
- Solo devs shipping features fast
- Tech leads delegating implementation
- Teams handling ticket backlogs
- Anyone tired of AI that guesses wrong
High-impact areas: smarter research, better planning, bulletproof verification.
Found a bug? Open an issue. Have an idea? Start a discussion. Want to code? Check .sdd/backlog/tickets/.
See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.
Apache 2.0 — see LICENSE.