norte / AI agents · MCP

Let AI agents touch your files, under your rules.

Name: norte
Author: norte

norte mcp serve gives an agent a file interface with a gatekeeper: nothing out of scope, every change held for your approval if your policy says so, and everything journaled under the agent's name.

v0.3.0-alpha.16

Terminal · ntc

The two-pane file manager for any terminal. No desktop or background service required.

$curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/compilando/norte/releases/download/v0.3.0-alpha.16/norte-tui-installer.sh | sh

Linux x86_64, 15 MB, no root, installs into ~/.cargo/bin

Window · norte-gui

The native desktop app. Each package also includes ntc and norte.

.deb54 MB↓.rpm54 MB↓.AppImage126 MB↓

Read the docs →

It has to ask for a scope

Outside a granted scope an agent gets nothing, not even a listing. It asks for a folder, the operations it wants and for how long; you grant it with norte policy grant.

Every change can wait for your yes

With action = "ask" in your policy, each operation stops in ntc on the daemon, or in the window, until you press y; unanswered, it is denied after a minute. Rules match by operation, path, scheme and actor; the first match wins, and with no policy an agent is denied.

Everything in the journal

Everything the agent did is in the journal under its session, next to what you did, in the same timeline.

Hook up Claude Code — or any MCP client

Claude Code

$claude mcp add norte -- norte mcp serve --session claude

policy.toml: agents ask (read at the daemon's start)

$printf '[[rule]]\nactor = "agent"\naction = "ask"\n' >> ~/.config/norte/policy.toml

norte

$norte policy grant <request_id>

FAQ

›Which AI agents work with norte?

Any MCP client: Claude Code, Codex and others. norte mcp serve speaks MCP over stdio and exposes tools to list, read, copy, move, delete, compare and plan syncs.

›Can an agent delete my files?

Only inside a scope you granted, and only if your policy allows it; you can deny deletes for agents outright, or make every operation ask first. Local deletes go to the trash by default.

›Is this a real AI in the screenshots?

No: photo-helper is an MCP client scripted for the captures. Everything else on screen — the daemon, the policy, the approval and the journal — is norte.

See everything norte does →

Download

Ready to point north?

Install the Linux alpha today, or build norte anywhere Rust runs. No account and no telemetry.

Terminal · Linux x86_64v0.3.0-alpha.16

ntc — the file manager

$curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/compilando/norte/releases/download/v0.3.0-alpha.16/norte-tui-installer.sh | sh

norte — daemon, CLI, MCP

$curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/compilando/norte/releases/download/v0.3.0-alpha.16/norte-cli-installer.sh | sh

All downloads Build from source

The window · one bundle, three binaries

.debDebian · Ubuntudpkg -i54 MB↓.rpmFedora · openSUSEdnf install54 MB↓.AppImageAnything elsechmod +x126 MB↓

Windows · first preview, unsigned

setup.exeWindows 10 · 11 x64installs per user, no admin38 MB↓.zipPortableunzip, run norte-gui.exe56 MB↓

Each package carries norte and ntc with it, so a clean install always has a daemon to talk to.

Linux x86_64, and a first Windows x86_64 preview. macOS builds from source; binaries come the day releases are built in CI.