AnviLLM

Acme-native interface for LLM chat backends. Sessions appear as Acme windows and are exposed via 9P filesystem.

Architecture

AnviLLM consists of:

• anvilsrv: Background daemon managing sessions via 9P
• Assist: Acme UI client (auto-starts daemon if needed)
• anvillm.el: For our emacs friends ;)
• anvillm: Terminal UI (curses-based) for everyone else

This separation allows:

• Multiple clients to connect to the same sessions
• Server survives client crashes/restarts
• Scriptable workflows via 9P without UI dependencies
• Service management (systemd/runit integration)
• Choice of interface: Acme, terminal, or Emacs

Requirements

• Go 1.21+, plan9port, tmux
• landrun (sandboxing, Linux kernel 5.13+)
• Backend CLI: Claude Code or Kiro CLI

Installation

git clone https://github.com/lneely/anvillm
cd anvillm
mk  # installs anvilsrv and Assist to $HOME/bin

Service Integration

Install as system service (optional):

systemd:

# User service (recommended)
cp services/systemd/anvilsrv-user.service ~/.config/systemd/user/
systemctl --user enable --now anvilsrv

# System service
sudo cp services/systemd/anvilsrv.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo systemctl enable --now anvilsrv

runit:

sudo cp -r services/runit /etc/sv/anvilsrv
sudo ln -s /etc/sv/anvilsrv /var/service/

See services/*/README.md for details.

Usage

Starting the Server

Automatic: Assist auto-starts anvilsrv if not running.

Manual:

anvilsrv start       # Daemonize (background)
anvilsrv fgstart     # Foreground (for debugging)
anvilsrv status      # Check if running
anvilsrv stop        # Shutdown

Multiple Namespaces

anvilsrv respects the $NAMESPACE environment variable, allowing multiple independent instances for different Acme sessions (similar to running multiple Acme instances with acme -a).

Default namespace: /tmp/ns.$USER.:0

Example: Running multiple instances

# Start default instance (namespace :0)
anvilsrv start

# Start second instance (namespace :1)
NAMESPACE=/tmp/ns.$USER.:1 anvilsrv start

# Check status of each instance
anvilsrv status                           # :0
NAMESPACE=/tmp/ns.$USER.:1 anvilsrv status  # :1

# Each instance has isolated:
# - PID file: $NAMESPACE/anvilsrv.pid
# - 9P socket: $NAMESPACE/agent
# - Session list (completely independent)

# Connect Assist to specific instance
NAMESPACE=/tmp/ns.$USER.:1 Assist

This enables running separate AnviLLM environments for different projects or Acme workspaces.

Terminal UI (anvillm)

Run anvillm for a curses-based interface (no Acme required):

anvillm

Keyboard shortcuts:

• s - Start new session (shows backend menu)
• p - Send prompt to selected session
• t - Stop selected session
• R - Restart selected session
• K - Kill selected session
• a - Set session alias
• r - Refresh session list
• d - Daemon status
• ? - Help
• q - Quit

To attach to the anvillm session, simply open a different terminal and use tmux attach.

Navigation:

• Arrow keys (↑/↓)
• Vim-style (j/k)
• Emacs-style (C-n/C-p)

Like Assist, the TUI reads/writes the 9P filesystem for all operations.

Emacs Interface (anvillm.el)

Run M-x anvillm in Emacs for a native Emacs interface:

Installation:

Copy anvillm.el to ~/.emacs.d/lisp/ or wherever your elisp files live. Then, add to your emacs init:

(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/anvillm.el/")
(require 'anvillm)

Keybindings:

• s - Start new session (select backend)
• p - Send prompt to selected session
• P - Send prompt to selected session using minibuffer
• t - Stop selected session
• R - Restart selected session
• K - Kill selected session
• a - Set alias for selected session
• r - Refresh session list
• g - Refresh session list (standard Emacs binding)
• d - Daemon status
• q - Quit
• ? - Help

Navigation:

• Standard Emacs navigation (n, p, C-n, C-p)
• Sessions displayed in a sortable table (click column headers)

The Emacs interface uses the 9p command from plan9port to interact with the filesystem.

Acme Interface (Assist)

Type Assist in Acme and middle-click to open the /AnviLLM/ session manager.

Commands

Main window (/AnviLLM/) tag: Get Attach Stop Restart Kill Refresh Alias Context Daemon Sandbox

Command	Description
Kiro <dir>	Start kiro-cli session
Claude <dir>	Start Claude session
Stop <id>	Stop session (preserves tmux)
Restart <id>	Restart stopped session
Kill <id>	Terminate session
Refresh <id>	Re-detect session state
Attach <id>	Open tmux terminal
Alias <id> <name>	Name a session
Context <id>	Edit context (prepended to prompts)
Daemon	Manage anvilsrv daemon (start/stop/status)
Sandbox	Configure sandbox settings

Right-click a session ID to open its prompt window. Select text anywhere and 2-1 chord on a session ID for fire-and-forget prompts.

Note: Assist reconnects to the running anvilsrv daemon, so sessions persist across Assist restarts.

Prompt window (+Prompt.<id>) tag: Send

Type prompt, click Send.

Notifications

Desktop notifications on session completion via anvillm-notify (starts automatically, requires notify-send).

9P Filesystem

The anvilsrv daemon exposes sessions via a 9P filesystem at $NAMESPACE/agent (typically /tmp/ns.$USER/agent).

agent/
├── ctl             # "new <backend> <cwd>" creates session
├── list            # id, alias, state, pid, cwd
└── <id>/
    ├── in          # Write prompts
    ├── out         # Read responses
    ├── ctl         # "stop", "restart", "kill", "refresh"
    ├── state       # starting, idle, running, stopped, error, exited
    ├── context     # Prepended to prompts (r/w)
    ├── alias       # Session name (r/w)
    ├── pid         # Process ID
    ├── cwd         # Working directory
    └── backend     # Backend name

Path Validation: Session creation validates and cleans paths (e.g., /../../../etc → /etc), and rejects nonexistent directories.

Example:

echo 'new claude /home/user/project' | 9p write agent/ctl
echo 'Hello' | 9p write agent/a3f2b9d1/in
9p read agent/a3f2b9d1/state  # → "running"
echo 'stop' | 9p write agent/a3f2b9d1/ctl
9p read agent/a3f2b9d1/state  # → "stopped"

Security: See SECURITY.md for 9P socket authentication limitations.

Backends

Backend	Install
Claude	npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
Kiro	Kiro CLI

Both run with full permissions inside the sandbox (--dangerously-skip-permissions, --trust-all-tools).

Adding Backends

Create internal/backends/yourbackend.go, implement CommandHandler and StateInspector interfaces, register in main.go. See existing backends for examples.

Sandboxing

Backends run inside landrun sandboxes. Sandboxing cannot be disabled — it's the only safety layer.

Defaults

• Filesystem: CWD, /tmp, config dirs (rw); /usr, /lib, /bin (ro+exec)
• Network: disabled
• Mode: strict (best_effort: false) — sessions fail if sandbox unavailable

Configuration

Click Sandbox in main window, then Edit to modify ~/.config/anvillm/sandbox.yaml.

Path templates: {CWD}, {HOME}, {TMPDIR}

# Enable network
network:
  enabled: true
  unrestricted: true

# Add paths
filesystem:
  rw:
    - "{CWD}"
    - "{HOME}/.npm"

Changes apply to new sessions only.

Kernel Requirements

Kernel	Landlock ABI	Features
5.13+	v1	Filesystem
6.7+	v4	Improved FS
6.10+	v5	Network

Best-Effort Mode

Set best_effort: true for graceful degradation on older kernels.

Warning: If landrun is missing or kernel lacks Landlock, sessions run completely unsandboxed. Only enable if you accept this risk.

Reproducible Workflows

The 9P filesystem enables scripted multi-agent workflows. Create sessions, set contexts, and wire agents together programmatically.

Example: Developer-Reviewer

Two agents collaborate on code changes — one implements, one reviews:

./scripts/DevReview claude /path/to/project

Creates paired sessions with contexts that instruct agents to:

1. Developer implements and stages changes
2. Developer sends review request via agent/{reviewer-id}/in
3. Reviewer examines diff, sends feedback or "LGTM"
4. Loop until approved

Example: Planning

Three-agent workflow for documentation tasks:

./scripts/Planning kiro /path/to/docs

• Research: Queries codebase and knowledge base
• Engineering: Writes/updates documentation, queries research when needed
• Tech-editor: Reviews for quality, requests changes from engineering

Writing Your Own

Key patterns from the example scripts:

# Create session, capture ID
echo "new claude /project" | 9p write agent/ctl
ID=$(9p read agent/list | tail -1 | awk '{print $1}')

# Set context (defines agent behavior)
cat <<EOF | 9p write agent/$ID/context
You are a code reviewer. When you receive code...
EOF

# Agents communicate via each other's in files
echo "Please review staged changes" | 9p write agent/$PEER_ID/in

See scripts/DevReview and scripts/Planning for complete examples.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
"Failed to connect to anvilsrv"	Check anvilsrv status; try anvilsrv start
Session won't start	Check stderr; verify which claude or which kiro-cli
Landlock ABI error	Set best_effort: true or upgrade kernel
Permission denied	Add paths to sandbox config
Orphaned tmux	tmux kill-session -t anvillm-claude
9P not working	Verify plan9port: 9p ls agent
Stale PID file	anvilsrv stop cleans up automatically
Daemon won't stop	Check logs with anvilsrv fgstart

Debugging: Run anvilsrv fgstart to see daemon logs in foreground.

Terminal: Attach command uses $ANVILLM_TERMINAL or defaults to foot. Configure in environment or see cmd/Assist/main.go.