Opencode Python SDK

Python SDK for Opencode — the open source AI coding agent.

pip install opencode-py

Do I need Opencode pre-installed? No. The SDK automatically downloads the opencode binary for your OS (Windows/macOS/Linux, x64/arm64) on first use to ~/.opencode/bin/. The binary is only used internally by the SDK — it is NOT added to PATH, NOT registered system-wide, and NOT shown in the Start Menu.

What if I install the official Opencode later? If you install Opencode via npm install -g opencode-ai or another method, the SDK will use the PATH version instead — no conflict.

See Binary management for details.

CLI

After installation, the opencode-py command is available system-wide from any directory:

opencode-py "What is the capital of France?"   # one-shot prompt
echo "What is the capital of France?" | opencode-py  # via pipe
opencode-py --help                              # show all options

All CLI flags:

Flag	Description
prompt (positional)	Prompt text or read from stdin
--model / -m	Model name (e.g. opencode/big-pickle)
--keep / -k	Keep session alive between calls
--auto-tools	Enable agentic tool execution
--directory / -d	Working directory
--port / -p	Server port (default: 4096)

You can also use python -m opencode:

python -m opencode "Explain dependency injection"
python -m opencode --model "opencode/big-pickle" "Hello"

Client library reference

One-shot (spawns server, asks, cleans up)

from opencode import opencode

answer = opencode("What is the capital of France?")
print(answer)

Context manager (recommended)

from opencode import Opencode

with Opencode() as ai:
    answer = ai.ask("Explain dependency injection")
    print(answer)

Streaming

with Opencode() as ai:
    for chunk in ai.ask_stream("Write a Python function"):
        print(chunk, end="")

ask_stream() subscribes to the server's SSE (/event) endpoint, sends the prompt, and yields each text chunk as it arrives. Reasoning blocks, user echo, and duplicate text are automatically filtered out.

Typed stream events

For advanced use, the SDK exposes the full SSE event stream as typed Pydantic models via parse_stream_event():

from opencode._stream_events import (
    MessagePartDeltaProps,
    MessagePartUpdatedProps,
    MessageUpdatedProps,
    SessionStatusProps,
    parse_stream_event,
)

with Opencode() as ai:
    session = ai.create_session()
    response = ai.client.event_subscribe()  # raw SSE stream
    ai.client.session_send(session.id, {"parts": [{"type": "text", "text": "Hi"}]})

    for line in response.iter_lines():
        if not line.startswith("data: "):
            continue
        event = parse_stream_event(line[6:])
        props = event.properties

        # Skip events for other sessions
        if props.get("sessionID") not in (None, session.id):
            continue

        if event.type == "message.part.delta":
            p = MessagePartDeltaProps.model_construct(**props)
            print(p.delta, end="")  # typed access to .delta, .partID, etc.

        elif event.type == "session.status":
            p = SessionStatusProps.model_construct(**props)
            if p.status.get("type") == "idle":
                break

This works for all ~75 event types: message.updated, session.status, session.next.text.delta, permission.asked, question.asked, file.edited, and more. Use parse_typed_event() for automatic property validation.

See live_stream_events.py for a complete demo.

Conversations

with Opencode() as ai:
    session = ai.create_session()
    msg1 = session.prompt("Suggest a project name")
    print(f"AI: {msg1}")
    msg2 = session.prompt("Now write a tagline for it")
    print(f"AI: {msg2}")

Session methods

Every Session object provides additional methods:

with Opencode() as ai:
    session = ai.create_session()
    session.prompt("Hello")

    # Get conversation history
    ctx = session.context()        # list of all messages
    msgs = session.messages()      # paginated message list

    # Control
    session.abort()                # abort current generation
    session.delete_message("msg_xxx")  # permanently remove a message
    session.compact()              # compact conversation
    session.fork()                 # fork into new session

    # Inspect
    session.diff()                 # file changes made by AI
    session.todo()                 # remaining TODOs

Message deletion is permanent — the message and its parts are removed without reverting file changes. To undo changes made by a message, use session.revert() instead (or session.fork() to branch).

Multi-turn (keep mode)

Reuses server and session across calls:

from opencode import opencode

r1 = opencode("My name is Alice", keep=True)
r2 = opencode("What's my name?", keep=True)   # remembers conversation
r3 = opencode("That's all", keep=False)        # closes server

# Also accepts: model, format, port, directory, config, agent

Auto-tools (agentic tool execution)

r = opencode("Create a file called hello.txt", auto_tools=True)

Available tools: bash, write, edit, read, glob, grep.

By default bash asks for permission in the console, all others run without prompting.

Custom permissions via Session.ask():

from opencode import Opencode, ToolExecutor

with Opencode() as ai:
    session = ai.create_session()
    msg = session.ask(
        "Write test.py with print('hello')",
        tool_executor=ToolExecutor(
            permissions={"write": "allow"},
            workdir="/path/to/sandbox",      # restrict file operations
        ),
        max_tool_rounds=25,                    # safety limit
        quiet=True,                            # suppress tool logs
    )

The first AI response in ask() enters plan mode — the SDK auto-confirms with "Exit plan mode and proceed" to make the model execute tools immediately.

Low-level client (any endpoint)

with Opencode() as ai:
    content = ai.client.file_read("src/main.py")
    diff = ai.client.vcs_diff("HEAD~3")
    config = ai.client.config_get()
    session = ai.client.session_create()
    ai.client.v2_session_prompt(session.id, {"text": "Hello"})

All client methods return typed Pydantic models — IDE autocomplete, .model_dump(), .model_dump_json().

Connecting to an existing server

Skip subprocess management by pointing at a running opencode serve:

from opencode import OpencodeClient

client = OpencodeClient(base_url="http://127.0.0.1:4096", directory=".")
health = client.health()

from opencode import AsyncOpendcodeClient

async with AsyncOpendcodeClient(base_url="http://127.0.0.1:4096") as client:
    health = await client.health()

Cloning a client

client2 = client.copy(base_url="http://other:4096", timeout=60.0)

# Or via with_options:
faster = client.with_options(timeout=10.0, max_retries=0)

Raw HTTP response

Wraps any client method to also return the raw httpx.Response:

from opencode import RawResponse

with client.with_raw_response:
    raw: RawResponse = client.health()

raw.status_code              # 200
raw.headers                  # httpx.Headers
raw.content                  # bytes
raw.parsed                   # HealthResponse (typed model)
raw.response                 # httpx.Response (full)

The context manager resets automatically after one call. Works with every client method (sync and async). See live_raw.py for a full demo.

Retry & error handling

Typed exception hierarchy. All errors are importable from opencode:

from opencode import OpencodeClient, RateLimitError, InternalServerError

client = OpencodeClient(max_retries=3)  # exponential backoff with jitter

try:
    health = client.health()
    print(health.version)
except RateLimitError:
    print("too many requests — retried but failed")
except InternalServerError:
    print("server error")

Full error class hierarchy:

Class	HTTP status	When raised
OpencodeError	—	Base for all SDK errors
APIConnectionError	—	Network / connection failure
APITimeoutError	—	Request timed out
APIResponseValidationError	—	Response doesn't match schema
APIStatusError	4xx/5xx	Base for HTTP error responses
BadRequestError	400	Malformed request
AuthenticationError	401	Invalid or missing API key
PermissionDeniedError	403	Access denied
NotFoundError	404	Resource not found
ConflictError	409	Resource conflict
UnprocessableEntityError	422	Validation error in request body
RateLimitError	429	Rate limit exceeded
InternalServerError	500+	Server-side error
BinaryNotFoundError	—	opencode binary not on PATH
ServerStartupTimeoutError	—	Server didn't start in time

Retry policy: 408, 409, 429, 5xx and timeouts are retried with exponential backoff + jitter. Retry-After and retry-after-ms headers are respected.

Structured output

with Opencode(model="anthropic/claude-sonnet-4") as ai:
    result = ai.ask(
        "Generate a user profile",
        format={
            "type": "json_schema",
            "schema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "name": {"type": "string"},
                    "age": {"type": "integer"},
                },
                "required": ["name", "age"],
            },
        },
    )
    # result is a JSON string matching the schema

Works with opencode(), async_opencode(), Session.prompt(), and Session.ask().

Requires a model that supports tool_choice="required" (Claude, GPT-4). The free opencode/big-pickle (DeepSeek) does NOT support this.

Debug logging

# Linux / macOS (bash/zsh)
OPENCODE_LOG=debug python my_script.py

# Windows (PowerShell)
$env:OPENCODE_LOG="debug"; python my_script.py

# Windows (cmd)
set OPENCODE_LOG=debug && python my_script.py

Shows all HTTP requests/responses with timing.

Web UI (zero dependencies)

python web/server.py
# → open http://127.0.0.1:3000

Built-in HTTP server + proxy to opencode serve — no extra dependencies.

Interactive dialog

python live.py            # sync multi-turn dialog
python live_async.py      # async multi-turn dialog
python live_streaming.py  # streaming dialog (reuse session)
python live_raw.py        # with_raw_response demo (7 scenarios)
python live_stream_events.py "Your prompt"  # typed SSE event inspection
python demo.py            # full API coverage test (38 endpoints)

All scripts clean up the server on exit via atexit.

ToolExecutor reference

from opencode import ToolExecutor

# Default permissions:
#   bash → "ask"   (prompts in console)
#   write → "allow"
#   edit  → "allow"
#   read  → "allow"
#   glob  → "allow"
#   grep  → "allow"

executor = ToolExecutor(
    permissions={
        "bash": "allow",      # always allow
        "write": "deny",       # always deny
        "grep": "ask",         # ask each time
    },
    workdir="/path/to/sandbox",  # restrict file operations here
    confirm=lambda name, inp: name != "bash",  # custom confirm function
)

# Use with Session.ask():
session.ask("Create a project", tool_executor=executor)

Binary management

When opencode is not on PATH, the SDK auto-downloads it to ~/.opencode/bin/opencode.

Resolution order:

1. PATH — shutil.which("opencode")
2. ~/.opencode/bin/opencode — previously downloaded copy
3. GitHub releases — download for current platform

Supported platforms: win32-x64, win32-arm64, darwin-x64, darwin-arm64, linux-x64, linux-arm64.

Override the binary path directly:

with Opencode(opencode_binary="/custom/path/opencode") as ai:
    ...

OpencodeServer (low-level server control)

from opencode import OpencodeServer, create_opencode_server

server = create_opencode_server(
    port=4096,
    hostname="127.0.0.1",
    timeout=30.0,
    config={"model": "opencode/big-pickle"},
    opencode_binary="/path/to/opencode",
)
print(server.url)  # "http://127.0.0.1:4096"

# Later:
server.close()  # kills the subprocess

Configuration reference

All parameters for Opendcode() / AsyncOpendcode():

Parameter	Default	Description
model	None	Model name, e.g. "opencode/big-pickle" or "provider/model"
hostname	"127.0.0.1"	Bind address for the server
port	4096	Port for the server
directory	None	Working directory passed to all API calls
workspace	None	Workspace directory for the session
server_timeout	30.0	Seconds to wait for server startup
client_timeout	300.0	Seconds before HTTP request timeout
config	None	Server config dict (see opencode docs)
opencode_binary	None	Path to opencode binary (auto-downloaded if not set)

All parameters are keyword-only.

Async API

Basic

import asyncio
from opencode import AsyncOpendcode

async def main():
    async with AsyncOpendcode() as ai:
        answer = await ai.ask("Explain async/await in Python")
        print(answer)

asyncio.run(main())

Async streaming

async with AsyncOpendcode() as ai:
    async for chunk in ai.ask_stream("Write a poem"):
        print(chunk, end="")

Async conversations

async with AsyncOpendcode() as ai:
    session = await ai.create_session()
    msg1 = await session.prompt("Suggest a project name")
    msg2 = await session.prompt("Now write a tagline for it")

Async low-level client

from opencode import AsyncOpendcodeClient

async with AsyncOpendcodeClient() as client:
    health = await client.health()
    print(health.version)  # typed Pydantic model

Async convenience function

from opencode import async_opencode

result = await async_opencode("Hello", keep=True)
result2 = await async_opencode("Still there?", keep=True)
result3 = await async_opencode("Bye")

# Also accepts: model, format, port, directory, config, agent, auto_tools

OpenAPI response models

from opencode._response_models import HealthResponse, SessionResponse, FileContentResponse

# These are Pydantic BaseModel classes with:
#   .model_dump() -> dict
#   .model_dump_json() -> str
#   .model_validate(dict) -> classmethod

Development

# Install in editable mode
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests
pytest

# Lint & typecheck
ruff check src/
mypy src/

# Build
python -m build --wheel