Self-host Zero
v0.11.0Terminal AI coding agent you control locally
- Stars
- 1 768
What is Zero?
Zero is a terminal AI coding agent you run on your own hardware. It supports over 25 model providers — including major cloud services and local options — while keeping all session data on your local disk. The interactive terminal UI offers model pickers, slash commands, live plan rendering, color themes, and session branching. For automation, zero exec provides text, JSON, and streaming JSON I/O, isolated git worktrees, and proper CI exit codes. A permission system requires explicit approval for file writes, shell commands, and network access, with Linux sandboxing via Bubblewrap. Extensibility comes through MCP servers, plugins, skills, and specialist subagents. Installation methods include npm, shell scripts, release archives, mise, go install, and source builds (Go 1.26.9+).
Should you self-host Zero?
Zero scores 56/100 on selfhost.directory (how scoring works) and ranks #22 of 120 in AI Assistant. It has 1 768 GitHub stars.
It shipped 10 stable releases in the past year. The latest, v0.11.0, came out on 16 October 2026. New versions land roughly every 8 days.
Setup is moderate: expect some configuration beyond a single command. It is MIT-licensed and written mostly in Go.
Its closest alternative on selfhost.directory is hermes-agent (89/100, 257 885 stars). It scores higher overall, so compare the two before you pick. See Zero vs hermes-agent side by side.
Features
- Git Worktree Isolation
- Headless scriptable execution
- Interactive TUI
- Local session persistence
- MCP (Model Context Protocol) Support
- Multi-Provider LLM Support
- Permission and sandbox model
- Plugin System
- Scheduled agent jobs (cron)
- Self-update mechanism
- Session fork and rewind
- Specialist subagents
- Stream-JSON protocol
- Terminal-based AI coding agent
Zero README
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