GitHub - microsoft/amplifier

Amplifier

AI-powered modular development assistant - currently in early preview.

What is Amplifier?

Amplifier brings AI assistance to your command line with a modular, extensible architecture.

This CLI is just one interface—the reference implementation. The real power is the modular platform underneath. Soon you'll see web interfaces, mobile apps, voice-driven coding, and even Amplifier-to-Amplifier collaborative experiences. The community will build custom interfaces, mixing and matching modules dynamically to craft tailored AI experiences.

Quick Start - Zero to Working in 90 Seconds

Step 1: Install UV (30 seconds)

# macOS/Linux/WSL
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Windows PowerShell
powershell -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"

Step 2: Install Amplifier (30 seconds)

uv tool install git+https://github.com/microsoft/amplifier

Step 3: Run Amplifier (30 seconds)

# First-time wizard (auto-detects missing config)
amplifier init

# Ask a question
amplifier run "Explain async/await in Python"

# Start chat mode
amplifier

Step 4: Add collections (optional, highly recommended)

amplifier collection add git+https://github.com/microsoft/amplifier-collection-toolkit@main
amplifier collection add git+https://github.com/microsoft/amplifier-collection-design-intelligence@main

# Explore their profiles
amplifier profile use toolkit-dev
amplifier profile use designer

Both collections also ship focused agents you can invoke from any profile by name, use /agents in chat and look for the ones with toolkit: or design-intelligence: prefixes .

First time? Quick setup wizard:

Provider? [1] Anthropic [2] OpenAI [3] Azure OpenAI [4] Ollama: 1

API key: ••••••••
  Get one: https://console.anthropic.com/settings/keys
✓ Saved

Model? [1] claude-sonnet-4-5 [2] claude-opus-4-1 [3] custom: 1
✓ Using claude-sonnet-4-5

Profile? [1] dev [2] base [3] full: 1
✓ Using 'dev' profile

Ready! Starting chat...
>

Provider? [1] Anthropic [2] OpenAI [3] Azure OpenAI [4] Ollama: 3

Azure endpoint: https://my-resource.openai.azure.com/
✓ Saved

Authentication? [1] API key [2] Azure CLI (az login): 2
✓ Using DefaultAzureCredential
  (Works with 'az login' locally or managed identity in Azure)

Deployment name: gpt-5.1-codex
  Note: Use your Azure deployment name, not model name
✓ Configured

Profile? [1] dev [2] base [3] full: 1
✓ Using 'dev' profile

Ready! Starting chat...
>

Provider? [1] Anthropic [2] OpenAI [3] Azure OpenAI [4] Ollama: 2

API key: ••••••••
  Get one: https://platform.openai.com/api-keys
✓ Saved

Model? [1] gpt-5.1 [2] gpt-5-mini [3] gpt-5.1-codex [4] o1 [5] custom: 1
✓ Using gpt-5.1

Profile? [1] dev [2] base [3] full: 1
✓ Using 'dev' profile

Ready! Starting chat...
>

Provider? [1] Anthropic [2] OpenAI [3] Azure OpenAI [4] Ollama: 4

Model? [1] llama3 [2] codellama [3] mistral [4] custom: 1
✓ Using llama3

Make sure Ollama is running:
  ollama serve
  ollama pull llama3

Profile? [1] dev [2] base [3] full: 1
✓ Using 'dev' profile

Ready! Starting chat...
>

That's it! From nothing to productive AI assistant in 90 seconds.

What Can Amplifier Do?

First of all, this is still VERY early and we have not brought most of our features over yet, so keep your expectations low and we'll get it ramped up very quickly over the next week or two. Consider this just an early sneak peek.

• Generate code - From simple functions to full applications
• Debug problems - Systematic error resolution with the bug-hunter agent
• Design systems - Architecture planning with the zen-architect agent
• Research solutions - Find patterns and best practices with the researcher agent
• Build modules - Use Amplifier to create new Amplifier modules (yes, really!)

Key features:

• Modular: Swap AI providers, tools, and behaviors like LEGO bricks
• Profile-based: Pre-configured capability sets for different scenarios
• Session persistence: Pick up where you left off, even across projects
• Extensible: Build your own modules, interfaces, or entire custom experiences

Developer Tools:

• Log Viewer: Web-based tool for debugging sessions with real-time log streaming and interactive JSON inspection

# Install and run the log viewer while developing
uv tool install git+https://github.com/microsoft/amplifier-app-log-viewer@main
amplifier-log-viewer

Supported AI Providers

Amplifier works with multiple AI providers:

• Anthropic Claude - Recommended, most tested (Sonnet 4.5, Opus models)
• OpenAI - Good alternative (GPT-5, GPT-5-Mini, GPT-5-Codex)
• Azure OpenAI - Enterprise users with Azure subscriptions (supports managed identity)
• Ollama - Local, free, no API key needed (llama3, codellama, etc.)

Switch providers anytime:

# Switch provider (interactive - prompts for model/config)
amplifier provider use openai

# Or explicit
amplifier provider use anthropic --model claude-opus-4-1
amplifier provider use azure-openai --deployment gpt-5.1-codex

Note: We've done most of our early testing with Anthropic Claude. Other providers are supported but may have rough edges we're actively smoothing out.

Basic Usage

Interactive Chat Mode

# Start a conversation
amplifier

# Or explicitly
amplifier run --mode chat

In chat mode:

• Context persists across messages
• Use /help to see available commands
• Use /tools, /agents, /status, /config to inspect session
• Use /think and /do to toggle plan mode
• Type exit or Ctrl+C to quit

Single Commands

# Get quick answers
amplifier run "Explain async/await in Python"

# Generate code
amplifier run "Create a REST API for a todo app with FastAPI"

# Debug issues
amplifier run "Why does this code throw a TypeError: [paste code]"

Using Profiles

Profiles are pre-configured capability sets for different scenarios:

# See available profiles
amplifier profile list

# Use a specific profile
amplifier run --profile dev "Your prompt"

# Set as default
amplifier profile use dev

Bundled profiles:

• foundation - Absolute minimum (provider + orchestrator only)
• base - Essential tools (filesystem, bash, logging)
• dev - Full development setup (web, search, agents) — default & recommended
• test - Focused testing utilities layered on top of base
• full - Showcase build with nearly every module enabled; great for demos, less optimal for day-to-day work

Working with Agents

Specialized agents for focused tasks:

# Let the AI delegate to specialized agents
amplifier run "Design a caching layer with careful consideration"
# The AI will use zen-architect when appropriate

# Or request specific agents
amplifier run "Use bug-hunter to debug this error: [paste error]"

Bundled agents:

• zen-architect - System design with ruthless simplicity
• bug-hunter - Systematic debugging
• researcher - Content research and synthesis
• modular-builder - Code implementation
• explorer - Breadth-first exploration of local code, docs, and other files with citation-ready summaries

Sessions & Persistence

Every interaction is automatically saved:

# Resume most recent session
amplifier continue

# Resume with new prompt (single-shot mode)
amplifier continue "follow-up question"

# List your recent sessions (current project only)
amplifier session list

# See all sessions across all projects
amplifier session list --all-projects

# View session details
amplifier session show <session-id>

# Resume a specific session (interactive mode)
amplifier session resume <session-id>

# Resume specific session with new prompt
amplifier run --resume <session-id> "new question"

Sessions are project-scoped—when you're in /home/user/myapp, you see only myapp sessions. Change directories, see different sessions. Your work stays organized.

Configuration

Switching Providers

# Switch provider (interactive - prompts for model)
amplifier provider use openai

# Or explicit
amplifier provider use anthropic --model claude-opus-4-1

# Azure OpenAI (needs endpoint + deployment)
amplifier provider use azure-openai
  Azure endpoint: https://my-resource.openai.azure.com/
  Auth? [1] API key [2] Azure CLI: 2
  Deployment: gpt-5.1-codex

# Configure where to save
amplifier provider use openai --model gpt-5.1 --local      # Just you
amplifier provider use anthropic --model claude-opus-4-1 --project  # Team

# See what's active
amplifier provider current

Switching Profiles

# Switch profile
amplifier profile use dev
amplifier profile use base
amplifier profile use test
amplifier profile use foundation

# See what's active
amplifier profile current

Adding Capabilities

# Add module
amplifier module add tool-jupyter
amplifier module add tool-custom --project

# See loaded modules
amplifier module current

See docs/USER_ONBOARDING.md#quick-reference for complete command reference.

Customizing Amplifier

Creating Custom Profiles

Profiles configure your Amplifier environment with providers, tools, agents, and settings.

→ Profile Authoring Guide - Complete guide to creating profiles

API Reference: amplifier-profiles

Creating Custom Agents

Agents are specialized AI personas for focused tasks.

→ Agent Authoring Guide - Complete guide to creating agents

For Developers

Building on Amplifier

Core Libraries:

• amplifier-core - Kernel mechanisms and contracts
• amplifier-profiles - Profile/agent loading and compilation
• amplifier-collections - Collections system
• amplifier-config - Configuration management
• amplifier-module-resolution - Module source resolution

Reference Implementation:

• amplifier-app-cli - CLI application (this implementation)

Architecture:

• Repository Rules - Where docs go, what references what
• Module Catalog - Available providers, tools, hooks, orchestrators

What's Next

Note: Amplifier is under active development. Some documentation links are being consolidated. If you encounter issues, please report them.

The Vision

Today: A powerful CLI for AI-assisted development.

Tomorrow: A platform where:

• Multiple interfaces coexist - CLI, web, mobile, voice, IDE plugins
• Community modules extend capabilities infinitely
• Dynamic mixing - Amplifier composes custom solutions from available modules
• AI builds AI - Use Amplifier to create new modules with minimal manual coding
• Collaborative AI - Amplifier instances work together on complex tasks

The modular foundation we're building today enables all of this. You're getting in early on something that's going to fundamentally change how we work with AI.

Current State (Be Aware)

This is an early preview release:

• APIs are stabilizing but may change
• Some features are experimental
• Documentation is catching up with code
• We're moving fast—breaking changes happen

What works today:

• ✅ Core AI interactions (Anthropic Claude)
• ✅ Profile-based configuration
• ✅ Agent delegation
• ✅ Session persistence
• ✅ Module loading from git sources

What's rough around the edges:

• ⚠️ Other providers need more testing
• ⚠️ Some error messages could be clearer
• ⚠️ Documentation is incomplete in places
• ⚠️ Installation experience will improve

Join us on this journey! Fork, experiment, build modules, share feedback. This is the ground floor.

Contributing

Most contributions require you to agree to a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant us the rights to use your contribution. For details, visit Contributor License Agreements.

When you submit a pull request, a CLA bot will automatically determine whether you need to provide a CLA and decorate the PR appropriately (e.g., status check, comment). Simply follow the instructions provided by the bot. You will only need to do this once across all repos using our CLA.

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact opencode@microsoft.com with any additional questions or comments.

Trademarks

This project may contain trademarks or logos for projects, products, or services. Authorized use of Microsoft trademarks or logos is subject to and must follow Microsoft's Trademark & Brand Guidelines. Use of Microsoft trademarks or logos in modified versions of this project must not cause confusion or imply Microsoft sponsorship. Any use of third-party trademarks or logos are subject to those third-party's policies.