# Bullet

> A fast CLI coding agent that routes tasks to the right model, searches codebases efficiently, and executes tool calls in parallel to minimize wait time.

Bullet is a CLI-based coding agent built for speed, currently in private beta and available for free on macOS and Linux. Backed by Y Combinator, it was created out of frustration with slow agent machinery and is designed to keep pace with fast-moving developers. The team reports a 95.8% score on SWE-Bench Verified, which they published in a dedicated benchmark results post.

## What It Is

Bullet is a terminal-native AI coding agent that wraps a model-tools-results loop in a leaner execution system. Rather than embedding an entire repository or queuing tool calls sequentially, it uses targeted search, smart routing, and parallel execution to reduce the time between a developer's intent and a working result. It is installed via npm and requires no API key to start.

## How the Agent System Works

Bullet's architecture is built around three core protocols:

- **Route / Escalate**: Straightforward tasks are sent to fast models; complex or harder tasks are escalated to deeper reasoning models automatically.
- **Search / Acquire**: Targeted search and selective file reads surface relevant code without loading the full repository into context. The demo shows relevance-scored results (e.g., 94.2, 88.7) from a small fraction of the repo.
- **Parallel Execution**: Independent tool calls — search, read, verify — run simultaneously. Duplicate calls and stuck loops are intercepted before they waste time.

The homepage describes this as "a tighter loop" around the same model → tools → results pattern used by other agents.

## CLI Setup Path

Bullet is distributed as a CLI package installable via npm:

```
npm install -g @trybullet/cli
bullet
```

It requires Node 18+ and runs on macOS and Linux. Linux users can also download a `.deb` package or a self-updating AppImage (requires libfuse2 on Ubuntu 24.04). The current release is v1.3.31, published in August 2026.

## Current Status: Private Beta

Bullet is in private beta with free access — no subscription required. The GitHub releases repository (`trybullet/bullet-releases`) serves as the public download host for desktop builds and shows active release cadence, with v1.3.31 published on August 14, 2026. The project is backed by Y Combinator and has an active Discord community.

## Why It Stands Out

The founders describe building Bullet as a "passion project" born from daily use of Claude Code and observing capable models slowed by heavy surrounding infrastructure. The design philosophy prioritizes eliminating dead time: no queuing of parallelizable work, no unnecessary context loading, and no runaway loops. The benchmark claim of 95.8% on SWE-Bench Verified is vendor-published and detailed in a separate blog post on the Bullet site.

## Features
- Smart model routing (fast, deep, reason tiers)
- Parallel tool call execution
- Targeted codebase search without full repo embedding
- Loop detection and duplicate call interception
- CLI interface with no GUI required
- No API key required to start
- Self-updating AppImage for Linux
- SWE-Bench Verified benchmark results published

## Integrations
npm, Node.js, Claude (Anthropic models)

## Platforms
MACOS, LINUX, CLI

## Pricing
Open Source

## Version
1.3.31

## Links
- Website: https://www.codewithbullet.com
- Documentation: https://www.codewithbullet.com/#cli
- Repository: https://github.com/trybullet/bullet-releases
- EveryDev.ai: https://www.everydev.ai/tools/bullet-coding-agent