Documentation · Getting Started · Glossary · Limitations
"lol, good luck, keep vibecoding shit that you have no idea about xD" — PeaceFirePL, Reddit
Bernstein takes a goal, breaks it into tasks, assigns them to AI coding agents running in parallel, verifies the output, and merges the results. You come back to working code, passing tests, and a clean git history.
No framework to learn. No vendor lock-in. Agents are interchangeable workers — swap any agent, any model, any provider. The orchestrator itself is deterministic Python code. Zero LLM tokens on scheduling.
pip install bernstein
bernstein -g "Add JWT auth with refresh tokens, tests, and API docs"Also available via pipx, uv tool install, brew, dnf copr, and npx bernstein-orchestrator. See install options.
Bernstein auto-discovers installed CLI agents. Mix them in the same run — cheap local models for boilerplate, heavy cloud models for architecture.
| Agent | Models | Install |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | opus 4.6, sonnet 4.6, haiku 4.5 | npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code |
| Codex CLI | gpt-5.4, o3, o4-mini | npm install -g @openai/codex |
| Gemini CLI | gemini-3-pro, 3-flash | npm install -g @google/gemini-cli |
| Cursor | sonnet 4.6, opus 4.6, gpt-5.4 | Cursor app |
| Aider | Any OpenAI/Anthropic-compatible | pip install aider-chat |
| Ollama + Aider | Local models (offline) | brew install ollama |
| Amp, Cody, Continue.dev, Goose, Kilo, Kiro, OpenCode, Qwen, Roo Code, Tabby | Various | See docs |
| Generic | Any CLI with --prompt |
Built-in |
Tip
Run bernstein --headless for CI pipelines — no TUI, structured JSON output, non-zero exit on failure.
cd your-project
bernstein init # creates .sdd/ workspace + bernstein.yaml
bernstein -g "Add rate limiting" # agents spawn, work in parallel, verify, exit
bernstein live # watch progress in the TUI dashboard
bernstein stop # graceful shutdown with drainFor multi-stage projects, define a YAML plan:
bernstein run plan.yaml # skips LLM planning, goes straight to execution
bernstein run --dry-run plan.yaml # preview tasks and estimated cost- Decompose — the manager breaks your goal into tasks with roles, owned files, and completion signals
- Spawn — agents start in isolated git worktrees, one per task. Main branch stays clean.
- Verify — the janitor checks concrete signals: tests pass, files exist, lint clean, types correct
- Merge — verified work lands in main. Failed tasks get retried or routed to a different model.
The orchestrator is a Python scheduler, not an LLM. Scheduling decisions are deterministic, auditable, and reproducible.
Core orchestration — parallel execution, git worktree isolation, janitor verification, quality gates (lint + types + PII scan), cross-model code review, circuit breaker for misbehaving agents, token growth monitoring with auto-intervention.
Intelligence — contextual bandit router learns optimal model/effort pairs over time. Knowledge graph for codebase impact analysis. Semantic caching saves tokens on repeated patterns. Cost anomaly detection with Z-score flagging.
Enterprise — HMAC-chained tamper-evident audit logs. Policy limits with fail-open defaults and multi-tenant isolation. PII output gating. OAuth 2.0 PKCE. SSO/SAML/OIDC auth. WAL crash recovery — no silent data loss.
Observability — Prometheus /metrics, OTel exporter presets, Grafana dashboards. Per-model cost tracking (bernstein cost). Terminal TUI and web dashboard. Agent process visibility in ps.
Ecosystem — MCP server mode, A2A protocol support, GitHub App integration, pluggy-based plugin system, multi-repo workspaces, cluster mode for distributed execution, self-evolution via --evolve.
Full feature matrix: FEATURE_MATRIX.md
| Feature | Bernstein | CrewAI | AutoGen | LangGraph |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orchestrator | Deterministic code | LLM-driven | LLM-driven | Graph + LLM |
| Works with | Any CLI agent (18+) | Python SDK classes | Python agents | LangChain nodes |
| Git isolation | Worktrees per agent | No | No | No |
| Verification | Janitor + quality gates | No | No | Conditional edges |
| Cost tracking | Built-in | No | No | No |
| State model | File-based (.sdd/) | In-memory | In-memory | Checkpointer |
| Self-evolution | Built-in | No | No | No |
| Declarative plans (YAML) | Yes | Partial | No | Yes |
| Model routing per task | Yes | No | No | Manual |
| MCP support | Yes | No | No | No |
| Agent-to-agent chat | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Web UI | No | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Cloud hosted option | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Built-in RAG/retrieval | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Last verified: 2026-04-07. See full comparison pages for detailed feature matrices.
bernstein live # TUI dashboard
bernstein dashboard # web dashboard
bernstein status # task summary
bernstein ps # running agents
bernstein cost # spend by model/task
bernstein doctor # pre-flight checks
bernstein recap # post-run summary
bernstein trace <ID> # agent decision trace
bernstein explain <cmd> # detailed help with examples
bernstein dry-run # preview tasks without executing
bernstein dep-impact # API breakage + downstream caller impact
bernstein aliases # show command shortcuts
bernstein config-path # show config file locations
bernstein init-wizard # interactive project setupbernstein fingerprint build --corpus-dir ~/oss-corpus # build local similarity index
bernstein fingerprint check src/foo.py # check generated code against the index| Method | Command |
|---|---|
| pip | pip install bernstein |
| pipx | pipx install bernstein |
| uv | uv tool install bernstein |
| Homebrew | brew tap chernistry/bernstein && brew install bernstein |
| Fedora / RHEL | sudo dnf copr enable alexchernysh/bernstein && sudo dnf install bernstein |
| npm (wrapper) | npx bernstein-orchestrator |
Editor extensions: VS Marketplace · Open VSX
PRs welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md for setup and code style.
If Bernstein saves you time: GitHub Sponsors · Open Collective
"To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan and not quite enough time." — Leonard Bernstein