Unix coreutils with XML/JSON output — built for AI agents, not humans.

Install · Quick start · All tools · MCP server · Claude Code · Benchmarks · Contributing

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The problem

AI agents run ls, grep, and cat and get back human-readable plaintext. Then they spend tokens parsing column positions, guessing field widths, and handling inconsistent formats. This is fragile and wasteful.

-rw-r--r-- 1 user staff  2048 Apr  6 10:00 main.go        ← which column is size?
-rw-r--r-- 1 user staff  1024 Apr  6 10:00 utils.go       ← what's the language?
drwxr-xr-x 5 user staff   160 Apr  6 10:00 internal       ← is this a directory?

The solution

aict reimplements 33 Unix tools with structured output the agent can read directly — no parsing required.

$ aict ls src/
<ls timestamp="1746123456" total_entries="3">
  <file name="main.go" path="src/main.go" absolute="/project/src/main.go"
        size_bytes="2048" size_human="2.0K" language="go" mime="text/x-go"
        binary="false" executable="false" modified="1746120000" modified_ago_s="3456"/>
  <file name="utils.go" path="src/utils.go" absolute="/project/src/utils.go"
        size_bytes="1024" size_human="1.0K" language="go" mime="text/x-go"
        binary="false" executable="false" modified="1746120000" modified_ago_s="3456"/>
  <directory name="internal" path="src/internal" modified="1746120000"/>
</ls>

Every field is labeled. Paths are always absolute. Timestamps are Unix integers. Language and MIME type are detected automatically — zero parsing needed.

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Install

Homebrew (macOS)

brew tap synseqack/aict
brew install aict

This installs aict plus shell completions for bash and zsh. The MCP server is built in: aict mcp.

Go Install

go install github.com/synseqack/aict@latest

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/synseqack/aict
cd aict
go build -o aict .

Verify install: aict --help should list all available tools.

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Quick start

# Default: XML output (best for AI agents)
aict ls src/
aict grep "func" . -r
aict cat main.go
aict diff old.go new.go

# JSON output
aict ls src/ --json

# Plain text (same as the original Unix tools)
aict ls src/ --plain

# Enable XML globally for all aict calls
export AICT_XML=1

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Tools

33 tools across 6 categories. Every tool supports --xml (default), --json, and --plain.

Category	Tools
File inspection	cat head tail file stat wc
Search & compare	ls find grep diff
Path utilities	realpath basename dirname pwd
Text processing	sort uniq cut tr sed awk
Data & archives	jq tar
System & environment	env system ps df du checksums md5sum sha1sum sha256sum

Additional: git (status, diff, log, ls-files, blame) · completions (bash/zsh/fish) · doctor (self-diagnostic)

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Output format

All tools follow the same conventions:

Field	Convention
Paths	Always absolute (absolute attr)
Timestamps	Unix epoch integers + _ago_s companion
Sizes	Bytes (size_bytes) + human-readable (size_human)
Booleans	"true" / "false" strings
Errors	<error code="" msg=""/> elements — never stderr
Empty results	Valid XML with zero counts, never an error

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MCP server

aict mcp exposes all tools as callable MCP functions via stdio transport. AI assistants call them natively — no shell wrapping needed. The MCP server is a subcommand of the main binary.

Configure Claude Desktop (~/.config/claude/claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "aict": {
      "command": "aict",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

If aict is not in PATH, use its full path:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "aict": {
      "command": "/usr/local/bin/aict",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

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Claude Code integration

Add to ~/.claude.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "aict": {
      "command": "aict",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Once connected, Claude Code can call ls, grep, diff, and all other tools as native functions with typed arguments and structured JSON results.

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Benchmarks

aict trades some speed for semantic richness (language detection, MIME typing, absolute paths). The overhead is intentional. Startup cost is ~3.6 ms per invocation.

Tool	GNU	--plain	--xml	Notes
diff (1000 lines)	0.9 ms	1.9 ms · 2.1×	2.1 ms · 2.4×	✅ Myers O(ND)
wc (100k lines)	6.1 ms	16 ms · 2.6×	17 ms · 2.7×	✅
awk (10k lines)	4.1 ms	12 ms · 2.9×	11 ms · 2.6×	✅
sed (10k lines)	3.3 ms	14 ms · 4.2×	16 ms · 4.9×	✅
find (deep tree)	1.9 ms	13 ms · 6.8×	15 ms · 8.0×	✅
ls (1000 files)	4.0 ms	51 ms · 12.9×	70 ms · 17.7×	MIME+lang detection per file
cat (100k lines)	1.4 ms	24 ms · 16.4×	31 ms · 21.6×	line-by-line scan + encoding detect
grep (100k lines)	1.3 ms	119 ms · 88×	130 ms · 96×	Go regexp vs GNU SIMD

Medians from 5 runs on Linux/amd64. See benchmarks/ for methodology and make bench to reproduce.

Use --plain to skip enrichment when you only need raw content.

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FAQ

Why XML and not JSON by default?

XML attributes are denser in a context window. <file size="1024" lang="go"/> is shorter than {"size":1024,"lang":"go"}. Use --json if you prefer JSON — the structure is identical.

Why not pipe GNU tools to jq?

ls, cat, stat, find, diff, and wc don't output JSON. jq can't help with them. aict provides structured output for the entire toolchain, not just grep. (aict also ships its own jq for querying JSON files with path expressions.)

How does this compare to ripgrep?

ripgrep is much faster for pure search. aict grep adds language detection, MIME type, and a consistent output format shared with every other tool. Use ripgrep for speed-critical search; use aict when the agent needs structured context.

How does this compare to eza / lsd?

eza and lsd are better ls for humans — great colors and formatting. aict outputs data structures, not formatted tables. They're solving different problems.

Does it work on Windows?

ls, cat, stat, wc, find, diff, grep, head, tail, sort, uniq, cut, tr, sed, awk, jq, tar, checksums, and path utilities work on Windows. ps, df, and system are Linux/macOS only.

Is this safe to run in a sandboxed environment?

Yes. aict is strictly read-only. No network requests (MIME detection uses the Go stdlib, not HTTP). No telemetry. No data collection. It only reads paths you explicitly pass to it.

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Contributing

Bug reports, feature requests, and PRs are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines, code style, and the tool implementation pattern.

Issues tagged good first issue are a good place to start.

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License

MIT — built entirely by AI tools, for AI tools.