FAQ
What does Tatu cost?
Section titled “What does Tatu cost?”Tatu is free. You pay for the model: either the API usage of the provider you sign in with, or the subscription you already have (Claude Pro/Max, ChatGPT Plus/Pro, GitHub Copilot, SuperGrok or X Premium, or Kimi Code). /cost shows what a session cost and /usage shows your subscription limits. See Context and cost and Sign in.
Does Tatu work offline?
Section titled “Does Tatu work offline?”No. The model runs at your provider, so you need a network to talk to it. Tatu itself starts without one: the model catalog and the version check give up quietly, and you can still open old sessions and change settings. See Troubleshooting.
Where does Tatu keep my data?
Section titled “Where does Tatu keep my data?”On your computer, in ~/.tatu: sessions in sessions/, credentials in auth.json, settings in settings.json and logs in logs/. Set TATU_HOME to use another folder. A project can also hold .tatu/ with its own settings, skills and prompts. See Files and folders and Sessions.
Does my code go anywhere besides the model?
Section titled “Does my code go anywhere besides the model?”Only to the services listed in Privacy: what leaves your machine. There is no telemetry. The page has a checklist to reduce what is sent, such as the model catalog, the version check and the web tools.
Can I use more than one model?
Section titled “Can I use more than one model?”Yes. /model switches the model in the middle of a conversation and keeps the history, even across providers. Subagents can use a different model from the main one, in the balanced and fast tiers. See Models and effort and Subagents.
How is Tatu different from Claude Code?
Section titled “How is Tatu different from Claude Code?”Both are coding agents for the terminal. Tatu works with several providers (Anthropic, OpenAI, ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, DeepSeek, OpenRouter, xAI, MiniMax, Fireworks and more than twenty others). It reads AGENTS.md, and CLAUDE.md in a folder that has no AGENTS.md. It has hooks, skills and subagents. It does not have permissions per tool yet. See Coming from Claude Code.
Does Tatu ask before it runs a command or edits a file?
Section titled “Does Tatu ask before it runs a command or edits a file?”No. Tatu runs commands and edits files with your permissions, and has no permission prompts per tool yet. You can block a call with a PreToolUse hook, and you can press Esc to interrupt a run. Read .tatu/settings.json and AGENTS.md in a clone before you run Tatu there. See Security and trust.
How do I update Tatu?
Section titled “How do I update Tatu?”Run tatu update. Tatu also shows a notice at start when a newer version exists, and it checks once a day at most; you can turn that off. See Install and update.
Can I run several agents at once?
Section titled “Can I run several agents at once?”Yes. Start Tatu in several terminals, or press Ctrl+G to open the agents list and start a new session from there. Each agent has its own session, and you can answer the ones that wait for you. See Many agents at once.
Can I use Tatu from my phone?
Section titled “Can I use Tatu from my phone?”Yes. The Tatu app is on the App Store for iPhone and in beta on Android: follow your sessions, answer their questions and send work from your phone. To get it, see the app page. You can also follow your sessions from another terminal. See The desktop app, The app and Apps and other computers.
Can Tatu start a session by itself, at a set time or when a card moves?
Section titled “Can Tatu start a session by itself, at a set time or when a card moves?”Yes. An automation opens a session in a project with a prompt, once or every hour, day, weekday or week, or when a card enters a column of a GitHub project. Run tatu automations to make one. It needs the daemon to be running at that time. See Automations.
Can I use Tatu in a script?
Section titled “Can I use Tatu in a script?”Yes. tatu -p "prompt" runs one prompt and prints the answer, -json prints events as JSON lines, and -rpc serves a session over standard input and output. See Scripting.
Which systems does Tatu run on?
Section titled “Which systems does Tatu run on?”macOS and Linux, on arm64 and amd64. The install script stops with an error on any other system. See Install and update.