Permissions

Atomsh runs shell commands and writes files. It asks first.

What is gated

Reads and searches run unattended: read_file, list_dir, glob_files, grep_files, and the materials tools, which have no local side effects.

Anything that changes your machine asks: write_file, edit_file, bash.

  atomsh wants to run: bash
    command: python3 -m pytest
  allow? [y]es / [N]o / [a]lways:

The capital N marks the default. Pressing Enter denies.

Answering a allows that tool for the rest of the session. It does not carry over to a new session, and it never applies to a path outside the workspace, which asks every time.

Modes

Mode	Behaviour
default	Ask before writes and commands
--yolo	Never ask
--readonly	Refuse all writes and commands outright

--readonly is the right first setting when you are evaluating whether the model is useful on your codebase. --yolo is for a task you have already scoped and a repository under version control.

The workspace boundary

Atomsh treats your git repository root as the workspace. Any path resolving outside it is flagged in the prompt:

    path: ../../etc/hosts
    ! this path is outside the workspace

That warning appears even in always mode, because the boundary is the point.

What Atomsh never does

It does not send your code anywhere except to atomgpt.org, as the conversation the model is answering. It stores no credentials other than the one in ~/.config/atomsh/auth.json, mode 0600. It does not phone home, and it has no telemetry.

Interrupting

Press ++esc++ while a response is streaming to stop it. Ctrl-C also works, and Ctrl-D exits.