Programmer Wander

Programmer-Wander

> An MCP server that gives any AI a complete Rust + Windows dev shell.

Status: free, public, and alpha. Built for Claude Desktop, Cowork, LM Studio, Claude Code, and any host that speaks MCP.

Part of CPC (Copy Paste Compute). Programmer-Wander is one member of the free core trio alongside AI-Hands and Voice-Command.

[](https://github.com/AIWander/Programmer-Wander/actions) [](https://opensource.org/licenses/Apache-2.0) [](https://github.com/AIWander/Programmer-Wander/releases)

What it does

programmer is a single-binary MCP server that exposes a Rust developer's toolbox to any AI:

| Ability group | Count | Purpose | |---|---:|---| | Files and text | 18 | Read, edit, search, inspect, archive, and convert local files | | Shells and sessions | 28 | One-shot, persistent, shortcut, and recovery-aware command execution | | Git | 12 | Local and remote repository workflows | | WSL | 4 | Foreground and background Linux execution from Windows | | HTTP and webhooks | 8 | Requests, downloads, scraping, ports, and local callback routes | | Transformations and search | 14 | Bulk, structured-data, encoding, scaffold, and search operations | | System and monitoring | 14 | Processes, watchers, clipboard, registry, SQLite, screenshots, and notifications | | Security, infrastructure, and planning | 7 | Command checks, audits, health, fallback, deployment preflight, and plans |

105 tools in the current source registry, each description tagged with its category ([Files], [Git], [Guard], ...) and listed in a curated workbench order, so tool lists read grouped in any host. No external dependencies. Single static-linked .exe. Works standalone — does not require any other MCP server.

Skills and optional guard hooks ship from the companion repository AIWander/aiprogrammer — install with claude plugin marketplace add AIWander/aiprogrammer, then pick either the programmer profile (five skills plus inert, reviewable guard-hook templates) or programmer-skills (skills only). The repository root here is additionally its own plugin package (see "Optional plugin surface" below).

Safety model

Programmer-Wander is a powerful local dev shell. If your AI host can call it, the AI can read and write files, run shell commands, use git, call WSL, and operate on your clipboard. Install it only for AI clients you trust, and review the tools you enable.

Command-entry tools (run, bash, powershell, smart_exec, chain, psession_run, wsl_run, and wsl_bg) run through security_check_cmd before execution. Critical destructive patterns are blocked and logged; recursive delete-style commands must target an obviously disposable path such as target/, build/, tmp/, or .cache/.

AIWander tools are local, user-authorized MCP capability surfaces. They do not grant an AI new permissions by themselves. They expose tools the user explicitly installs and enables. Sensitive actions should be confirmed by the user, credentials should stay in the OS keyring or local vault, and demos should use mock data.

Install

Optional plugin surface

The repository root is also a Codex- and Claude-compatible plugin package. It includes two skills with separate jobs:

• programmer-getting-started installs, connects, verifies, and troubleshoots the MCP process.
• programmer routes active development work across the 105-tool contract by ability.

Install programmer.exe first, then add this repository through the local host's plugin flow. The included .mcp.json uses programmer.exe from PATH, so it contains no machine-specific user path. The plugin does not silently modify another AI's hooks or config; see [the host application guide](instructions/APPLYTOAI_HOSTS.md) for host-specific guidance.

Option 1 — Signed installer (recommended)

Two flavors, both Authenticode-signed. Pick one from Releases:

| Installer | What it installs | |---|---| | Programmer-Wander-Setup-x64.exe (or -arm64) | With plugins — the server, the five skills, and both plugin profiles | | Programmer-Wander-Setup-x64-server-only.exe | Without plugins — the server alone, nothing written to ~/.claude/skills |

Either flavor detects your AI hosts, offers to register Claude Desktop and Claude Code for you, and opens a short onboarding page when it finishes. They share an install identity, so one upgrades the other. Restart any host whose configuration changed.

Chose server-only and want the skills later? claude plugin marketplace add AIWander/aiprogrammer.

Option 2 — Portable zip

1. Download programmer-wander-windows-x64.zip (or arm64) from Releases
2. Extract to a stable folder, e.g. C:\tools\programmer\
3. Register with your AI host:

``powershell C:\tools\programmer\programmer.exe install --target claude-desktop # or: --target lm-studio, --target cowork, --target claude-code # Advanced: --target all registers every detected host. ``

1. Restart your AI host

Verify any download against SHA256SUMS on the release.

Option 3 — Have your AI install it for you

Open Claude / ChatGPT / your local LLM and paste:

> Install AIWander/Programmer-Wander on my Windows machine using the AI install runbook at

Your AI will follow the steps below.

For AI Assistants

If you're an AI installing this for a user, run these steps in order:

1. Detect environment

$arch = if ((Get-CimInstance Win32_Processor).Architecture -eq 12) { "arm64" } else { "x64" }
$hosts = @()
if (Test-Path "$env:APPDATA\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json") { $hosts += "claude-desktop" }
if (Test-Path "$env:USERPROFILE\.lmstudio\mcp.json")            { $hosts += "lm-studio"      }
if (Test-Path "$env:USERPROFILE\.claude\settings.json")         { $hosts += "claude-code"    }
Write-Host "Arch: $arch | Hosts detected: $($hosts -join ', ')"

2. Download latest release (portable)

$url = "https://github.com/AIWander/Programmer-Wander/releases/latest/download/programmer-wander-windows-$arch.zip"
Invoke-WebRequest $url -OutFile $env:TEMP\programmer.zip
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path C:\tools\programmer | Out-Null
Expand-Archive $env:TEMP\programmer.zip -DestinationPath C:\tools\programmer -Force

3. Register with detected hosts

foreach ($h in $hosts) {
  C:\tools\programmer\programmer.exe install --target $h
}

4. Verify

C:\tools\programmer\programmer.exe --version

5. Tell the user

"Programmer-Wander is installed and registered with: $($hosts -join ', '). Restart those host apps now and the new tools will appear."

Uninstall

C:\tools\programmer\programmer.exe uninstall --target all
Remove-Item C:\tools\programmer -Recurse -Force

State directory

programmer keeps its local session state, file watchers, and recovery checkpoints in ./.programmer/ relative to the exe. This makes the install fully portable — copy the exe + its ./.programmer/ folder to a different machine and your state goes with it.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/AIWander/Programmer-Wander
cd Programmer-Wander
cargo build --release
# Binary at: target/release/programmer.exe

Requires Rust 1.75+.

Upgrade: UniMan ($5)

Programmer-Wander is the free dev shell for a single AI, and stays free. The paid upgrade is UniMan — a universal manager that delegates work to Claude Code, Codex CLI, and Grok Build CLI, plus a live local dashboard that covers both products: it detects a Programmer-Wander install automatically and shows it alongside your delegated sessions. Get it at aiwander.ai.

The two products are independent — Programmer-Wander works fully on its own.

License

Apache 2.0. See [LICENSE](LICENSE).

Source & license

This open-source MCP server is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: AIWander
• Source: AIWander/Programmer-Wander
• License: Apache-2.0
• Homepage: https://aiprogrammer.ai

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.