Agent Joule.
AI coding on a fraction of the energy.
The reference code editor for energy-optimized compute. A fork of Zed that meters every edit in real joules, then resolves most changes deterministically on your machine, for picojoules. The energy of writing code falls, edit over edit.
- ✓ rename isAuthed → hasSession L1 · template 0.000 J
- ✓ propagate rename to 14 call sites L0 · cache 0.000 J
- ✓ add null-guard in token parser L1 · template 0.001 J
- ✓ extract sessionGuard() helper L0 · cache 0.000 J
- ✓ organize imports, format file L1 · template 0.000 J
- ⟳ write session-expiry test (novel) L3 · local model 0.380 J
A session, metered. Most edits never reach a model.
The thesis
AI coding can usher in energy-optimized compute
Today, each AI edit is a datacenter round-trip, and energy per change is rising. It does not have to. Three moves turn the curve around, and they build on each other.
Energy observability
You cannot optimize what you cannot see. Agent Joule meters every edit in real joules, read from the host’s own power counter. The status line shows exactly what a change cost.
Energy-optimized compute
Seeing the cost lets you drive it down. A deterministic-first cascade resolves most edits with lookup, search, and templates, for picojoules. A model is the last resort, not the default.
Exponential decrease
The cascade learns. Closed work is cached and retrieved, so a growing share of edits resolve at the cheapest tier, and the energy of writing code falls, edit over edit.
The discipline
AI coding, on a SWaP-2C budget
For decades, anything fielded at the edge was built to a SWaP-2C budget: Size, Weight, Power, Cost, and Cooling, optimized together. Agent Joule brings that budget to the act of writing code.
Size
The compute footprint is your editor, not a cluster.
Weight
No model on the hot path. Most edits never leave the machine.
Power
Every edit metered in joules. The cheap tiers resolve for picojoules.
Cost
About 10× lower for the same result. A cached edit is $0.00.
Cooling
Work that never leaves your laptop never heats a datacenter.
Write code on a fraction of the energy
Open source, a fork of Zed. Source on GitHub →