Soul-Desktop: Multi-Provider Native Chat Client

What it does

Soul-Desktop, tool-call cards, Claude to Gemini switch, session replay

One native window over four agent providers. Project sidebar on the left with worktree groups (every git worktree is a first-class context, not a folder I forget about). Sessions on the right, with one chat surface that adapts to the active provider: Claude Code, Gemini, Pi, or Codex.

The walkthrough proves three beats:

• Inline tool-call cards. When the agent reads a file, runs a command, or proposes an edit, the result renders as a structured card in the conversation. No raw JSON, no “click to expand”; the tool call is part of the conversation.
• Side-by-side providers. Same prompt to Claude, then to Gemini, both working in the same project. Multi-provider isn’t a tab. It’s a session-switch over a shared registry.
• Session replay. Every session is reconstructible from the registry on disk. Scrub the timeline, watch the turns reconstruct, jump to any moment. The same registry soul_view reads from, with a richer reconstruction surface.

Why a native client over the CLIs

The CLIs are excellent for single-agent linear work. They get awkward when you want to:

• Compare two providers on the same task without copy-paste theater.
• Keep three worktrees of the same repo straight in your head.
• Re-read what an agent did three days ago without grepping JSONL files.
• Send the next message before the current turn completes.

Soul-Desktop is the surface I wanted but couldn’t find. The CLIs stayed; this is what sits on top of them.

Architecture

• Protocol layer. ACP (Agent Communication Protocol) for the providers that speak it, with per-provider adapters for the ones that don’t yet. The provider differences live in adapters, not in the UI.
• Registry-backed. Every session, tool call, and decision lands as JSON in the local session registry, the same disk-based source of truth that powers soul_view. Two surfaces, one contract.
• Worktree-aware sidebar. Projects in the registry are partitioned by git worktree, so switching contexts is one click instead of cd ~/Code/foo-feature-branch.

What it’s part of

Soul-Desktop is the GUI face of Soul OS, the broader system I run on top of the local agentic stack. The thesis is the same one soul_view demonstrates: filesystem-as-source-of-truth for agent memory beats vector stores for most personal workflows, and the right interfaces make that disk-backed state feel native.