Trae Agent is an open-source, LLM-based agent system also developed by ByteDance, focused primarily on automating software engineering workflows. It provides a command-line interface (CLI) that accepts natural-language instructions (e.g. “refactor this module,” “write a unit test,” “generate a REST API skeleton”), and then orchestrates tool-based workflows — such as file editing, shell/batch commands, code generation, code formatting or refactoring — to carry out complex engineering tasks. Under the hood, Trae Agent supports multiple LLM backends (so you can choose your preferred model provider), and comes with a modular architecture that makes it easy to study, extend, or modify. Because of its transparent, research-friendly design and detailed logging (trajectory recording), it is positioned not just as a productivity tool but also as a platform for researchers to explore, analyze, or extend AI-based code automation strategies.
Features
- Natural-language driven CLI: let you instruct the agent in plain text to perform software engineering tasks
- Multi-LLM support: works with many providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) so you can pick or swap model backends
- Rich tool ecosystem: file editing, shell/batch execution, automated code transformations/refactorings, structured editing tools
- Interactive and iterative “agent loop”: supports back-and-forth interaction or multi-step tasks — not just one-shot commands
- Trajectory recording & logging: detailed tracking of agent’s actions for debugging, analysis, and reproducibility
- Modular, open-source MIT-licensed architecture — easy to extend, inspect, or adapt for custom workflows