A desktop app for understanding code

See what your code does.
Not just what it says.

Codjiva opens a folder like an IDE. But where an IDE shows you the text of a file, Codjiva shows you a blueprint of it: the machines, the pipes between them, the limits, and a short narrated film that follows one request from the way in to the way out. The coding agent you already use reads the code and draws it.

Download Codjiva Watch a film it made

All platforms· macOS, Windows, Linux· View source

Free and open source under Apache 2.0. No account, no telemetry. Everything it makes is a plain HTML file in a .codjiva folder next to your code.

The Codjiva window. The file tree is on the left. In the middle a film shows the Submit function of a Go file as a line of machines, with an order moving through them. On the right are the film's chapters, companion files, modes and limits. The same Codjiva window in the light theme, with the film drawn on light paper.
Live example · not a recording

This is a real Codjiva film. Press play.

Claude Code made it from one Go file, a made-up order handler with a batch, a rate limiter and a soft and a hard memory limit. Nothing here was drawn by hand. The page below is the same single HTML file the app saves, with its own player.

A film follows one order through the file · 4 chapters · 1 min 23 s
Click the film first, then: Space play and pause ← → seek PageUp PageDown chapters M sound F full screen
Three things it makes

A picture, a film, and the pipeline between files.

Every one is drawn with the same small set of parts, so a tank always means a shared limit and a press always means an ordered step. Once you have read one, you can read them all.

01 · VISUALISE

A still blueprint you can explore

One file, or a whole folder, as a plant of machines and pipes.

  • Click a part for its role and the line of code it stands for
  • Numbered markers explain the points that matter
  • Switch data flow, control, error paths and labels on and off
02 · ANIMATE

A narrated film of one unit of work

One order, request or log line, followed from the way in to the way out.

  • Chapters for the normal path, each limit, and what happens when a limit is hit
  • Slows down by itself while an explanation is on screen
  • Plays from 0.75× to 4×, with sound if you want it
03 · COMPOSE

Several files joined into one pipeline

Tick two or more visuals. Codjiva proposes where one hands work to the next.

  • Joins are found from the calls and names the files share
  • A still picture, or a film that crosses the join
  • Marked stale when a file of any part changes
How it works

Your agent reads the code. Codjiva checks the drawing.

Codjiva has no model of its own. It gives your coding agent a drawing kit and a set of rules, lets it read your file, and then tests what comes back before you see it.

  1. Open a folder and pick a fileSay what the picture should show, or leave that empty. For a film, Codjiva suggests companion files from the imports, the tests and the files that use this one. You tick the ones that matter, and can ignore folders such as vendor/ for good.
  2. The agent draws with Codjiva's partsIt writes a few small source files: the plant, one scene per chapter, and a list of timings and explanations. It may write only inside .codjiva/. A write guard checks every other file and can put back anything that changed.
  3. Codjiva builds and tests the resultThe sources become one HTML page. A hidden frame plays it and looks for labels that overlap, text that does not fit, scenes that change between two runs, and state that jumps between chapters. Problems go back to the agent to fix.
  4. Watch, then say what should changePause the film, point at the thing you mean, and write one sentence. A new version is made with only that change. Earlier versions are kept.
The Animate dialog. It lists suggested companion files with the reason for each, a field for what the film should show, and a choice of length.
Before a film is made: which other files the agent reads, what the film should show, and how long it should be.
The app

It works like the editor you already know.

Codjiva is laid out like an IDE, and it behaves like one. The only thing that is different is what you see in the middle.

Three panels you can moveThe explorer on the left, the inspector on the right and the job panel at the bottom. Drag an edge to resize a panel, drag it to the side of the window to close it, and pull it back out when you want it. The layout is remembered.
Back and ForwardFollow a link from a film to the line of code it is about, then go back. The film continues at the second you left it.
See where the pictures areA file with a visual or a film has a dot in the explorer, and every folder above it is tinted, so a closed folder still shows the way. The library lists everything that was made.
Watch the agent workThe job panel shows each step, every file the agent reads, what the write guard found and what the job cost. When the film is ready, it opens by itself.
Every version, one click awayThe toolbar holds the version list and the actions on it: make it again, export it as one HTML file, open it in the browser, show its files.
Light and darkThe window follows your system, or your own choice, and the visuals and films are drawn in the same theme.
What it does to your project

It reads your code. It writes one folder.

One folder, plain filesEverything is saved under .codjiva/ in the folder you opened. A film is a single HTML file that opens offline in any browser.
Your code is never changedAgents are confined to that folder. After every job the write guard compares the rest of the workspace with how it was.
Films cannot phone homeEvery picture and film runs in a sandboxed frame that has no access to the network, your files or the app.
No account, no telemetryCodjiva has no server. Your code goes only to the agent or provider you chose, under your own account with them. The app's only other request asks GitHub whether a newer version exists, and you can switch that off.
It tells you when a picture is oldEach version records a hash of the files it was made from. Change a file and the picture is marked stale. Nothing is regenerated behind your back.
Keys stay in the keychainIf you use an API key, it is kept in your system's credential store, never in a file.
A still visual in the Codjiva window. The Submit machine is selected, and the panel on the right shows its role, a link to its line of code, and the modes and limits of the file.
A visual. Click a machine to see its role and jump to the line of code.
The Settings dialog, in sections. The Companion files section holds a list of patterns for files and folders that are never suggested.
Settings, with the list of folders that are never suggested as companions.
Agents

It uses the agent you are already signed in to.

Codjiva finds the coding agents installed on your computer and runs the one you pick, without a terminal. Or give it an API key and it talks to the provider itself.

AgentHowStatusNotes
Claude CodeclaudetestedConfined to .codjiva/ by its own permission rules. A visual takes about three to five minutes, a one-minute film about six.
Cursor Agentcursor-agenttestedWorks. It cannot be confined as tightly, so the write guard is what protects your files.
Codex CLIcodexnot yet confirmedSupported through definition files that have not been run against the real programs yet. Settings marks them so.
Gemini CLIgemininot yet confirmed
Antigravityagynot yet confirmed
Pipinot yet confirmed
API keyAnthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, or any server that speaks the OpenAI chat formatnot yet confirmedNo agent program needed. Built and tested against a stand-in server, not yet against the live services.

Codjiva is not made by, affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic, Cursor, OpenAI, Google or any other provider. Each agent runs under your own account and its provider's terms, and what a job costs is between you and them.

Download

Free, for macOS, Windows and Linux.

Get Codjiva

Pick the build for your system on the releases page.

You also need one coding agent installed and signed in, or an API key. Claude Code is the one Codjiva is tested with most.

Once installed, Codjiva updates itself: it offers each new release in its title bar, checks the download's signature and installs it.

Or build it from source

You need Rust, Node.js 22 and, on Linux, the system packages Tauri lists plus libdbus-1-dev.

git clone https://github.com/aayushch/codjiva
cd codjiva/ui
npm ci
npx tauri dev          # run the app
../scripts/build.sh    # build an installer