TMI Lite+ for AI agents

Lightweight interface for AI agents

TMI Lite+ is an independent Windows x64 interface for Codex CLI, designed to keep AI-assisted development practical on computers with limited performance. It provides projects and conversations, working directories, model/reasoning controls, approvals, activity, files, diffs and token/usage information without heavy conversation rendering.

Monitor consumption over time and inspect each task's input, cached input, cache writes, output, reasoning tokens and elapsed time. On-demand Usage charts and host-owned working-time statistics help compare workflows without claiming to calculate subscription billing costs.

Version 2.3 is a stable release (28 October 2026), with an independent 2.x Rolling channel for subsequent updates. Stable Windows executable version: 2.3.9797.42811 (Release/Win64). Current Rolling Windows executable version: 2.3.9798.40375 (Release/Win64, 29 October 2026). Stable 2.3 was primarily tested with Codex CLI 0.164.0; installed-version selection and focused compatibility checks also covered 0.165.0. This is not a guarantee for every capability or later CLI build. The current Rolling build adds focused Codex CLI 0.166.0 integration and regression checks; older installed CLI selections remain supported.

What's new in Rolling 2.3.9798.40375

• Codex 0.166 integration: Activity, historical entries and diffs use native item timestamps when available. Native tool duration remains authoritative; earlier CLI versions retain their existing timestamp behavior.
• Active CLI version: the label beside Memory shows the version running the selected work, not the latest installed version. The host owns executable selection after Maintenance, including reconnects from older frontends.
• Safer CLI updates: availability follows the official installer channel; install/update pins the displayed release and verifies the resulting binary. A mismatch does not replace the configured selection or prune older versions.
• On-demand network diagnostics: CLI Setup streams a focused network report with a bounded timeout, without automatic scans or configuration changes.
• Lightweight startup: compatible CLI launches skip marketplace recommendation prefetch, retaining installed plugins and the existing Browser Tools toggle. Capacity-unavailable responses get a distinct status; Codex still owns retries.
• Recovery and UI fixes: dead process state is invalidated coherently, New retains its first prompt if opening fails, disabled schedules cannot dispatch queued jobs, downloads can be cancelled, and CLI Setup inputs stay dark.

This Rolling includes stable 2.3 below. It updates only rolling-2; stable 2.3, stable-2 and legacy 1.x releases remain unchanged.

What's new in stable 2.3

• Interactive inline graphics: Visualize widgets and Mermaid diagrams work directly in the conversation. Offscreen views suspend without losing their state; the existing history-preview budget keeps large reloads lightweight.
• Local project notes: one Markdown note per file in each working directory's .tmi-notes folder, project-wide chronological listing, priority/completed flags, explicit editing and conflict-aware autosave.
• Auto switch and clearer activity: optional host-owned switching between existing frontends, native taskbar attention, and independent tray badges for Working, Codex response warnings and user decisions.
• Sample, diagnostics and Memories: temporary tool-free answers use the conversation renderer; diagnostic ZIPs are explicitly requested and stay local. A nonmodal Memory viewer and native Memories configuration expose the shared Codex summary, not the active model context.
• Live IDE Bridge diffs: compatible Bridge operations populate Changed Files and compact Activity summaries; immutable patches load only on request.
• Faster, bounded CLI maintenance: publish local readiness before optional background checks, select an already installed CLI, and control previous-minor and release-age retention. Update indicators compare against the newest installed version, so selecting a rollback does not offer it again.
• Recovery fixes: a valid manual model choice reopens the same older thread; obsolete saved/default models resolve from the advertised catalog. Accepting an authoritative CLI path no longer creates a false shared-settings conflict.
• More reliable Worktime: only active-thread Limits events feed statistics; sub-minute reset-time jitter no longer splits cycles at 99% or 100%.

See Release Notes for details and limitations.

Stable 2.2 improvements retained

• Inline graphics completed: Visualize widgets, Mermaid diagrams and optional local LaTeX render inside the conversation. Open a separate nonmodal viewer for interaction, zoom and image copying; resize reuses cached images.
• Lightweight history: reload automatically renders only the newest 3 graphic occurrences across all three formats. Older elements remain textual and open on request. Configure the shared limit, including 0 for no automatic history graphics; new live messages keep their normal previews.
• Clearer Configuration: separate preferences and update groups, descriptive selectors, and the new history-preview limit alongside existing options.
• Multi-frontend polish: thread activity reorders the lists in the other frontends too. Questions supports Ctrl+Enter for replies, without inserting a newline into the submitted answer.
• Startup presentation: the frontend shows and requests the foreground before connecting to or launching the host, instead of appearing behind existing windows.

Version 2.2 also retains these stable 2.1 improvements:

• Worktime statistics: the host sums resident Working time per 1% drop of the shared subscription limit. The latest 200 measurements are normalized per percentage point and retained across resets. Click for Current / Past / All graphs. Small reset-time estimates and stale values from parallel threads no longer split the measurements. This is approximate local data, not billing.
• Local scheduled prompts: host-owned schedules run without an open frontend, with one-shot/repeating times, thread/new-thread targets and append/steer/absolute delivery. Manage upcoming events and missed one-shots in the frontend, or pause all scheduling from the tray. Delivery waits until startup/maintenance loading has settled, then observes 20 seconds of quiet.
• Clear Goal controls: Goal submits an objective independently of Append; its colored state row keeps edit, pause/resume and delete controls available.
• More reliable recovery: preserve persisted intermediate messages when no final answer exists, distinguish native retrying from terminal errors, and restore frontend startup/readiness without leaving a dead subscription open.
• Multi-frontend navigation: selecting a thread already open in TMI activates its existing frontend; external writer conflicts show an understandable message.
• Queue and layout: the Queue panel covers the conversation with a yellow attention state; the thread overlay follows the Agents/Changed Files panel.
• Changed Files and diffs: file access stays enabled without sending a prompt. Diff is the first menu command, Open the second, and double-click opens the file. Ctrl/Shift selects multiple diffs; opening the viewer selects the latest edit and all edits with the same timestamp to the second.
• Agent snapshots while working: inspect an agent's conversation through its parent's process without resuming it or changing the parent writer.

The independent Rolling channel contains TMILitePlusBundle-2.3.9798.40375-Win64.zip in the 2.x Rolling release. Stable 2.3 remains on stable-2 and GitHub's Latest numbered release. Publishing Rolling does not replace that stable package, frozen earlier ZIPs or legacy 1.x assets/endpoints.

Core 2.x features

• Resident backend: one tray host owns an independent Codex app-server process for each work. Closing or switching a frontend detaches it, without stopping the work. Reattach later or use multiple frontends side by side.
• Sessions and tray: inspect resident works, open the thread needing a reply, and distinguish working, waiting and error states. Approvals/questions are handled in the owning frontend, never silently answered by the host.
• TMI Computer Use: local tmi_desktop tools discover and read Windows windows, capture images and operate controls. Native window messages support background interactions without TMI changing focus; UIA and physical input remain explicit alternatives. Separate read/control permissions, visible blue/red warnings and physical ESC interruption are included.
• On-demand maintenance: CLI Setup runs in TMIMaintenance.exe, not a permanently loaded setup form. The host suspends idle Codex connections while maintenance is open and reconnects them afterwards; active work blocks it.
• Version-family updates: 2.x Release and Rolling download the complete matching binary/assets/documentation bundle through their own endpoints. Existing 1.x installations do not receive a 2.x package automatically.
• Projects and threads: server-backed search, shared Pinned entries and a permanent Archived group. Documents includes the current user's Windows-known Documents folder and all subfolders. Working directory and project are independent; selecting a folder no longer creates a project implicitly.
• Compact controls and graphics: colored toggle buttons; inline Visualize, Mermaid and optional LaTeX previews, with separate on-demand viewers for interaction, zoom and image copy. History previews have a configurable limit.
• Existing tools retained: bounded conversation loading, Full Load/search, diffs, Changed Files, Usage charts, Questions, attachments, native prompt queue, Goal, Unicode formulas and optional local LaTeX rendering.

See Release Notes for changes, verification and limitations.

Download and installation

1. Open the TMI Lite+ 2.3 release and download its Win64 ZIP.
2. Check the archive against its published SHA-256 checksum.
3. Extract the complete archive into a writable directory.
4. Start TMILitePlus.exe and accept the versioned disclaimer/EULA.
5. Use CLI Setup if Codex CLI needs installing/updating, then authenticate separately with codex login if needed. TMI does not yet provide a native login screen.

Keep TMILitePlus.exe, TMIHost.exe, TMIDesktop.exe, TMIMaintenance.exe, the supplied documentation and viewer assets together. Install matching binaries from one bundle; local IPC protocol 16 rejects incompatible peers. Do not run from inside the ZIP or replace a running host by copying only one executable.

The neutral INI contains no personal project/thread paths, credentials, accepted EULA or internal switches. Local preferences remain beside the frontend. Common defaults and desktop grants use the current user's registry.

When upgrading from 1.x, finish existing work, exit all old frontends and exit any running TMI host before extracting the complete 2.3 bundle. Retain backups of your settings and Codex data. Earlier published ZIPs remain available.

Requirements

• 64-bit Windows.
• Separately installed and authenticated Codex CLI; this release was tested primarily with 0.164.0, with focused 0.165.0 checks.
• An account/service supported by Codex CLI.
• For Visualize and Mermaid: Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime, installed separately.
• For graphical LaTeX only: the optional renderer described in MicroTeX Setup. MicroTeX binaries/fonts are not included.

No AI model, account, subscription, Codex CLI, WebView2 Runtime or cloud Work service is supplied by TMI Lite+. Optional viewers initialize only when needed. Mermaid's local library and required license notices are included. Generic MCP Apps rendering is not included.

Screenshot

This screenshot shows the earlier 1.x interface; it is not a screenshot of the 2.x backend, Computer Use or current thread browser.

Responsibility and independence

TMI Lite+ is hobby-developed software provided free of charge and may be used for any lawful personal or professional purpose. It is not designed, certified, supported or warranted for professional, production, safety-critical or business-continuity use. Such use is entirely at the user's discretion and risk.

Codex CLI performs agent operations. TMI also performs its own local client and Computer Use operations under the permissions selected by the user. Review commands, output, file changes and grants; maintain backups.

TMI Lite+ is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by or supported by OpenAI. It can coexist with the ChatGPT desktop app, but do not use both applications on the same project at the same time. TMI provides no cross-client coordination with that app.

Documentation

• End User License Agreement
• Legal and Copyright Notice
• Privacy Notice
• Third-Party Notices
• User Guide
• Release Notes
• Optional MicroTeX Setup
• Development Notes

The 2.3 ZIP is linked directly above, and v2.3 is GitHub's Latest numbered release. Use the complete 2.x bundle, not an old single-EXE update package. The 2.x Release channel uses stable-2; Rolling uses rolling-2. The 2.x Rolling release contains the current rolling bundle, separately from stable v2.3. Legacy 1.x assets and its rolling endpoint are preserved and may receive separate 1.x updates; the old updater does not recognize 2.x bundle filenames.

The visible Release/Rolling choices and check schedules remain unchanged. Remote 2.x packages stage all four executables plus supplied runtime assets and documentation; personal INI settings are never overwritten. Package names use TMILitePlusBundle-2.3.G.T-Win64.zip for this release, which the legacy updater does not recognize. Upgrade from 1.x remains a manual full-ZIP installation. See the User Guide for coordinated local/remote updates. Official Codex documentation: developers.openai.com/codex.