🔥 The Problem
Every AI coding agent today — Cursor, Claude Code, Cline, Copilot — works the same way:
What Happens Now
- You type a prompt
- Agent immediately starts writing code
- You have zero visibility into what it's doing
- You realize it misunderstood your request
- Hundreds of lines of code need to be discarded
- You've wasted tokens, time, and patience
Text Plans Don't Help
Some agents show plans as text in chat. But text fails to show:
- Dependencies — which tasks depend on what?
- Branch points — what alternative approaches exist?
- Context requirements — which files, APIs, or secrets are needed?
- Complexity — which steps are risky?
- Progress — what's done, what's next?
✨ The Solution
Overture intercepts your AI agent's planning phase and renders it as an interactive visual flowchart — before any code is written.
The agent doesn't write a single line of code until you approve the plan.
🚀 Installation
Overture is an MCP server that works with any MCP-compatible AI coding agent. One command to install.
Claude Code
claude mcp add overture-mcp -- npx overture-mcp
Cursor
Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"overture": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["overture-mcp"]
}
}
}
Cline (VS Code Extension)
Open VS Code settings → search "Cline MCP" → add:
{
"mcpServers": {
"overture": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["overture-mcp"]
}
}
}
GitHub Copilot
Create .vscode/mcp.json in your project root:
{
"servers": {
"overture": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["overture-mcp"]
}
}
}
Note: GitHub Copilot MCP requires VS Code 1.99+ and uses
serversinstead ofmcpServers.
Sixth AI (VS Code Extension)
Add to your Sixth AI MCP settings file:
{
"mcpServers": {
"overture": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["overture-mcp"],
"disabled": false
}
}
}
Global Installation (Optional)
npm install -g overture-mcp
Verify It Works
Give your agent any task. Overture automatically opens at http://localhost:3031 with your plan ready for approval.
🎯 How It Works
The Flow:
🛠 Features
Interactive Plan Canvas
Node Details Panel
Click any node to reveal its full details:
Dynamic Fields (User Inputs)
Nodes can request input from you before execution:
Each field includes:
- Required/optional indicator
- Default values
- Help text & descriptions
- Setup instructions ("How to get an API key")
File Attachments
Attach context files to specific nodes:
- Automatic type detection — Image, code, document, or other
- Visual icons per file type
- Descriptions — add notes about why this file matters
- Delete — remove unwanted attachments
Meta Instructions
Add custom LLM instructions to any node:
"Pay special attention to error handling here" "Use the existing auth pattern from src/auth.ts" "Make sure to add tests for edge cases"
Instructions are sent to the agent right before that node executes.
Branch Detection & Selection
When the agent proposes multiple approaches:
Requirements Checklist
Before you can approve, Overture shows what's needed:
- Empty required fields — counted per node
- Branch selections — which decisions are pending
- Progress indicator — visual completion tracking
- Expandable items — click to see details
- Color coding — Green (done) / Orange (pending)
The Approve button stays disabled until all requirements are met.
Execution Controls
The approval button is smart:
- 🟢 "Approve & Execute" — plan ready, requirements met
- 🟠 "Complete Requirements" — conditions unmet
- 🔵 "Executing..." — running with spinner
- 🟢 "Completed" — all done
- 🔴 "Failed" — error occurred
Structured Output
After each node executes, see rich structured output:
Each category is expandable — drill in without visual overload.
Output Modal
Click any completed node to see full output:
- Scrollable for long outputs
- Syntax highlighted code snippets
- Close with Escape or click outside
🏪 MCP Marketplace
Browse and attach MCP servers directly from the Overture UI.
When you attach an MCP server to a node, the agent gains access to those tools only for that step.
📂 Multi-Project Support
Work on multiple projects simultaneously:
Single project? Tab bar hides automatically for a cleaner UI.
📜 Plan History & Persistence
Never lose your work:
Resume Information
When resuming, you get complete context:
- Current node — where execution stopped
- Completed nodes — with their outputs
- Pending nodes — what's left to do
- Failed nodes — with error messages
- All configurations — field values, branches, attachments
- Timestamps — when created, when paused
✏️ Dynamic Plan Modification
Modify plans even during execution:
Plan Diff View
When a plan changes, see exactly what's different:
- Added nodes — highlighted green
- Removed nodes — highlighted red
- Modified nodes — yellow with before/after comparison
- Edge changes — added/removed connections
🔌 MCP Tools (For Agent Developers)
Overture exposes 11 MCP tools for agents to interact with:
🔄 Real-time WebSocket Communication
19 server-to-client message types:
connected • plan_started • node_added • edge_added • plan_ready • plan_approved • node_status_updated • plan_completed • plan_failed • plan_paused • plan_resumed • nodes_inserted • node_removed • project_registered • projects_list • history_entries • plan_loaded • resume_plan_info • plan_updated
16 client-to-server message types:
approve_plan • cancel_plan • rerun_request • pause_execution • resume_execution • insert_nodes • remove_node • register_project • subscribe_project • unsubscribe_project • get_history • load_plan • get_resume_info • save_plan • request_plan_update • create_new_plan
Relay Mode
When the WebSocket port is already in use, Overture automatically operates as a relay client, forwarding messages through the existing server. Multiple agent instances can share a single UI.
⚙️ Configuration
Setting Environment Variables
claude mcp add overture-mcp -e OVERTURE_HTTP_PORT=4000 -e OVERTURE_AUTO_OPEN=false -- npx overture-mcp
{
"mcpServers": {
"overture": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["overture-mcp"],
"env": {
"OVERTURE_HTTP_PORT": "4000",
"OVERTURE_WS_PORT": "4001",
"OVERTURE_AUTO_OPEN": "false"
}
}
}
}
{
"servers": {
"overture": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["overture-mcp"],
"env": {
"OVERTURE_HTTP_PORT": "4000",
"OVERTURE_WS_PORT": "4001",
"OVERTURE_AUTO_OPEN": "false"
}
}
}
}
⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts
🤝 Supported Agents
Each agent has custom-tailored prompts for optimal plan generation.
💪 Why Overture?
For Users
- Transparency — See exactly what happens before code is written
- Control — Approve, reject, or modify any plan
- Context — Attach files and instructions to the right steps
- Choice — Compare approaches and pick your path
- Visibility — Real-time progress with rich output
- Safety — Pause, resume, or re-run at any time
- History — Resume any past plan instantly
- Efficiency — No wasted tokens on rejected approaches
For AI Coding
- Trust — Makes agents predictable and controllable
- Interpretability — See AI reasoning before execution
- Universal — Works with any MCP-compatible agent
- Extensible — MCP Marketplace for tool discovery
- Open Source — MIT licensed, community-driven
- Self-Contained — No cloud dependencies
- Works Offline — Fully local execution
- Multi-Project — Manage multiple workspaces
🧑💻 Development
# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/SixHq/Overture.git
cd Overture
# Install dependencies
npm install
# Build all packages
npm run build
# Start MCP server (in one terminal)
cd packages/mcp-server && npm start
# Start UI dev server (in another terminal)
cd packages/ui && npm run dev
Tech Stack
🤝 Contributing
Overture is open source and we welcome contributions!
- 🐛 Report bugs at GitHub Issues
- 💡 Suggest features at GitHub Discussions
- 📖 Improve docs — PRs welcome
- 🔧 Contribute code — see CONTRIBUTING.md
All contributions are appreciated, no matter how small.
📄 License
MIT License - see LICENSE for details.
