@intent-systems/nexus

v2026.1.5-12

Published

12 days ago

WhatsApp gateway CLI (Baileys web) with Pi RPC agent

0High
0Medium
0Low

🦞 NEXUS — Personal AI Assistant

Nexus is a personal AI assistant you run on your own devices. It answers you on the providers you already use (WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Signal, iMessage, WebChat), can speak and listen on macOS/iOS/Android, and can render a live Canvas you control. The Gateway is just the control plane — the product is the assistant.

If you want a personal, single-user assistant that feels local, fast, and always-on, this is it.

Website · Docs · Updating: https://docs.nexus.bot/updating · Showcase: https://docs.nexus.bot/showcase · FAQ: https://docs.nexus.bot/faq · Wizard: https://docs.nexus.bot/wizard · Nix: https://github.com/nexus/nix-nexus · Docker: https://docs.nexus.bot/docker · Discord: https://discord.gg/nexus

Preferred setup: run the onboarding wizard (nexus onboard). It walks through gateway, workspace, providers, and skills. The CLI wizard is the recommended path and works on macOS, Windows, and Linux. Works with npm, pnpm, or bun.

Subscriptions (OAuth):

Anthropic (Claude Pro/Max)
OpenAI (ChatGPT/Codex)

Model note: while any model is supported, I strongly recommend Anthropic Pro/Max (100/200) + Opus 4.5 for long‑context strength and better prompt‑injection resistance. See Onboarding.

Recommended setup (from source)

Do not download prebuilt binaries. Run from source.

# Clone this repo
git clone https://github.com/nexus/nexus.git
cd nexus

bun install
bun run ui:install
bun run ui:build
bun run nexus onboard

Note: bun run build is optional here (it produces dist/ for running via Node / the packaged nexus binary). bun run nexus ... runs TypeScript directly.

Quick start (from source)

Runtime: Node ≥22.

From source, pnpm is the default workflow. Bun is supported as an optional local workflow; see Bun.

# Install deps (no Bun lockfile)
bun install --no-save

# Build TypeScript
bun run build

# Build Control UI
bun install --cwd ui --no-save
bun run --cwd ui build

# Recommended: run the onboarding wizard
bun run nexus onboard

# Link WhatsApp (stores creds in ~/nexus/state/credentials)
bun run nexus login

# Start the gateway
bun run nexus gateway --port 18789 --verbose

# Dev loop (auto-reload on TS changes)
bun run gateway:watch

# Send a message
bun run nexus send --to +1234567890 --message "Hello from Nexus"

# Talk to the assistant (optionally deliver back to WhatsApp/Telegram/Slack/Discord)
bun run nexus agent --message "Ship checklist" --thinking high

Upgrading? https://docs.nexus.bot/updating (and run nexus doctor; use --non-interactive for cron/CI to avoid TTY hangs).

If you run from source, prefer bun run nexus … or pnpm nexus … (not global nexus).

Security defaults (DM access)

Nexus connects to real messaging surfaces. Treat inbound DMs as untrusted input.

Full security guide: https://docs.nexus.bot/security

Default behavior on Telegram/WhatsApp/Signal/iMessage/Discord/Slack:

DM pairing (dmPolicy="pairing" / discord.dm.policy="pairing" / slack.dm.policy="pairing"): unknown senders receive a short pairing code and the bot does not process their message.
Approve with: nexus pairing approve --provider <provider> <code> (then the sender is added to a local allowlist store).
Public inbound DMs require an explicit opt-in: set dmPolicy="open" and include "*" in the provider allowlist (allowFrom / discord.dm.allowFrom / slack.dm.allowFrom).

Run nexus doctor to surface risky/misconfigured DM policies.

Highlights

Local-first Gateway — single control plane for sessions, channels, tools, and events.
Multi-channel inbox — WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Signal, iMessage, WebChat, macOS, iOS/Android.
Multi-agent routing — route inbound channels/accounts/peers to isolated agents (workspaces + per-agent sessions).
Voice Wake + Talk Mode — always-on speech for macOS/iOS/Android with ElevenLabs.
Live Canvas — agent-driven visual workspace with A2UI.
First-class tools — browser, canvas, nodes, cron, sessions, and Discord/Slack actions.
Companion apps — macOS menu bar app + iOS/Android nodes.
Onboarding + skills — wizard-driven setup with bundled/managed/workspace skills.

Everything we built so far

Core platform

Gateway WS control plane with sessions, presence, config, cron, webhooks, Control UI, and Canvas host.
CLI surface: gateway, agent, send, wizard, and doctor.
Pi agent runtime in RPC mode with tool streaming and block streaming.
Session model: main for direct chats, group isolation, activation modes, queue modes, reply-back. Group rules: Groups.
Media pipeline: images/audio/video, transcription hooks, size caps, temp file lifecycle. Audio details: Audio.

Channels

Channels: WhatsApp (Baileys), Telegram (grammY), Slack (Bolt), Discord (discord.js), Signal (signal-cli), iMessage (imsg), WebChat.
Group routing: mention gating, reply tags, per-channel chunking and routing. Channel rules: Channels.

Apps + nodes

macOS app: menu bar control plane, Voice Wake/PTT, Talk Mode overlay, WebChat, debug tools, remote gateway control.
iOS node: Canvas, Voice Wake, Talk Mode, camera, screen recording, Bonjour pairing.
Android node: Canvas, Talk Mode, camera, screen recording, optional SMS.
macOS node mode: system.run/notify + canvas/camera exposure.

Tools + automation

Browser control: dedicated nexus Chrome/Chromium, snapshots, actions, uploads, profiles.
Canvas: A2UI push/reset, eval, snapshot.
Nodes: camera snap/clip, screen record, location.get, notifications.
Cron + wakeups; webhooks; Gmail Pub/Sub.
Skills platform: bundled, managed, and workspace skills with install gating + UI.

Ops + packaging

Control UI + WebChat served directly from the Gateway.
Tailscale Serve/Funnel or SSH tunnels with token/password auth.
Nix mode for declarative config; Docker-based installs.
Doctor migrations, logging.

How it works (short)

WhatsApp / Telegram / Slack / Discord / Signal / iMessage / WebChat
               │
               ▼
┌───────────────────────────────┐
│            Gateway            │  ws://127.0.0.1:18789
│       (control plane)         │  bridge: tcp://0.0.0.0:18790
└──────────────┬────────────────┘
               │
               ├─ Pi agent (RPC)
               ├─ CLI (nexus …)
               ├─ WebChat UI
               ├─ macOS app
               └─ iOS/Android nodes

Key subsystems

Gateway WebSocket network — single WS control plane for clients, tools, and events (plus ops: Gateway runbook).
Tailscale exposure — Serve/Funnel for the Gateway dashboard + WS (remote access: Remote).
Browser control — nexus‑managed Chrome/Chromium with CDP control.
Canvas + A2UI — agent‑driven visual workspace (A2UI host: Canvas/A2UI).
Voice Wake + Talk Mode — always‑on speech and continuous conversation.
Nodes — Canvas, camera snap/clip, screen record, location.get, notifications, plus macOS‑only system.run/system.notify.

Tailscale access (Gateway dashboard)

Nexus can auto-configure Tailscale Serve (tailnet-only) or Funnel (public) while the Gateway stays bound to loopback. Configure gateway.tailscale.mode:

off: no Tailscale automation (default).
serve: tailnet-only HTTPS via tailscale serve (uses Tailscale identity headers by default).
funnel: public HTTPS via tailscale funnel (requires shared password auth).

Notes:

gateway.bind must stay loopback when Serve/Funnel is enabled (Nexus enforces this).
Serve can be forced to require a password by setting gateway.auth.mode: "password" or gateway.auth.allowTailscale: false.
Funnel refuses to start unless gateway.auth.mode: "password" is set.
Optional: gateway.tailscale.resetOnExit to undo Serve/Funnel on shutdown.

Details: Tailscale guide · Web surfaces

Remote Gateway (Linux is great)

It’s perfectly fine to run the Gateway on a small Linux instance. Clients (macOS app, CLI, WebChat) can connect over Tailscale Serve/Funnel or SSH tunnels, and you can still pair device nodes (macOS/iOS/Android) to execute device‑local actions when needed.

Gateway host runs the bash tool and provider connections by default.
Device nodes run device‑local actions (system.run, camera, screen recording, notifications) via node.invoke. In short: bash runs where the Gateway lives; device actions run where the device lives.

Details: Remote access · Nodes · Security

macOS permissions via the Gateway protocol

The macOS app can run in node mode and advertises its capabilities + permission map over the Gateway WebSocket (node.list / node.describe). Clients can then execute local actions via node.invoke:

system.run runs a local command and returns stdout/stderr/exit code; set needsScreenRecording: true to require screen-recording permission (otherwise you’ll get PERMISSION_MISSING).
system.notify posts a user notification and fails if notifications are denied.
canvas.*, camera.*, screen.record, and location.get are also routed via node.invoke and follow TCC permission status.

Elevated bash (host permissions) is separate from macOS TCC:

Use /elevated on|off to toggle per‑session elevated access when enabled + allowlisted.
Gateway persists the per‑session toggle via sessions.patch (WS method) alongside thinkingLevel, verboseLevel, model, sendPolicy, and groupActivation.

Details: Nodes · macOS app · Gateway protocol

Agent to Agent (sessions_* tools)

Use these to coordinate work across sessions without jumping between chat surfaces.
sessions_list — discover active sessions (agents) and their metadata.
sessions_history — fetch transcript logs for a session.
sessions_send — message another session; optional reply‑back ping‑pong + announce step (REPLY_SKIP, ANNOUNCE_SKIP).

Details: Session tools

Skills registry (NexusHub)

NexusHub is a minimal skill registry. With NexusHub enabled, the agent can search for skills automatically and pull in new ones as needed.

https://NexusHub.com

Chat commands

Send these in WhatsApp/Telegram/Slack/WebChat (group commands are owner-only):

/status — health + session info (group shows activation mode)
/new or /reset — reset the session
/compact — compact session context (summary)
/think <level> — off|minimal|low|medium|high
/verbose on|off
/restart — restart the gateway (owner-only in groups)
/activation mention|always — group activation toggle (groups only)

Apps (optional)

The Gateway alone delivers a great experience. All apps are optional and add extra features.

If you plan to build/run companion apps, initialize submodules first:

git submodule update --init --recursive
./scripts/restart-mac.sh

macOS (Nexus.app) (optional)

Menu bar control for the Gateway and health.
Voice Wake + push-to-talk overlay.
WebChat + debug tools.
Remote gateway control over SSH.

Note: signed builds required for macOS permissions to stick across rebuilds (see docs/mac/permissions.md).

iOS node (optional)

Pairs as a node via the Bridge.
Voice trigger forwarding + Canvas surface.
Controlled via nexus nodes ….

Runbook: iOS connect.

Android node (optional)

Pairs via the same Bridge + pairing flow as iOS.
Exposes Canvas, Camera, and Screen capture commands.
Runbook: Android connect.

Agent workspace + skills

Workspace root: ~/nexus/home (configurable via agent.workspace).
Injected prompt files: AGENTS.md, SOUL.md, TOOLS.md.
Skills: <workspace>/skills/<skill>/SKILL.md.

Configuration

Minimal ~/nexus/state/nexus.json (model + defaults):

{
  agent: {
    model: "anthropic/claude-opus-4-5"
  }
}

Full configuration reference (all keys + examples).

Security model (important)

Default: tools run on the host for the main session, so the agent has full access when it’s just you.
Group/channel safety: set agent.sandbox.mode: "non-main" to run non‑main sessions (groups/channels) inside per‑session Docker sandboxes; bash then runs in Docker for those sessions.
Sandbox defaults: allowlist bash, process, read, write, edit, sessions_list, sessions_history, sessions_send, sessions_spawn; denylist browser, canvas, nodes, cron, discord, gateway.

Details: Security guide · Docker + sandboxing · Sandbox config

Link the device: pnpm nexus login (stores creds in ~/nexus/state/credentials).
Allowlist who can talk to the assistant via whatsapp.allowFrom.
If whatsapp.groups is set, it becomes a group allowlist; include "*" to allow all.

Set TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN or telegram.botToken (env wins).
Optional: set telegram.groups (with telegram.groups."*".requireMention); when set, it is a group allowlist (include "*" to allow all). Also telegram.allowFrom or telegram.webhookUrl as needed.

{
  telegram: {
    botToken: "123456:ABCDEF"
  }
}

Slack

Set SLACK_BOT_TOKEN + SLACK_APP_TOKEN (or slack.botToken + slack.appToken).

Discord

Set DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN or discord.token (env wins).
Optional: set discord.slashCommand, discord.dm.allowFrom, discord.guilds, or discord.mediaMaxMb as needed.

{
  discord: {
    token: "1234abcd"
  }
}

Signal

Requires signal-cli and a signal config section.

iMessage

macOS only; Messages must be signed in.
If imessage.groups is set, it becomes a group allowlist; include "*" to allow all.

WebChat

Uses the Gateway WebSocket; no separate WebChat port/config.

Browser control (optional):

{
  browser: {
    enabled: true,
    controlUrl: "http://127.0.0.1:18791",
    color: "#FF4500"
  }
}

Docs

Use these when you’re past the onboarding flow and want the deeper reference.

Advanced docs (discovery + control)

Operations & troubleshooting

Deep dives

Workspace & skills

Platform internals

Email hooks (Gmail)

Gmail Pub/Sub wiring (gcloud + gogcli), hook tokens, and auto-watch behavior are documented here.

Gateway auto-starts the watcher when hooks.enabled=true and hooks.gmail.account is set; nexus hooks gmail run is the manual daemon wrapper if you don’t want auto-start.

nexus hooks gmail setup --account [email protected]
nexus hooks gmail run

Nexus

Nexus was built for Nexus, a space lobster AI assistant. 🦞
by Peter Steinberger and the community.

https://nexus.me
https://soul.md
https://steipete.me

Community

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines, maintainers, and how to submit PRs.
AI/vibe-coded PRs welcome! 🤖

Thanks to all clawtributors: