Baton

Pass the work between AI coding agents. A multi-agent launcher, relay, and terminal workspace for pairs of AI agents.

⚡ A Lumora Project. Tap here to visit Lumora (lumorapp.app).

Baton launches two coding agents side-by-side (left and right panes) in a single terminal. The agents collaborate on your project, share context, and pass tasks to each other over a local relay protocol.

Highlights

• Dual-Agent Terminal Workspace: Two agents working together in split tmux panes.
• In-Project Isolation: Every project has its own .baton/ folder for plans (.baton/plans/), walkthroughs (.baton/walkthroughs/), isolated memory, and chat sessions.
• Code Diffs in Chat: View file changes inline with colored diffs (- deleted lines in red, + added lines in green).
• Thinking Display: Clean, compact thought indicator (Thought for 4s ▸). View full reasoning anytime with ctrl+o (transcript view) or toggle inline visibility with /thinking.
• Undo Support (/undo): Instantly revert the last file edit or write made by an agent.
• Safe by Default: Shell commands and file modifications ask for confirmation (Yes / No). Agent-to-agent communication commands (baton inbox, baton send, etc.) run automatically without interruption. Pass --yes to bypass all prompts.
• Non-Blocking Execution: Asynchronous tool runner ensures timers, thinking indicators, and keystrokes never freeze during long-running commands.

Installation & Setup

Install via npm

npm install -g @lumorapp/baton

Or run instantly without installing:

npx @lumorapp/baton

Or Install from Source

git clone https://github.com/msgamecoder/baton.git
cd baton
npm install -g .

First Run

From any project directory:

baton

1. Terminal & Dependency Check: Detects your environment and installs multiplexer tools into ~/.baton/bin if missing.
2. Interactive Setup: Select your model provider (OpenCode Go, DeepSeek, Claude, OpenAI, Ollama, etc.) with arrow keys and enter your API key.
3. Launch: Splits into dual panes with your agents ready to build.

Running Options

baton                   # Launch or attach to dual-agent session
baton --yes             # Run with full auto-approve (bypass tool confirmation prompts)
baton chat              # Launch single-agent full-screen interactive UI
baton ask "prompt"      # One-shot headless task
baton kill              # Stop running agents and the background relay daemon

The Interface

Baton runs a full-screen terminal interface powered by OpenTUI:

       █▄▄ ▄▀█ ▀█▀ █▀█ █▄ █
       █▄█ █▀█  █  █▄█ █ ▀█

               alex   ·   OpenCode Go   ·   deepseek-v4.1-flash   ·   v0.1.0

 you  ›  change the accent color to green

 baton
 EDIT styles.css +2 -2
   └ edited /home/mxgamecoder/test/styles.css +2 -2
      - --accent: #ff6fb5;
      - --glow: #8a7bff;
      + --accent: #4ade80;
      + --glow: #16a34a;

 Thought for 3s ▸  (ctrl+o or /thinking to view)

 I updated the accent colors to emerald green across styles.css.

 ┌─ message ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │ Ask anything...   / commands   @ files                                    │
 └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
 20260913-231440  ·  BUILD  ·  12 msgs  ·  17.6k tokens

Keybindings & Shortcuts

• Enter: Send message.
• ctrl+o: Open full-screen conversation transcript (scrollable history, full thinking/reasoning blocks, complete error logs).
• Esc: Interrupt thinking/generation or close overlays.
• /: Open command picker.
• @: File picker / attachment.

Project Structure (.baton/)

When working inside a project, Baton automatically initializes .baton/ (and adds it to .gitignore):

my-project/
├── .baton/
│   ├── plans/          # Implementation plans generated by agents
│   ├── walkthroughs/   # Walkthroughs, changelogs, and summaries
│   ├── chats/          # Project-isolated conversation sessions
│   └── memory.json     # Facts remembered specifically for this project
├── src/
└── package.json

Sessions and memory are scoped per project, ensuring facts or chat logs from one project never leak into another.

Slash Commands

Type / or a command name in the message input:

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | /undo | Revert the last file change (edit_file / write_file) made by the agent | | /thinking | Toggle inline thinking visibility (collapsed badge vs full inline display) | | /plan | Switch to plan mode (read-only exploration, no file modifications) | | /build | Switch to build mode (full tool execution) | | /sessions | Switch or resume saved sessions for this project (ctrl+d to delete) | | /new | Start a fresh session in the current project | | /compact | Summarize conversation history to free context window | | /model | Switch model on the fly | | /provider | Switch or connect a new provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek, custom API) | | /cost | View token usage and estimated cost for the current session | | /send | Send a relay handoff message to the teammate agent | | /inbox | Check messages received from the teammate agent | | /clear | Clear the current conversation transcript | | /quit | Exit Baton |

Model Providers

Baton supports:

• Recommended: Command Code, OpenCode Go, OpenCode Zen, Claude (Anthropic).
• Frontier Models: OpenAI (GPT-4o), Google Gemini, xAI (Grok), Mistral.
• Open & Fast: DeepSeek (Chat & Reasoner), Kimi (Moonshot), Groq, Together AI, Fireworks AI, SiliconFlow, Alibaba Qwen.
• Local (No API Key): Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM.
• Gateways & Custom: OpenRouter, LiteLLM, Vercel AI Gateway, or any custom OpenAI/Anthropic-compatible endpoint.

Provider configuration:

baton providers                     # List providers and key statuses
baton key <provider> <api-key>      # Save API key (stored in ~/.baton/keys.json, chmod 600)
baton models --provider <provider>  # Fetch available models live from provider

Multi-Agent Relay

The two agents coordinate through a structured relay protocol:

• handoff: Pass an actionable task to the teammate with expected outcomes.
• done: Notify that a delegated task was finished and verified.
• fyi: Share observations, findings, or port discoveries without transferring turn ownership.

The daemon ensures no runaway loops (max hop count) and isolates relay messages strictly to the working project.

Configuration (~/.baton/config.json)

{
  "agents": [
    { "name": "alex", "provider": "opencode-go", "model": "deepseek-v4.1-flash", "role": "left" },
    { "name": "nova", "provider": "opencode-go", "model": "deepseek-v4.1-flash", "role": "right" }
  ],
  "defaultProvider": "opencode-go",
  "defaultModel": "deepseek-v4.1-flash",
  "autoApprove": false,
  "port": 7331,
  "maxHop": 8
}

License

MIT