The Problem

Building one AI agent is easy. Building a team of agents that actually works together is brutal.

You want a marketing team? A dev pipeline? A support squad? You spend hours wiring up AGENT.md files, soul.md configs, MCP servers, hooks, and scripts. You get it working in Claude Code. Then you need the same team in OpenClaw — and you start from scratch. Different config format. Different directory structure. Different conventions. Same agents, same logic, zero portability.

OpenClaw alone needs soul.md, skill files, channel configs, gateway setup, and workspace definitions — for each agent. Multiply that by 5 agents and you're maintaining 20+ files that you can't visualize, validate, or hand off to anyone.

And that's just the platform problem. The architecture problem is worse:

• How do you see the big picture? Your topology is scattered across 15 files in nested directories. No diagram. No single source of truth.
• How do agents talk to each other? You hack together file-based protocols or copy-paste context between prompts. There's no standard.
• How do you enforce quality? You want a gate between stages but there's no standard way to define one.
• How do you move fast? Every new agent means touching 5-12 files across multiple tools.

AgenTopology fixes all of this.

Write your agent team in one .at file. Marketing, development, support, copywriting — any team, any structure. Visualize it. Validate it. Scaffold it to any platform in one command.

topology code-review : [pipeline] {
  agent researcher  { model: sonnet  tools: [Read, Grep, WebSearch] }
  agent writer      { model: sonnet  tools: [Read, Write] }
  agent reviewer    { model: opus    tools: [Read, Grep] }

  flow {
    researcher -> writer -> reviewer
    reviewer -> writer  [when reviewer.verdict == revise, max 2]
  }
}

agentopology scaffold my-team.at --target claude-code      # → .claude/agents/
agentopology scaffold my-team.at --target claude-workflow  # → my-team.workflow.js (+ SEAM/README/LOSSY-REPORT)
agentopology scaffold my-team.at --target openclaw         # → .openclaw/soul.md
agentopology scaffold my-team.at --target codex            # → .codex/
agentopology scaffold my-team.at --target cursor           # → .cursor/rules/

One file. Every platform. The topology IS the documentation.

Hybrid: host + embedded workflow

One .at topology can compile to two coupled targets at once. claude-code is the host — the event-driven layer that owns agents, hooks, the Blackboard, concurrent observability, and the human/gate/branching nodes. claude-workflow is the embedded deterministic rung — the parallel fan-out phases, compiled into a Claude Workflow tool script. The host launches the rung and observes its Blackboard writes live (via a PostToolUse hook), so you get concurrent observability the Workflow runtime can't do on its own.

Mark a phase for the rung with extensions { claude-workflow { execution: workflow } }, then scaffold both:

agentopology scaffold my-team.at --target claude-code      # the host
agentopology scaffold my-team.at --target claude-workflow  # the embedded rung

The hybrid is opt-in — a topology with no execution: workflow marker compiles to pure claude-code, unchanged. See docs/AT_VS_WORKFLOW_STRATEGY.md for why.

What It Does

AgenTopology is a declarative language (.at files) and a CLI compiler that transforms agent definitions into platform-native configuration files.

┌──────────────┐      ┌────────────┐      ┌─────────────────────┐
│  .at file    │ ───▶ │  Parser &  │ ───▶ │  Platform configs   │
│  (you write) │      │  Validator │      │  (auto-generated)   │
└──────────────┘      └────────────┘      └─────────────────────┘
                                            ├── .claude/agents/
                                            ├── <topology>.workflow.js
                                            ├── .openclaw/
                                            ├── .codex/
                                            ├── .cursor/rules/
                                            ├── .github/agents/
                                            ├── .kiro/agents/
                                            └── ...

You stop hand-maintaining config files. Your topology becomes the single source of truth.

Quick Start

npm install -g agentopology

Validate — catch errors before you scaffold:

agentopology validate my-team.at

Scaffold — generate platform configs:

agentopology scaffold my-team.at --target claude-code

Visualize — see your topology as an interactive graph:

agentopology visualize my-team.at

List targets — see all supported platforms:

agentopology targets

Claude Code Skill — The Fastest Way to Start

You don't need to learn .at syntax. AgenTopology ships with an interactive skill that turns Claude Code into a topology designer. Describe the team you want in plain English — the skill generates everything.

Setup (one time)

# Install globally
npm install -g agentopology

# Link the skill into your project
ln -s $(npm root -g)/agentopology/skill .claude/skills/agentopology

Usage

In Claude Code, type /agentopology — or just ask naturally:

> /agentopology

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│  AgenTopology                       │
│  Build agent teams in minutes.      │
├─────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                     │
│  build       Design a new topology  │
│  templates   Pick a proven team     │
│  validate    Check an .at file      │
│  scaffold    Generate platform files│
│  visualize   Open graph viewer      │
│                                     │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘

Say "I want a code review team with an analyzer, security scanner, and reviewer" — the skill:

1. Generates the .at file with the right syntax
2. Validates it against 82 rules
3. Scaffolds it to Claude Code, OpenClaw, Cursor, or any target

Full agent team in under 2 minutes. No docs to read. No syntax to memorize. You describe what you want, the skill handles the rest.

Evolving Your Topology

You have a working .at file and want to make it better? Just tell the skill what you need:

• "Add a security scanner agent before the reviewer" — the skill adds the agent, wires it into the flow, and re-validates
• "Add a hook that formats code after every write" — generates the hook block with the right lifecycle event
• "Add an MCP server for GitHub" — adds the server config with environment variables
• "Add a quality gate between the builder and reviewer" — inserts a gate with halt-on-fail
• "Switch the target to OpenClaw" — re-scaffolds the entire topology for a different platform

The workflow is always the same: describe the change → the skill updates the .at file → validates → re-scaffolds. You never touch config files manually.

After any change, agentopology visualize updates the interactive graph so you can see exactly what changed — every agent, connection, tool, hook, and gate in one view.

Full language reference and guides at agentopology.com/docs.

The Language

.at files are human-readable and version-controllable. Here's a real topology:

topology content-pipeline : [pipeline, human-gate] {

  meta {
    version: "1.0.0"
    description: "Research, write, review — with quality gate"
  }

  agent researcher {
    model: sonnet
    description: "Gathers information and sources"
    tools: [Read, Grep, WebSearch]
    writes: ["workspace/research.md"]
    prompt {
      Search broadly for relevant sources.
      Compile findings into structured research notes.
      Include citations and source URLs.
    }
  }

  agent writer {
    model: sonnet
    description: "Drafts content from research"
    tools: [Read, Write]
    reads: ["workspace/research.md"]
    writes: ["workspace/draft.md"]
  }

  agent reviewer {
    model: opus
    description: "Reviews drafts for quality"
    tools: [Read, Grep]
    reads: ["workspace/draft.md"]
    outputs: { verdict: approve | revise | reject }
  }

  gates {
    gate quality-check {
      after: reviewer
      run: "scripts/check-quality.sh"
      on-fail: halt
    }
  }

  flow {
    researcher -> writer -> reviewer
    reviewer -> writer  [when reviewer.verdict == revise, max 2]
  }
}

This defines three agents, their tools and memory, a quality gate, and a flow with a conditional retry loop — all in 40 lines.

Supported Platforms

| Target | Command | What It Generates | |--------|---------|-------------------| | Claude Code | --target claude-code | .claude/agents/, .claude/skills/, .mcp.json, .claude/settings.json (the event-driven host) | | Claude Workflow | --target claude-workflow | <topology>.workflow.js (deterministic fan-out rung) + -SEAM.md, -README.md, -LOSSY-REPORT.md | | OpenClaw | --target openclaw | .openclaw/soul.md, .openclaw/skills/, .openclaw/config.json | | Codex | --target codex | .codex/config.toml, AGENTS.md | | Cursor | --target cursor | .cursor/rules/*.mdc, .cursor/mcp.json, .cursor/hooks.json | | Gemini CLI | --target gemini-cli | .gemini/, AGENTS.md | | Copilot | --target copilot-cli | .github/agents/*.agent.md, .github/copilot-instructions.md | | Kiro | --target kiro | .kiro/agents/*.json, .kiro/steering/ |

Every binding is ground-truth validated against real-world configs from production repos.

Language Features

Agents & Models

agent planner {
  model: opus
  tools: [Read, Write, Bash]
  permissions: plan
  thinking: high
  thinking-budget: 4000
  max-turns: 20
}

Flow Graphs

flow {
  intake -> researcher
  researcher -> writer
  writer -> reviewer
  reviewer -> writer  [when verdict == revise, max 3]
  reviewer -> done    [when verdict == approve]
}

Group Chats

group debate-arena {
  members: [pro, con]
  speaker-selection: "round-robin"
  max-rounds: 5
  termination: "judge declares winner"
}

Quality Gates

gates {
  gate security-scan {
    after: builder
    run: "scripts/security.sh"
    checks: [vulnerabilities, secrets]
    on-fail: halt
  }
}

Hooks & Events

hooks {
  hook format-on-save {
    on: PostToolUse
    matcher: "Write"
    run: "scripts/format.sh"
  }
}

MCP Servers

mcp-servers {
  github {
    command: "npx"
    args: ["-y", "@mcp/server-github"]
    env { TOKEN: "${GITHUB_TOKEN}" }
  }
}

Company Brain — agent-maintained, Obsidian-portable

store brain {
  type: brain          # markdown, no DB
  path: "brain/"
  format: obsidian     # ports both ways
}
agent librarian {
  custodian-of: [brain]  # owns its upkeep
}

Provenance styling — color the graph by source

store brain {
  sources {
    gmail { color: "#EA4335" icon: "./gmail.svg" }
    slack { color: "#4A154B" }
  }
}

Plus: memory stores (semantic, graph, episodic — 11 backends), retrieval strategies (scoring weights, cache-hit routing), schemas, artifacts, metering, circuit breakers, scale configs, depth levels, environment overrides, prompt variants, composition via imports, and more.

Group Chats — Agents That Talk to Each Other

Groups aren't fan-out. They're real conversations. Each agent reads what others wrote and responds:

group design-review {
  members: [architect, security-lead, tech-lead]
  speaker-selection: "round-robin"
  max-rounds: 3
  termination: "consensus reached"
}

In Claude Code, this compiles to a file-based protocol — a shared transcript file that agents read and append to sequentially. No HTTP, no message bus. Just the filesystem as shared state.

Company Brain — Knowledge That Builds Itself

A brain is a folder of linked markdown that agents maintain, not you. It's the Obsidian graph model — notes connected by [[wikilinks]] and #tags — but agent-maintained instead of hand-curated.

store brain {
  type: brain          # file-native: markdown, no database, no embeddings
  path: "brain/"
  format: obsidian     # ports both ways — open it in Obsidian, the graph just works
}

agent librarian {
  custodian-of: [brain] {       # OWNS the brain's upkeep, not just read access
    does: [link, tag, index, dedupe]
  }
}

• Custodian agents own a memory layer. Drop a note in, the librarian wires it into the graph — resolving [[links]], assigning #tags, updating hub notes. Humans drop; agents wire.
• Ingester agents feed it from anywhere. One agent per source (Gmail, Slack, calendar) writes raw notes; the librarian links them. See examples/company-brain-team.at.
• Pure markdown, zero infrastructure. No vector DB, no MCP server. Coding agents retrieve with grep. The whole brain is a folder you can git clone.
• 100% Obsidian-compatible. The vault is an Obsidian vault — agents build it, you open it in Obsidian for the graph view. Or use our built-in graph viewer (below) and skip Obsidian entirely.

See it without Obsidian — render any brain vault as an interactive graph in a single self-contained HTML file:

agentopology visualize-brain brain/

Nodes are colored by what they are (person / org / topic) and by where they came from (declare sources { gmail { color, icon } } and notes from Gmail render in Gmail red with the logo). When you visualize a topology that owns brains, the two graphs cross-link — jump from the team diagram to its brain and back.

This is brain as code: you declare the brain's architecture — its layers, its custodians, its sources — the same way you declare the agent team. See docs/company-brain.md for the full walkthrough.

Programmatic API

import { parse, validate, bindings } from "agentopology";

// Parse
const ast = parse(atSource);

// Validate (29 built-in rules)
const issues = validate(ast);

// Scaffold
const files = bindings["claude-code"].scaffold(ast);

// Visualize
import { generateVisualization } from "agentopology";
const html = generateVisualization(ast);

Create Your Own Binding

Implement the BindingTarget interface to add any platform:

import type { BindingTarget } from "agentopology";

export const myBinding: BindingTarget = {
  name: "my-platform",
  description: "My AI Platform",
  scaffold(ast) {
    return [
      { path: "agents.json", content: JSON.stringify(ast.nodes) },
    ];
  },
};

Focus on Structure, Not Config Files

The .at file IS your architecture diagram. When you open it, you see:

• Who the agents are
• What tools they have
• How work flows between them
• Where the quality gates are
• What happens when things fail

You can agentopology visualize it into an interactive graph. You can hand it to a new team member and they understand the system in 30 seconds. Try doing that with 15 scattered AGENT.md files.

| | Config files | AgenTopology | |---|---|---| | Switch platforms | Rewrite everything | Change --target | | Add an agent | Update 5-12 files across 3 tools | Add 4 lines to .at file | | See the architecture | Read YAML, JSON, TOML, Markdown across 6 dirs | One .at file. Or visualize it. | | Validate | Hope for the best | 29 built-in rules catch errors before deploy | | Onboard someone | "Read these 15 files and figure it out" | "Read this .at file" | | Version control | Diff 47 generated files | Diff one .at file | | Move to a new tool | Start over | --target new-tool |

Examples

• simple-pipeline.at — Research → write → review with quality gate
• code-review.at — Multi-agent code review with security scanning
• data-processing.at — ETL pipeline with batch processing and metering
• scheduled-monitor.at — Monitoring system with scheduled health checks
• openclaw-assistant.at — Customer support with routing and scheduling
• company-brain.at — A plug-and-play company brain (librarian + researcher)
• company-brain-team.at — A team that ingests (Gmail/Slack/calendar), wires, and audits a brain

CLI Reference

agentopology validate <file>              Validate an .at file (82 rules)
agentopology scaffold <file> --target <t> Generate platform configs
agentopology sync <file> --target <t> --dir <d>  Sync platform files back to .at
agentopology import --target <t> --dir <d>       Reverse-engineer platform files to .at
agentopology visualize <file>             Interactive topology graph (+ cross-links any brains)
agentopology visualize-brain <folder>     Render a brain vault as an Obsidian-style graph (no Obsidian)
agentopology export <file> --format <fmt> Export as markdown, mermaid, or json
agentopology info <file>                  Topology analysis and suggestions
agentopology targets                      List supported platforms
agentopology docs [topic]                 Language reference (42 topics)

Contributing

We welcome contributions. The easiest ways to start:

• Add a new example topology
• Improve a binding
• Add tests
• Write documentation

Grammar and AST changes require an RFC.

License

Apache 2.0 — see LICENSE.