dot-agents

A framework for building and running agentic workflows with personas and scheduled execution.

What is dot-agents?

dot-agents lets you define personas (agent configurations) and workflows (tasks for agents to execute), then run them on-demand or on a schedule. It's designed to work with any agent CLI (Claude Code, local LLMs, etc.).

Key features:

• Personas with cascading inheritance - define base configurations and extend them
• Workflows with triggers - run on-demand, on cron schedules, or via webhooks
• Daemon for background execution - scheduled workflows run automatically
• Agent-agnostic - works with any CLI that accepts prompts via stdin

Installation

Requires Node.js 20+.

No installation required - use npx to run directly:

npx dot-agents init
npx dot-agents run my-workflow

Or install globally:

npm install -g dot-agents

Quick Start

# Initialize a new project
npx dot-agents init

# Run the sample workflow
npx dot-agents run hello-world

That's it! The init command creates:

• .agents/personas/claude/PERSONA.md - Default Claude persona
• .agents/workflows/hello/WORKFLOW.md - Sample hello-world workflow

Directory Discovery

dot-agents searches for .agents/ in these locations (in order):

1. Current directory and ancestors (walks up the tree)
2. Home directory (~/.agents/)

This means you can run dot-agents from any subdirectory of a project.

Manual Setup

If you prefer to set up manually (or want to understand the structure):

1. Create directories

mkdir -p .agents/personas/claude .agents/workflows/hello

2. Define a persona

Create .agents/personas/claude/PERSONA.md:

---
name: claude
description: Base Claude persona
cmd: "claude --print" # Or array for fallbacks: ["claude --print", "claude -p"]
env:
  CLAUDE_MODEL: sonnet
---

You are a helpful assistant. Execute tasks thoroughly and report results clearly.

3. Create a workflow

Create .agents/workflows/hello/WORKFLOW.md:

---
name: hello-world
description: A simple hello world workflow
persona: claude
on:
  manual: true
---

Say hello and tell me today's date.

4. Run it

dot-agents run hello-world

Required Fields Reference

Persona fields:

---
name: my-persona # Required: unique identifier
cmd: "claude --print" # Required for root personas (can be inherited)
description: "..." # Optional but recommended
---

Workflow fields:

---
name: my-workflow # Required: unique identifier
description: "..." # Required: human-readable description
persona: my-persona # Required: must match a persona name/path
---

Core Concepts

Mental Model

dot-agents has four core primitives that work together:

| Primitive | Defines | Description | | ------------- | ------------ | -------------------------------------- | | Personas | HOW | Agent configuration (cmd, env, skills) | | Workflows | WHAT | Tasks with triggers and inputs | | Sessions | WHERE | Execution context with state | | Channels | COORDINATION | Messaging between sessions |

Typical flows:

• personas run developer - Create session, run persona interactively
• run daily-standup - Create session, execute workflow task
• channels publish @dev "..." - Queue message for async persona invocation
• Daemon watches channels, creates sessions when messages arrive

Directory Structure

.agents/
├── personas/           # Agent configurations
│   └── claude/
│       ├── PERSONA.md  # Base Claude persona
│       └── autonomous/
│           ├── PERSONA.md  # Inherits from claude
│           └── productivity/
│               └── PERSONA.md  # Inherits from autonomous
├── workflows/          # Task definitions
│   └── daily-standup/
│       └── WORKFLOW.md
├── skills/             # Reusable capabilities (optional)
├── channels/           # Message storage
└── sessions/           # Execution logs

Personas

Personas define how an agent behaves. They specify the command to run, environment variables, available skills, and a system prompt.

---
name: productivity-assistant
description: Focused assistant for productivity tasks
cmd: "claude --print"
env:
  CLAUDE_MODEL: sonnet
skills:
  - "productivity/**"
  - "!productivity/experimental/*"
---
System prompt goes here in the markdown body...

Command formats: The cmd field supports three formats:

# String - single command
cmd: "claude --print"

# Array - fallback alternatives (tries first, falls back to second, etc.)
cmd:
  - "claude --print"
  - "claude -p"

# Object - mode-specific commands
cmd:
  headless: ["claude", "--print"]      # Used with --headless flag
  interactive: ["claude"]              # Used with TTY or --interactive flag

Persona inheritance: Personas cascade through directories. A persona at personas/claude/autonomous/productivity/ inherits from personas/claude/autonomous/ which inherits from personas/claude/.

• Scalar fields (name, description, cmd) - child overrides parent
• Objects (env) - deep merged
• Arrays (skills) - merged with ! prefix for removal

Workflows

Workflows define what an agent should do. They reference a persona and contain the task in the markdown body.

---
name: daily-standup
description: Generate standup notes from git activity
persona: claude/autonomous
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: "0 9 * * 1-5"
  manual: true
inputs:
  - name: days
    type: number
    default: 1
    description: Days of history to analyze
---

Analyze git commits from the last ${days} day(s) and generate standup notes.
Focus on: what was accomplished, what's in progress, any blockers.

Triggers:

• manual: true - Can be run on-demand
• schedule - Cron-based scheduling (requires daemon)
• channel - Trigger on channel messages (requires daemon)
• Planned: file_change, webhook, git

Variable Expansion

Workflows support variable expansion in the task body:

• ${VAR} - Environment variables and inputs
• ${DATE}, ${TIME}, ${DATETIME} - Current date/time
• ${RUN_ID} - Unique execution identifier
• {{#if var}}...{{/if}} - Conditional blocks

CLI Reference

dot-agents [command]

Commands:
  init                     Initialize or migrate a .agents directory
  check [type]             Validate workflows and personas
  run <workflow>           Run a workflow
  list [workflows|personas] List resources
  show workflow <name>     Show workflow details
  show persona <name>      Show resolved persona (with inheritance)
  schedule list            List scheduled workflows
  daemon run               Run the scheduler daemon
  daemon status            Check daemon status
  daemon jobs              List scheduled jobs
  daemon trigger <name>    Manually trigger a workflow
  channels list            List all channels
  channels publish         Publish a message to a channel
  channels read            Read messages from a channel
  channels reply           Reply to a message thread
  channels process         Process pending DM messages (one-shot)
  personas run <name>      Run a persona interactively or headless
  projects list            List registered projects
  projects add <name>      Register a project for cross-project routing
  projects remove <name>   Unregister a project

Aliases:
  workflows                List all workflows (alias for 'list workflows')

Running Workflows

# Run a workflow
dot-agents run daily-standup

# With input overrides
dot-agents run daily-standup -i days=3

# Dry run (show prompt without executing)
dot-agents run daily-standup --dry-run

# Override persona
dot-agents run daily-standup -p claude/autonomous

Viewing Details

# Show resolved persona with full inheritance chain
dot-agents show persona claude/autonomous/productivity

# Show workflow with resolved prompt
dot-agents show workflow daily-standup --prompt

Validating Configuration

The check command validates your workflows and personas, catching common issues like:

• Missing required fields (name, description, persona)
• Invalid trigger configurations (wrong schedule format)
• Unknown fields (suggesting correct alternatives)
• Invalid cron expressions
• Missing persona references

# Check everything
dot-agents check

# Check only workflows
dot-agents check workflows

# Check only personas
dot-agents check personas

# JSON output (for CI/scripts)
dot-agents check --json

Example output:

Checking workflows...
  ✓ hello-world
  ○ daily-standup
    ⚠ warning: Unknown field 'schedule' [schedule]
      hint: Did you mean 'on.schedule'?
  ✗ broken-workflow
    ✗ error: Missing required 'persona' field
      hint: Add: persona: claude

Summary:
  Workflows: 2/3 valid

Daemon

The daemon runs scheduled workflows in the background based on cron expressions.

Running the Daemon

# Start in foreground (Ctrl+C to stop)
cd /path/to/project  # Must contain .agents/
dot-agents daemon run

# Custom port
dot-agents daemon run -p 8080

# Disable file watching
dot-agents daemon run --no-watch

⚠️ Important: The daemon must be run from a directory containing .agents/ (or a subdirectory of one).

Managing the Daemon

# Check if daemon is running
dot-agents daemon status

# View scheduled jobs and next run times
dot-agents daemon jobs

# Manually trigger a workflow
dot-agents daemon trigger my-workflow

# Reload workflows after editing files
dot-agents daemon reload

HTTP API

The daemon exposes an HTTP API on port 3141 (configurable with -p):

• GET /health - Health check
• GET /status - Daemon status and uptime
• GET /jobs - List scheduled jobs
• POST /trigger/:workflow - Trigger a workflow
• POST /reload - Reload workflows from disk

Deploying on macOS (launchd)

For an always-on Mac server, use launchd to keep the daemon running:

1. Create a plist file at ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.dot-agents.daemon.plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.dot-agents.daemon</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/local/bin/npx</string>
        <string>dot-agents</string>
        <string>daemon</string>
        <string>run</string>
    </array>
    <key>WorkingDirectory</key>
    <string>/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/Documents</string>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <true/>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/dot-agents.out.log</string>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/dot-agents.err.log</string>
    <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
    <dict>
        <key>PATH</key>
        <string>/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin</string>
    </dict>
</dict>
</plist>

2. Update the WorkingDirectory to point to your .agents/ location.

3. Load and start the daemon:

# Load the service
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.dot-agents.daemon.plist

# Check status
launchctl list | grep dot-agents

# View logs
tail -f /tmp/dot-agents.out.log

# Stop and unload
launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.dot-agents.daemon.plist

Workflow Schedule Format

For workflows to be scheduled, they need on.schedule with cron expressions:

---
name: daily-report
description: Generate daily report
persona: claude
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: "0 9 * * *" # 9:00 AM daily
    - cron: "0 17 * * 1-5" # 5:00 PM weekdays
  manual: true # Also allow manual triggers
---

Common cron patterns:

| Pattern | Description | | ------------- | ------------------- | | 0 9 * * * | Daily at 9:00 AM | | 30 6 * * * | Daily at 6:30 AM | | 0 */3 * * * | Every 3 hours | | 0 9 * * 1-5 | Weekdays at 9:00 AM | | 0 0 1 * * | First of each month |

Use dot-agents check to validate your cron expressions.

Channels

Channels enable messaging between sessions, personas, and projects. They're the coordination backbone for async agent communication.

Channel Types

| Prefix | Type | Purpose | | ------ | -------------- | -------------------------------- | | @ | Direct Message | Private inbox for a persona | | # | Public Channel | Shared topic-based communication |

CLI Commands

# List all channels
dot-agents channels list

# Publish to a channel
dot-agents channels publish "#status" "Deployment complete"

# Publish to a persona's DM (triggers persona via daemon)
dot-agents channels publish "@developer" "Please review PR #123"

# Read recent messages
dot-agents channels read "#status"
dot-agents channels read "#status" --since 24h --limit 20

# Read a specific thread
dot-agents channels read "#status" --thread <thread-id>

# Reply to a message
dot-agents channels reply "#status" <message-id> "Acknowledged"

Cross-Project Communication

Routes messages to other registered dot-agents projects using project/ prefix:

# Publish to another project's entry persona (@project routes to root persona)
dot-agents channels publish "@other-project" "Handle this task"

# Publish to a specific persona in another project
dot-agents channels publish "@other-project/developer" "Review this PR"

# Read from another project's public channel
dot-agents channels read "#other-project/status" --since 24h

Syntax patterns:

• @project - Routes to project's root persona (entry point)
• @project/persona - Routes to specific persona in project
• #project/channel - Routes to public channel in project

Register projects first with dot-agents projects add <name> <path>. See Projects section.

Daemon Integration

When the daemon is running:

• Messages to @persona automatically invoke that persona
• The persona receives the message content as input
• Enables fire-and-forget async delegation

# This triggers the developer persona asynchronously
dot-agents channels publish "@developer" "Fix the login bug"

Sessions

Sessions are execution units that capture agent work. Every personas run creates a session.

Session Basics

# Run a persona (creates session automatically)
dot-agents personas run developer

# Run with initial prompt
dot-agents personas run developer --prompt "Fix the bug in auth.ts"

# Resume a previous session
dot-agents personas run developer --session-id 2025-12-23T15-30-45

Session Environment

Running agents receive these environment variables:

| Variable | Example | Purpose | | ------------- | --------------------------------------- | ---------------------- | | SESSION_DIR | .agents/sessions/2025-12-23T15-30-45/ | Session directory path | | SESSION_ID | 2025-12-23T15-30-45 | Session identifier |

Agents should write a session.md summary to $SESSION_DIR before exiting to enable resumption and handoff.

Session Lifecycle

1. Create - personas run creates session directory and sets env vars
2. Execute - Agent runs with full context (persona + session history)
3. Log - Agent writes session.md summary to preserve state
4. Resume - --session-id reloads context for continuation

Projects

Projects enable cross-project communication by registering other dot-agents installations.

Managing Projects

# List registered projects
dot-agents projects list

# Register a project
dot-agents projects add my-docs /path/to/docs-project

# Remove a project
dot-agents projects remove my-docs

Using Registered Projects

Once registered, you can communicate with other projects via channels:

# Send task to another project's entry persona
dot-agents channels publish "@my-docs" "Update the API reference"

# Send to specific persona in another project
dot-agents channels publish "@my-docs/writer" "Draft release notes"

# Read from another project's channel
dot-agents channels read "#my-docs/updates"

Projects are stored in ~/.dot-agents/projects.json.

Skills

dot-agents also supports skills - focused, reusable capabilities that agents can load. Skills follow the Anthropic Skills Specification.

Skills are referenced in personas via glob patterns:

skills:
  - "documents/**"
  - "productivity/*"
  - "!experimental/**"

See the skills/ directory for examples.

Development

# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/tnez/dot-agents.git
cd dot-agents
npm install

# Build
npm run build

# Run CLI locally
just cli list workflows

# Run linters
just lint

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

License

MIT