Agents

Agents are configured AI workers with a name, system prompt, model, assigned Skills, MCP servers, and explicit tool permissions.

Agents are configured AI workers with a name, system prompt, model, assigned Skills, MCP servers, and explicit tool permissions. Each agent is a repeatable, governed expert — not a one-off chat prompt.

Agent List

The Agents page shows a card grid of all agents in the current Workspace.

Each card displays:

• Avatar — Upload custom image or use generated initials
• Name — Click to open Agent Detail
• Squad label — If the agent belongs to one or more Squads
• Description — Truncated to 4 lines (2 on mobile)
• Card menu — Open Chat and Create Task (both only for an active agent) and Disable agent / Enable agent

Agent Detail

Click an agent card to open the full detail view with tabs:

Profile Tab

• Identity — Name, description, avatar
• System Prompt — Full prompt editor with syntax highlighting
• Execution — Runtime selection, model, temperature, max tokens
• Squad Memberships — Which squads this agent belongs to

System Prompt Tab

Full-screen editor for the agent’s system prompt. This is the core instruction that defines the agent’s behavior.

Skills Tab

• Assigned Skills — List with version, category, enable/disable toggle
• Add Skill — Search and assign from Workspace’s skill registry
• Remove Skill — Unassign (keeps skill in registry)

MCP Servers Tab

• Configured Servers — Name, URL, status, enable/disable
• Add Server — URL + optional auth headers
• Test Connection — Verify before saving

Activity Tab

Live feed of everything this agent has done:

• Runs (with status, duration, tokens)
• Skill assignments/removals
• Context config changes
• Filter by date range

Edit Mode

Click Edit to modify:

• Name, description, avatar
• System prompt
• Execution settings
• Save / Cancel

Agent Context Manager

Per-agent control over every context source the agent receives at runtime.

Live Preview — See the exact context that will be sent to the agent before saving.

Agent Squads

Assign a Task to a Squad — a team of agents under a Leader who delegates to members.

Squad Structure

• Leader — Receives the Task, breaks it down, delegates to members
• Members — Execute delegated sub-tasks in parallel
• Each delegation = a child Run (auditable, usage-tracked, own chat/logs)

Creating a Squad

1. Agents page → New Squad (or Squad Detail → New Squad)
2. Name + description
3. Select Leader (must be an Agent)
4. Add Members (Agents)
5. Save

Squad Detail

Click a squad to see:

• Org Chart — Visual leader→members tree (SVG, pan/zoom)
• Overview — Description, leader readout
• Activity — All runs from this squad’s tasks

Agent Knowledge & Memory

Agents use the knowledge base as long-term memory — personal folders + RAG read/write at runtime.

Personal Knowledge Folders

• Agent Detail → Memory tab → List of personal folders
• Create Folder — Name + description
• Upload Documents — Drag-drop or select files
• Delete — Remove folder + contents

To see and manage every folder of the Workspace in one place, use the Knowledge page — see Knowledge.

At Runtime

The agent-memory MCP server exposes:

• memory_search — Semantic search across readable folders
• memory_remember — Save content to personal folder
• memory_list_folders / memory_create_folder

Read access = personal + workspace-global + project folders Write access = personal folders only

Agent Copy & Export

Copy Between Workspaces

System Administrator only — Copy an agent (with skills, config, squad memberships) to another Workspace.

1. Agent Detail → Copy button
2. Select target Workspace
3. Review ApplyReport (created skills vs reused, unresolved runtime, warnings)
4. Confirm — Agent lands disabled in target Workspace

Export Entire Roster

Workspace Administrator — Export all agents as a single .ao artifact:

1. Agents page → Export All
2. Downloads .ao file (optionally encrypted with ?encrypt=true)
3. Import on another AO instance → Import button

Excludes: agent secrets, knowledge folder contents, squad memberships (references only).

Agent Creator

Agents with the Admin grant (include_agent_admin) can create/configure agents and squads during their own runs via the AO MCP server.

Enabling

Agent Detail → Context tab → Include Agent Admin checkbox (default off, independent of “Include AO Tools”)

Capabilities (inside a run)

• ao_create_agent — Create + bind runtime + optional squad/skill assign
• ao_update_agent — Modify agent config
• ao_create_squad — Create squad with leader/members
• ao_add_squad_member — Add member to squad
• ao_list_squads — List squads in workspace

Guardrails:

• Create/update only (no delete/remove/unassign)
• Daemon-mode only (not available in standalone CLI)
• No self-replication (created agents have both grants off)
• All changes human-reviewable in Audit Log

Recent Updates

• Agent Context Manager — Per-agent control over skills, MCP servers, knowledge folders, guardrails with live preview
• Agent Squads — Team-based delegations with leader and members, each delegation a tracked child run
• Agent Knowledge/Memory — Personal knowledge folders with read/write at runtime via RAG
• Agent Copy & Export — Copy agents between workspaces, export entire roster as .ao artifact
• Agent Creator — Agents with Admin grant can create/configure agents and squads during runs