otaviobarros/hobbots

Little helpers that do your chores while you sleep.
hobbots.app ·
Install ·
Run from source ·
Status ·
Contribute
Hobbots is a personal, local-first, self-hostable workspace for AI agents. Each agent is a hob: a small helper with a name, a face and its own threads. Today your hobs chat, use tools in the folders you give them, and keep working after you close the window. Hobbots is being built so they can also delegate to each other, report back and close the loop on their own, within boundaries you trust.
Hobbots does not build a new model or agent engine. It hosts existing runtimes such as Claude Code, Codex and ACP-compatible agents, and adds what they lack together: persistent identities and threads, durable delegation and inboxes, enforceable permissions and one view of all the work.
## A field guide to the village
Hob: one agent, with its own name, look, instructions, model and permissions. Every hob is a 14 × 14 pixel sprite drawn from a seed, so it looks the same everywhere.
The chief: the Hobbots mark, an elder hob in a gem crown with a lantern staff. While any hob works, the lantern burns brighter.
Thread: a conversation with one hob that survives restarts. Each reply shows the tools the hob used as steps.
Folders and the sandbox: where a hob may work, and the OS sandbox that holds it there. Each rule is Allow, Ask or Never; answering an Ask from the app is not built yet.
Hub: the one computer that runs the hobs, their threads and every runtime. Hobs act only on the hub.
Quest: a goal that spans several hobs and threads, with who asked whom and what is still owed. Not built yet.
Inbox: where hobs leave questions, approvals and results for you and for each other. Not built yet.
Charm: a connection that gives a hob new abilities, such as GitHub with Push. Not built yet.
The glossary has the full list.
## Status
Early build. Hobbots runs in the browser and as a Mac app: several hobs on Claude Code, persistent threads with streaming chat, and tools within the folders you choose. Delegation, inboxes, Quests, approvals and other runtimes are MVP work that is not built yet.
The status page lists what has been proven end to end, on which setup, and what is not proven yet.
## Install the Mac app
Requirements: macOS 13 Ventura or later, on Apple silicon or Intel, and Claude Code 2.1.301 or later, installed and signed in. The app runs the Claude Code installed on your Mac; it does not ship its own. Workshop tells you when Claude Code is missing, outdated or signed out.
1. Download the .dmg for your Mac from the latest release: arm64 for Apple silicon, x64 for Intel. Apple menu › About This Mac shows which one you have.
2. Open the .dmg and drag Hobbots onto the Applications shortcut beside it, then eject the disk image.
3. Open Hobbots from Applications. The app is not signed by an Apple developer yet, so macOS blocks the first launch: choose Done in the dialog.
4. Open System Settings › Privacy & Security, scroll to Security, choose Open Anyway next to the message about Hobbots, confirm with your password or Touch ID, then choose Open. macOS remembers this, so later launches open normally.
Hobbots keeps its data, including every thread, in ~/Library/Application Support/Hobbots, outside the app.