Set up Agent Brain in 5 minutes

No coding experience required. One command does most of the work. We'll walk you through everything.

What You'll Need

A Mac, Windows, or Linux computer Required

Agent Brain runs on your own computer. It's a small server that manages your AI coding agents.

Node.js 18 or newer Required

Node.js runs JavaScript on your computer. Don't have it? Download here — just click the big green button and run the installer.

A free Supabase account Required

Supabase is a free database service that stores your agent's memory and sessions. We'll help you set it up in Step 2.

Claude Code or Codex Recommended

Agent Brain works with Claude Code and OpenAI Codex. If you don't have these yet, you can still set up Agent Brain first.

Run the installer

Open your Terminal (Mac/Linux) or PowerShell (Windows), then copy and paste this command:

Terminal

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Lukearcnet/agent-brain-oss/main/install.sh | bash

What this does: Downloads Agent Brain, installs it in a folder called "agent-brain" in your home directory, and starts an interactive setup wizard that walks you through everything.

Don't have Terminal/PowerShell? Click here

On Mac: Press Cmd + Space, type "Terminal", and press Enter.

On Windows: Press Win + X, then click "Windows PowerShell" or "Terminal".

On Linux: Press Ctrl + Alt + T to open a terminal.

Prefer to install manually?

If you'd rather not run a script from the internet, you can clone the repo yourself:

Terminal

git clone https://github.com/Lukearcnet/agent-brain-oss.git agent-brain
cd agent-brain
npm install
npm run setup

Create a free Supabase database

Agent Brain needs a place to store your sessions, memory, and checkpoints. Supabase is free and takes about 2 minutes to set up.

Go to supabase.com and create a free account (you can use GitHub to sign in)
Click "New Project" and give it any name (like "agent-brain")
Choose a password (save this somewhere — you won't need it often, but don't lose it)
Pick any region close to you, then click "Create new project"
Wait about 2 minutes for it to finish setting up

Tip: Once your project is ready, go to Settings → API (in the left sidebar). You'll need to copy two things: your Project URL and your service_role secret key. The setup wizard will ask for these.

Where do I find my API keys?

In your Supabase dashboard:

Click Settings (gear icon) in the left sidebar
Click API under "Project Settings"
Copy the Project URL (looks like https://abcdef.supabase.co)
Under "Project API keys", copy the service_role key (starts with eyJ...) — click "Reveal" first

Important: Use the service_role key, not the anon key. The service_role key has full access to your database.

Complete the setup wizard

The installer from Step 1 automatically runs the setup wizard. It will ask you a few questions:

Supabase URL — paste the Project URL from Step 2
Supabase Key — paste the service_role key from Step 2
Anthropic API key (optional) — enables AI briefings. Get one at console.anthropic.com
ntfy topic (optional) — for push notifications to your phone

The setup wizard tests your Supabase connection before continuing. If something's wrong, it will tell you what to fix.

Start Agent Brain

After setup completes, start the server:

Terminal

cd ~/agent-brain && npm start

You're done! Open http://localhost:3030 in your browser to see the Agent Brain dashboard.

Want Agent Brain to start automatically?

During setup, you can choose to install Agent Brain as a background service. This means it will start automatically when you turn on your computer.

If you skipped this, you can enable it later by running:

Terminal

cd ~/agent-brain && npm run setup

Choose "Yes" when it asks about installing the background service.

Common Questions

How do I connect Claude Code to Agent Brain?

The setup wizard automatically generates instructions for Claude Code. It creates a file at ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md that tells Claude Code how to use Agent Brain's memory and checkpoint features. No manual configuration needed!

Is my data safe? Where is it stored?

Your data is stored in your own Supabase database — you control it completely. Agent Brain runs locally on your computer and only connects to your Supabase instance. Nothing is sent to us.

How do I access Agent Brain from my phone?

Same WiFi: If your phone is on the same network as your computer, visit http://[your-computer-ip]:3030. The setup wizard shows your local IP.

From anywhere: Use Tailscale (free) to create a secure connection. Install it on both your computer and phone, then access Agent Brain via your Tailscale IP.

The installer didn't work. What do I do?

Check Node.js: Run node -v in your terminal. You need version 18 or higher.

Try manual install: If the one-liner doesn't work, use the manual install steps in Step 1 above.

Still stuck? Open an issue on GitHub and we'll help you out.

How do I update Agent Brain?

Run this command to update to the latest version:

cd ~/agent-brain && bin/ab-update

This backs up your config, pulls the latest code, and restarts the server.