Agents

Built-in master, CLI, and API agents — pick one per session, or install custom ADL definitions.

Master agent

Agent (ADL id)	Description
nui	Master agent used by the home launcher. Routes tasks to specialists via the nui-orchestrator MCP (list_agents, launch_session), or helps create and save new ADL agents. Legacy id alias: nui-orchestrator.

CLI agents

These require the corresponding binary on your PATH:

Agent (ADL id)	CLI	Description
claude-code	claude	Anthropic’s Claude Code CLI
pi	pi	pi agent CLI
codex	codex	OpenAI Codex CLI
opencode	opencode	OpenCode CLI

API agents

In-process LLM calls — no CLI required. Select under Built-in → API in the New Session panel:

ADL id	Name	API key environment variable
anthropic	Claude API	ANTHROPIC_API_KEY (or ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN)
openai	OpenAI	OPENAI_API_KEY
gemini	Gemini	GEMINI_API_KEY or GOOGLE_API_KEY
openrouter	OpenRouter	OPENROUTER_API_KEY
ollama	Ollama	none (local; optional OLLAMA_HOST)

Custom agents

Install your own agent definitions (ADL YAML) to ~/.nui/agents/:

nui agent add ./my-agent.yaml

Custom agents appear under Installed agents in the New Session panel. They can run in Docker, dev containers, remote servers, or sandboxes. For CLI-based custom agents, allowedHarnesses controls which CLI harnesses may be selected at session create (UI picker or --harness).

See ADL agents for the schema and harness examples for templates.

Harness types

Harness	Lifecycle
claude-code, pi, codex, opencode	Go-managed subprocesses on the host or in Docker
api	In-process LLM calls (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, OpenRouter, Ollama)
docker	nui runs a container, health-checks, and tears it down on delete
devcontainer	Dev Container CLI–managed environment with an inner CLI harness
remote	Connect to a pre-running HTTP/SSE agent at host:port
ext:<extension>/<harness-id>	Extension-contributed stdio, TCP, or HTTP harnesses

Sandbox options per harness: none, bubblewrap (Linux only), or docker.