README

[English] | [<a href="docs/zh/README.md">中文</a>] | [<a href="docs/ja/README.md">日本語</a>]

CowAgent is an open-source super AI assistant that proactively plans tasks, controls your computer and external services, creates and runs Skills, and grows alongside you through a personal knowledge base and long-term memory — a reference implementation of Agent Harness engineering.

CowAgent is lightweight, easy to deploy, and built to extend. Plug in any major LLM provider and run it 24/7 on a personal computer or server, across the web and all major IM platforms.

🌟 Highlights

🏗️ Architecture

CowAgent is a complete Agent Harness: messages flow in through Channels; the Agent Core plans and reasons over memory, knowledge, and the available tools and skills; Models generate the response, which is sent back through the originating channel. Every layer is decoupled and independently extensible.

Read more in Architecture.

🚀 Quick Start

A one-line installer takes care of dependencies, configuration, and startup:

Linux / macOS:

bash <(curl -fsSL https://cdn.link-ai.tech/code/cow/run.sh)

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://cdn.link-ai.tech/code/cow/run.ps1 | iex

Docker:

curl -O https://cdn.link-ai.tech/code/cow/docker-compose.yml
docker compose up -d

Once started, open http://localhost:9899 to access the Web console — your one-stop hub to chat with the Agent, configure models, connect channels, and install skills.

Deploying on a server? Set web_host to 0.0.0.0 in config.json to make the console reachable from outside, and set web_password to protect it. Don't forget to open port 9899 in your firewall or security group.

📖 Detailed guides: Quick Start · Install from Source · Upgrade

After installation, manage the service with the cow CLI:

cow start | stop | restart        # service control
cow status | logs                  # status and logs
cow update                         # pull latest code and restart
cow skill install <name>           # install a skill
cow install-browser                # install browser automation

🤖 Models

CowAgent supports all mainstream LLM providers. Chat, vision, image generation, ASR/TTS, and embeddings can each be routed to a different vendor. Providers are configured directly in the Web console — no manual file editing required.

For details on each provider, see the Models overview.

💬 Channels

A single Agent instance can serve multiple channels in parallel. Most channels can be onboarded right from the Web console.

See the Channels overview for setup details.

The Web console is the default channel and the unified entry point to configure models, channels, skills, memory, and more.

🧠 Memory & Knowledge Base

Long-term memory uses a three-tier architecture: conversation context (short-term) → daily memory (mid-term) → MEMORY.md (long-term). A nightly Deep Dream pass distills scattered memories into refined long-term entries and a narrative journal. See Long-term Memory · Deep Dream.

Personal knowledge base complements the time-ordered memory by organizing structured knowledge by topic. The Agent automatically curates valuable information from conversations, maintains cross-references and indexes, and the Web console offers an interactive knowledge-graph view. See Personal Knowledge Base.

  <p align="center"><em>Long-term Memory · Three-tier architecture + Deep Dream</em></p>
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<td width="50%">
  
  <p align="center"><em>Knowledge Base · Auto-curated Markdown wiki</em></p>
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🔧 Tools & Skills

Tools are atomic capabilities the Agent uses to interact with system resources. Skills are higher-level workflows defined by a manifest file that compose multiple tools to accomplish complex tasks.

Tool System

Built-in tools cover file I/O (read / write / edit / ls), terminal (bash), file sending (send), memory retrieval (memory), environment variables (env_config), web fetching (web_fetch), scheduling (scheduler), web search (web_search), vision (vision), and browser automation (browser).

MCP protocol integrates the open ecosystem of Model Context Protocol servers. A single mcp.json is enough — supports stdio / SSE transports, hot reload, and zero-code integration.

Learn more: Tools overview · MCP integration.

Skills System

• Skill Hub — open skill marketplace: browse, search, install in one click
• GitHub / ClawHub / URL and more — install skills from any source
• Conversational authoring — generate custom skills through dialogue with skill-creator; turn any workflow or third-party API into a reusable skill

/skill list                   # list installed skills
/skill search <keyword>        # search the marketplace
/skill install <name>          # one-click install

Learn more: Skills overview · Creating Skills.

🏷 Changelog

2026.06.01: v2.1.0 — Internationalization, new channels (Telegram, Discord, Slack, WeChat Customer Service), CLI interaction upgrades, streamlined one-line install, MCP Streamable HTTP support, new models (claude-opus-4-8, MiMo).

2026.05.22: v2.0.9 — Model management, MCP protocol support, persistent browser sessions, new models (gpt-5.5, gemini-3.5-flash, qwen3.7-max), deployment hardening.

2026.05.06: v2.0.8 — Feishu channel overhaul (voice, streaming, QR onboarding), DeepSeek V4 and Baidu Qianfan support, scheduler tool upgrades.

2026.04.22: v2.0.7 — Built-in image generation (GPT Image 2, Nano Banana), new models (Kimi K2.6, Claude Opus 4.7, GLM 5.1), memory and knowledge enhancements.

2026.04.14: v2.0.6 — Knowledge base, Deep Dream memory distillation, smart context compression, multi-session Web console.

2026.04.01: v2.0.5 — Cow CLI, Skill Hub open source, browser tool, WeCom Bot QR onboarding.

2026.02.03: v2.0.0 — Major upgrade to a super Agent assistant with multi-step task planning, long-term memory, and the Skills framework.

Full history: Release Notes

🤝 Community & Support

File an issue on GitHub, or scan the QR code below to join our WeChat community:

🔗 Related Projects

• Cow Skill Hub — open skill marketplace for AI Agents; works with CowAgent, OpenClaw, Claude Code, and more
• bot-on-anything — lightweight LLM application framework with integrations for Slack, Telegram, Discord, Gmail, and more
• AgentMesh — open-source multi-agent framework for solving complex problems through team collaboration

🏢 Enterprise Services

LinkAI is an all-in-one AI Agent platform for enterprises and developers, offering managed hosting and enterprise-grade support for CowAgent:

• 🚀 Zero-deployment hosted runtime — spin up a CowAgent online assistant in under a minute, no server required
• 🧠 Agent infrastructure — unified access to LLMs, knowledge bases, databases, skills, and workflows; plug-and-play building blocks that extend what CowAgent can do
• 🏢 Team & enterprise features — workspaces, role-based access, audit logs, and private deployment for production use cases

For enterprise inquiries: [email protected] or scan the QR code to reach our team on WeChat.

🛠️ Development & Contributing

Contributions are welcome — add a new channel by following the Feishu channel reference, or contribute new skills to Skill Hub.

⭐ Star the project to follow updates, and feel free to open PRs and Issues.

🌟 Contributors

⚠️ Disclaimer

1. This project is licensed under the MIT License and is intended for technical research and learning. You are responsible for complying with applicable laws and regulations in your jurisdiction; the maintainers assume no liability for any consequences arising from use of this project.
2. Cost & safety: Agent mode consumes substantially more tokens than regular chat — pick models that balance quality and cost. The Agent has access to your local operating system, so only deploy it in trusted environments.
3. CowAgent is a pure open-source project and does not participate in, authorize, or issue any cryptocurrency.

📌 Project Renaming Notice

This project was previously named chatgpt-on-wechat and is now officially CowAgent. The old GitHub URL redirects automatically; existing users may optionally run git remote set-url origin https://github.com/zhayujie/CowAgent.git to update the local remote.