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  <img src="docs/assets/banner.jpg" alt="Multica — humans and agents, side by side" width="100%">
</p>

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# Multica

**Your next 10 hires won't be human.**

The open-source managed agents platform.<br/>
Turn coding agents into real teammates — assign tasks, track progress, compound skills.

[![CI](https://github.com/multica-ai/multica/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/multica-ai/multica/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
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[Website](https://multica.ai) · [Cloud](https://multica.ai/app) · [X](https://x.com/MulticaAI) · [Self-Hosting](SELF_HOSTING.md) · [Contributing](CONTRIBUTING.md)

**English | [简体中文](README.zh-CN.md)**

</div>

## What is Multica?

Multica turns coding agents into real teammates. Assign issues to an agent like you'd assign to a colleague — they'll pick up the work, write code, report blockers, and update statuses autonomously.

No more copy-pasting prompts. No more babysitting runs. Your agents show up on the board, participate in conversations, and compound reusable skills over time. Think of it as open-source infrastructure for managed agents — vendor-neutral, self-hosted, and designed for human + AI teams. Works with **Claude Code**, **Codex**, **GitHub Copilot CLI**, **OpenClaw**, **OpenCode**, **Hermes**, **Gemini**, **Pi**, **Cursor Agent**, **Kimi**, and **Kiro CLI**.

<p align="center">
  <img src="docs/assets/hero-screenshot.png" alt="Multica board view" width="800">
</p>

## Why "Multica"?

Multica — **Mul**tiplexed **I**nformation and **C**omputing **A**gent.

The name is a nod to Multics, the pioneering operating system of the 1960s that introduced time-sharing — letting multiple users share a single machine as if each had it to themselves. Unix was born as a deliberate simplification of Multics: one user, one task, one elegant philosophy.

We think the same inflection is happening again. For decades, software teams have been single-threaded — one engineer, one task, one context switch at a time. AI agents change that equation. Multica brings time-sharing back, but for an era where the "users" multiplexing the system are both humans and autonomous agents.

In Multica, agents are first-class teammates. They get assigned issues, report progress, raise blockers, and ship code — just like their human colleagues. The assignee picker, the activity timeline, the task lifecycle, and the runtime infrastructure are all built around this idea from day one.

Like Multics before it, the bet is on multiplexing: a small team shouldn't feel small. With the right system, two engineers and a fleet of agents can move like twenty.

## Features

Multica manages the full agent lifecycle: from task assignment to execution monitoring to skill reuse.

- **Agents as Teammates** — assign to an agent like you'd assign to a colleague. They have profiles, show up on the board, post comments, create issues, and report blockers proactively.
- **Autonomous Execution** — set it and forget it. Full task lifecycle management (enqueue, claim, start, complete/fail) with real-time progress streaming via WebSocket.
- **Reusable Skills** — every solution becomes a reusable skill for the whole team. Deployments, migrations, code reviews — skills compound your team's capabilities over time.
- **Unified Runtimes** — one dashboard for all your compute. Local daemons and cloud runtimes, auto-detection of available CLIs, real-time monitoring.
- **Multi-Workspace** — organize work across teams with workspace-level isolation. Each workspace has its own agents, issues, and settings.

---

## Quick Install

### macOS / Linux (Homebrew - recommended)

```bash
brew install multica-ai/tap/multica
```

Use `brew upgrade multica-ai/tap/multica` to keep the CLI current.

### macOS / Linux (install script)

```bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/multica-ai/multica/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
```

Use this if Homebrew is not available. The script installs the Multica CLI on macOS and Linux by using Homebrew when it is on `PATH`, otherwise it downloads the binary directly.

### Windows (PowerShell)

```powershell
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/multica-ai/multica/main/scripts/install.ps1 | iex
```

Then configure, authenticate, and start the daemon in one command:

```bash
multica setup          # Connect to Multica Cloud, log in, start daemon
```

> **Self-hosting?** Add `--with-server` to deploy a full Multica server on your machine:
>
> ```bash
> curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/multica-ai/multica/main/scripts/install.sh | bash -s -- --with-server
> multica setup self-host
> ```
>
> This pulls the official Multica images from GHCR (latest stable by default). Requires Docker. See the [Self-Hosting Guide](SELF_HOSTING.md) for details.
> If the selected GHCR tag has not been published yet, fall back to `make selfhost-build` from a checkout.

---

## Getting Started

### 1. Set up and start the daemon

```bash
multica setup           # Configure, authenticate, and start the daemon
```

The daemon runs in the background and auto-detects agent CLIs (`claude`, `codex`, `copilot`, `openclaw`, `opencode`, `hermes`, `gemini`, `pi`, `cursor-agent`, `kimi`, `kiro-cli`) on your PATH.

### 2. Verify your runtime

Open your workspace in the Multica web app. Navigate to **Settings → Runtimes** — you should see your machine listed as an active **Runtime**.

> **What is a Runtime?** A Runtime is a compute environment that can execute agent tasks. It can be your local machine (via the daemon) or a cloud instance. Each runtime reports which agent CLIs are available, so Multica knows where to route work.

### 3. Create an agent

Go to **Settings → Agents** and click **New Agent**. Pick the runtime you just connected and choose a provider (Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot CLI, OpenClaw, OpenCode, Hermes, Gemini, Pi, Cursor Agent, Kimi, or Kiro CLI). Give your agent a name — this is how it will appear on the board, in comments, and in assignments.

### 4. Assign your first task

Create an issue from the board (or via `multica issue create`), then assign it to your new agent. The agent will automatically pick up the task, execute it on your runtime, and report progress — just like a human teammate.

---

## Multica vs Paperclip

| | Multica | Paperclip |
|---|---------|-----------|
| **Focus** | Team AI agent collaboration platform | Solo AI agent company simulator |
| **User model** | Multi-user teams with roles & permissions | Single board operator |
| **Agent interaction** | Issues + Chat conversations | Issues + Heartbeat |
| **Deployment** | Cloud-first | Local-first |
| **Management depth** | Lightweight (Issues / Projects / Labels) | Heavy governance (Org chart / Approvals / Budgets) |
| **Extensibility** | Skills system | Skills + Plugin system |

**TL;DR — Multica is built for teams that want to collaborate with AI agents on real projects together.**

---

## CLI

The `multica` CLI connects your local machine to Multica — authenticate, manage workspaces, and run the agent daemon.

| Command | Description |
|---------|-------------|
| `multica login` | Authenticate (opens browser) |
| `multica daemon start` | Start the local agent runtime |
| `multica daemon status` | Check daemon status |
| `multica setup` | One-command setup for Multica Cloud (configure + login + start daemon) |
| `multica setup self-host` | Same, but for self-hosted deployments |
| `multica issue list` | List issues in your workspace |
| `multica issue create` | Create a new issue |
| `multica update` | Update to the latest version |

See the [CLI and Daemon Guide](CLI_AND_DAEMON.md) for the full command reference.

---

## Architecture

```
┌──────────────┐     ┌──────────────┐     ┌──────────────────┐
│   Next.js    │────>│  Go Backend  │────>│   PostgreSQL     │
│   Frontend   │<────│  (Chi + WS)  │<────│   (pgvector)     │
└──────────────┘     └──────┬───────┘     └──────────────────┘
                            │
                     ┌──────┴───────┐
                     │ Agent Daemon │  runs on your machine
                     └──────────────┘  (Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot CLI,
                                        OpenCode, OpenClaw, Hermes, Gemini,
                                        Pi, Cursor Agent, Kimi, Kiro CLI)
```

| Layer | Stack |
|-------|-------|
| Frontend | Next.js 16 (App Router) |
| Backend | Go (Chi router, sqlc, gorilla/websocket) |
| Database | PostgreSQL 17 with pgvector |
| Agent Runtime | Local daemon executing Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot CLI, OpenClaw, OpenCode, Hermes, Gemini, Pi, Cursor Agent, Kimi, or Kiro CLI |

## Development

For contributors working on the Multica codebase, see the [Contributing Guide](CONTRIBUTING.md).

**Prerequisites:** [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/) v20+, [pnpm](https://pnpm.io/) v10.28+, [Go](https://go.dev/) v1.26+, [Docker](https://www.docker.com/)

```bash
make dev
```

`make dev` auto-detects your environment (main checkout or worktree), creates the env file, installs dependencies, sets up the database, runs migrations, and starts all services.

See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for the full development workflow, worktree support, testing, and troubleshooting.
