whox-agent

name	whox-agent
description	Complete guide to using and extending WHOX Agent — CLI usage, setup, configuration, spawning additional agents, gateway platforms, skills, voice, tools, profiles, and a concise contributor reference. Load this skill when helping users configure WHOX, troubleshoot issues, spawn agent instances, or make code contributions.
version	2.0.0
author	WHOX Agent + Teknium
license	MIT
metadata	{"whox":{"tags":["whox","setup","configuration","multi-agent","spawning","cli","gateway","development"],"homepage":"https://github.com/NousResearch/whox-agent","related_skills":["claude-code","codex","opencode"]}}

WHOX Agent

WHOX Agent is an open-source AI agent framework by Nous Research that runs in your terminal, messaging platforms, and IDEs. It belongs to the same category as Claude Code (Anthropic), Codex (OpenAI), and OpenClaw — autonomous coding and task-execution agents that use tool calling to interact with your system. WHOX works with any LLM provider (OpenRouter, Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek, local models, and 15+ others) and runs on Linux, macOS, and WSL.

What makes WHOX different:

• Self-improving through skills — WHOX learns from experience by saving reusable procedures as skills. When it solves a complex problem, discovers a workflow, or gets corrected, it can persist that knowledge as a skill document that loads into future sessions. Skills accumulate over time, making the agent better at your specific tasks and environment.
• Persistent memory across sessions — remembers who you are, your preferences, environment details, and lessons learned. Pluggable memory backends (built-in, Honcho, Mem0, and more) let you choose how memory works.
• Multi-platform gateway — the same agent runs on Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, Matrix, Email, and 8+ other platforms with full tool access, not just chat.
• Provider-agnostic — swap models and providers mid-workflow without changing anything else. Credential pools rotate across multiple API keys automatically.
• Profiles — run multiple independent WHOX instances with isolated configs, sessions, skills, and memory.
• Extensible — plugins, MCP servers, custom tools, webhook triggers, cron scheduling, and the full Python ecosystem.

People use WHOX for software development, research, system administration, data analysis, content creation, home automation, and anything else that benefits from an AI agent with persistent context and full system access.

This skill helps you work with WHOX Agent effectively — setting it up, configuring features, spawning additional agent instances, troubleshooting issues, finding the right commands and settings, and understanding how the system works when you need to extend or contribute to it.

Docs: https://whox-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/

Quick Start

# Install
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/whox-agent/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

# Interactive chat (default)
whox

# Single query
whox chat -q "What is the capital of France?"

# Setup wizard
whox setup

# Change model/provider
whox model

# Check health
whox doctor

---

CLI Reference

Global Flags

whox [flags] [command]

  --version, -V             Show version
  --resume, -r SESSION      Resume session by ID or title
  --continue, -c [NAME]     Resume by name, or most recent session
  --worktree, -w            Isolated git worktree mode (parallel agents)
  --skills, -s SKILL        Preload skills (comma-separate or repeat)
  --profile, -p NAME        Use a named profile
  --yolo                    Skip dangerous command approval
  --pass-session-id         Include session ID in system prompt

No subcommand defaults to chat.

Chat

whox chat [flags]
  -q, --query TEXT          Single query, non-interactive
  -m, --model MODEL         Model (e.g. anthropic/claude-sonnet-4)
  -t, --toolsets LIST       Comma-separated toolsets
  --provider PROVIDER       Force provider (openrouter, anthropic, nous, etc.)
  -v, --verbose             Verbose output
  -Q, --quiet               Suppress banner, spinner, tool previews
  --checkpoints             Enable filesystem checkpoints (/rollback)
  --source TAG              Session source tag (default: cli)

Configuration

whox setup [section]      Interactive wizard (model|terminal|gateway|tools|agent)
whox model                Interactive model/provider picker
whox config               View current config
whox config edit          Open config.yaml in $EDITOR
whox config set KEY VAL   Set a config value
whox config path          Print config.yaml path
whox config env-path      Print .env path
whox config check         Check for missing/outdated config
whox config migrate       Update config with new options
whox login [--provider P] OAuth login (nous, openai-codex)
whox logout               Clear stored auth
whox doctor [--fix]       Check dependencies and config
whox status [--all]       Show component status

Tools & Skills

whox tools                Interactive tool enable/disable (curses UI)
whox tools list           Show all tools and status
whox tools enable NAME    Enable a toolset
whox tools disable NAME   Disable a toolset

whox skills list          List installed skills
whox skills search QUERY  Search the skills hub
whox skills install ID    Install a skill
whox skills inspect ID    Preview without installing
whox skills config        Enable/disable skills per platform
whox skills check         Check for updates
whox skills update        Update outdated skills
whox skills uninstall N   Remove a hub skill
whox skills publish PATH  Publish to registry
whox skills browse        Browse all available skills
whox skills tap add REPO  Add a GitHub repo as skill source

MCP Servers

whox mcp serve            Run WHOX as an MCP server
whox mcp add NAME         Add an MCP server (--url or --command)
whox mcp remove NAME      Remove an MCP server
whox mcp list             List configured servers
whox mcp test NAME        Test connection
whox mcp configure NAME   Toggle tool selection

Gateway (Messaging Platforms)

whox gateway run          Start gateway foreground
whox gateway install      Install as background service
whox gateway start/stop   Control the service
whox gateway restart      Restart the service
whox gateway status       Check status
whox gateway setup        Configure platforms

Supported platforms: Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, Email, SMS, Matrix, Mattermost, Home Assistant, DingTalk, Feishu, WeCom, API Server, Webhooks, Open WebUI.

Platform docs: https://whox-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/messaging/

Sessions

whox sessions list        List recent sessions
whox sessions browse      Interactive picker
whox sessions export OUT  Export to JSONL
whox sessions rename ID T Rename a session
whox sessions delete ID   Delete a session
whox sessions prune       Clean up old sessions (--older-than N days)
whox sessions stats       Session store statistics

Cron Jobs

whox cron list            List jobs (--all for disabled)
whox cron create SCHED    Create: '30m', 'every 2h', '0 9 * * *'
whox cron edit ID         Edit schedule, prompt, delivery
whox cron pause/resume ID Control job state
whox cron run ID          Trigger on next tick
whox cron remove ID       Delete a job
whox cron status          Scheduler status

Webhooks

whox webhook subscribe N  Create route at /webhooks/<name>
whox webhook list         List subscriptions
whox webhook remove NAME  Remove a subscription
whox webhook test NAME    Send a test POST

Profiles

whox profile list         List all profiles
whox profile create NAME  Create (--clone, --clone-all, --clone-from)
whox profile use NAME     Set sticky default
whox profile delete NAME  Delete a profile
whox profile show NAME    Show details
whox profile alias NAME   Manage wrapper scripts
whox profile rename A B   Rename a profile
whox profile export NAME  Export to tar.gz
whox profile import FILE  Import from archive

Credential Pools

whox auth add             Interactive credential wizard
whox auth list [PROVIDER] List pooled credentials
whox auth remove P INDEX  Remove by provider + index
whox auth reset PROVIDER  Clear exhaustion status

Other

whox insights [--days N]  Usage analytics
whox update               Update to latest version
whox pairing list/approve/revoke  DM authorization
whox plugins list/install/remove  Plugin management
whox honcho setup/status  Honcho memory integration
whox memory setup/status/off  Memory provider config
whox completion bash|zsh  Shell completions
whox acp                  ACP server (IDE integration)
whox claw migrate         Migrate from OpenClaw
whox uninstall            Uninstall WHOX

---

Slash Commands (In-Session)

Type these during an interactive chat session.

Session Control

/new (/reset)        Fresh session
/clear               Clear screen + new session (CLI)
/retry               Resend last message
/undo                Remove last exchange
/title [name]        Name the session
/compress            Manually compress context
/stop                Kill background processes
/rollback [N]        Restore filesystem checkpoint
/background <prompt> Run prompt in background
/queue <prompt>      Queue for next turn
/resume [name]       Resume a named session

Configuration

/config              Show config (CLI)
/model [name]        Show or change model
/provider            Show provider info
/prompt [text]       View/set system prompt (CLI)
/personality [name]  Set personality
/reasoning [level]   Set reasoning (none|low|medium|high|xhigh|show|hide)
/verbose             Cycle: off → new → all → verbose
/voice [on|off|tts]  Voice mode
/yolo                Toggle approval bypass
/skin [name]         Change theme (CLI)
/statusbar           Toggle status bar (CLI)

Tools & Skills

/tools               Manage tools (CLI)
/toolsets            List toolsets (CLI)
/skills              Search/install skills (CLI)
/skill <name>        Load a skill into session
/cron                Manage cron jobs (CLI)
/reload-mcp          Reload MCP servers
/plugins             List plugins (CLI)

Info

/help                Show commands
/commands [page]     Browse all commands (gateway)
/usage               Token usage
/insights [days]     Usage analytics
/status              Session info (gateway)
/profile             Active profile info

Exit

/quit (/exit, /q)    Exit CLI

---

Key Paths & Config

~/.whox/config.yaml       Main configuration
~/.whox/.env              API keys and secrets
~/.whox/skills/           Installed skills
~/.whox/sessions/         Session transcripts
~/.whox/logs/             Gateway and error logs
~/.whox/auth.json         OAuth tokens and credential pools
~/.whox/whox-agent/     Source code (if git-installed)

Profiles use ~/.whox/profiles/<name>/ with the same layout.

Config Sections

Edit with whox config edit or whox config set section.key value.

Section	Key options
model	default, provider, base_url, api_key, context_length
agent	max_turns (90), tool_use_enforcement
terminal	backend (local/docker/ssh/modal), cwd, timeout (180)
compression	enabled, threshold (0.50), target_ratio (0.20)
display	skin, tool_progress, show_reasoning, show_cost
stt	enabled, provider (local/groq/openai)
tts	provider (edge/elevenlabs/openai/kokoro/fish)
memory	memory_enabled, user_profile_enabled, provider
security	tirith_enabled, website_blocklist
delegation	model, provider, max_iterations (50)
smart_model_routing	enabled, cheap_model
checkpoints	enabled, max_snapshots (50)

Full config reference: https://whox-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/configuration

Providers

18 providers supported. Set via whox model or whox setup.

Provider	Auth	Key env var
OpenRouter	API key	OPENROUTER_API_KEY
Anthropic	API key	ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
Nous Portal	OAuth	whox login --provider nous
OpenAI Codex	OAuth	whox login --provider openai-codex
GitHub Copilot	Token	COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN
DeepSeek	API key	DEEPSEEK_API_KEY
Hugging Face	Token	HF_TOKEN
Z.AI / GLM	API key	GLM_API_KEY
MiniMax	API key	MINIMAX_API_KEY
Kimi / Moonshot	API key	KIMI_API_KEY
Alibaba / DashScope	API key	DASHSCOPE_API_KEY
Kilo Code	API key	KILOCODE_API_KEY
Custom endpoint	Config	model.base_url + model.api_key in config.yaml

Plus: AI Gateway, OpenCode Zen, OpenCode Go, MiniMax CN, GitHub Copilot ACP.

Full provider docs: https://whox-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/integrations/providers

Toolsets

Enable/disable via whox tools (interactive) or whox tools enable/disable NAME.

Toolset	What it provides
web	Web search and content extraction
browser	Browser automation (Browserbase, Camofox, or local Chromium)
terminal	Shell commands and process management
file	File read/write/search/patch
code_execution	Sandboxed Python execution
vision	Image analysis
image_gen	AI image generation
tts	Text-to-speech
skills	Skill browsing and management
memory	Persistent cross-session memory
session_search	Search past conversations
delegation	Subagent task delegation
cronjob	Scheduled task management
clarify	Ask user clarifying questions
moa	Mixture of Agents (off by default)
homeassistant	Smart home control (off by default)

Tool changes take effect on /reset (new session). They do NOT apply mid-conversation to preserve prompt caching.

---

Voice & Transcription

STT (Voice → Text)

Voice messages from messaging platforms are auto-transcribed.

Provider priority (auto-detected):

1. Local faster-whisper — free, no API key: pip install faster-whisper
2. Groq Whisper — free tier: set GROQ_API_KEY
3. OpenAI Whisper — paid: set VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY

Config:

stt:
  enabled: true
  provider: local        # local, groq, openai
  local:
    model: base          # tiny, base, small, medium, large-v3

TTS (Text → Voice)

Provider	Env var	Free?
Edge TTS	None	Yes (default)
ElevenLabs	ELEVENLABS_API_KEY	Free tier
OpenAI	VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY	Paid
Kokoro (local)	None	Free
Fish Audio	FISH_AUDIO_API_KEY	Free tier

Voice commands: /voice on (voice-to-voice), /voice tts (always voice), /voice off.

---

Spawning Additional WHOX Instances

Run additional WHOX processes as fully independent subprocesses — separate sessions, tools, and environments.

When to Use This vs delegate_task

	delegate_task	Spawning whox process
Isolation	Separate conversation, shared process	Fully independent process
Duration	Minutes (bounded by parent loop)	Hours/days
Tool access	Subset of parent's tools	Full tool access
Interactive	No	Yes (PTY mode)
Use case	Quick parallel subtasks	Long autonomous missions

One-Shot Mode

terminal(command="whox chat -q 'Research GRPO papers and write summary to ~/research/grpo.md'", timeout=300)

# Background for long tasks:
terminal(command="whox chat -q 'Set up CI/CD for ~/myapp'", background=true)

Interactive PTY Mode (via tmux)

WHOX uses prompt_toolkit, which requires a real terminal. Use tmux for interactive spawning:

# Start
terminal(command="tmux new-session -d -s agent1 -x 120 -y 40 'whox'", timeout=10)

# Wait for startup, then send a message
terminal(command="sleep 8 && tmux send-keys -t agent1 'Build a FastAPI auth service' Enter", timeout=15)

# Read output
terminal(command="sleep 20 && tmux capture-pane -t agent1 -p", timeout=5)

# Send follow-up
terminal(command="tmux send-keys -t agent1 'Add rate limiting middleware' Enter", timeout=5)

# Exit
terminal(command="tmux send-keys -t agent1 '/exit' Enter && sleep 2 && tmux kill-session -t agent1", timeout=10)

Multi-Agent Coordination

# Agent A: backend
terminal(command="tmux new-session -d -s backend -x 120 -y 40 'whox -w'", timeout=10)
terminal(command="sleep 8 && tmux send-keys -t backend 'Build REST API for user management' Enter", timeout=15)

# Agent B: frontend
terminal(command="tmux new-session -d -s frontend -x 120 -y 40 'whox -w'", timeout=10)
terminal(command="sleep 8 && tmux send-keys -t frontend 'Build React dashboard for user management' Enter", timeout=15)

# Check progress, relay context between them
terminal(command="tmux capture-pane -t backend -p | tail -30", timeout=5)
terminal(command="tmux send-keys -t frontend 'Here is the API schema from the backend agent: ...' Enter", timeout=5)

Session Resume

# Resume most recent session
terminal(command="tmux new-session -d -s resumed 'whox --continue'", timeout=10)

# Resume specific session
terminal(command="tmux new-session -d -s resumed 'whox --resume 20260225_143052_a1b2c3'", timeout=10)

Tips

• Prefer delegate_task for quick subtasks — less overhead than spawning a full process
• Use -w (worktree mode) when spawning agents that edit code — prevents git conflicts
• Set timeouts for one-shot mode — complex tasks can take 5-10 minutes
• Use whox chat -q for fire-and-forget — no PTY needed
• Use tmux for interactive sessions — raw PTY mode has \r vs \n issues with prompt_toolkit
• For scheduled tasks, use the cronjob tool instead of spawning — handles delivery and retry

---

Troubleshooting

Voice not working

1. Check stt.enabled: true in config.yaml
2. Verify provider: pip install faster-whisper or set API key
3. Restart gateway: /restart

Tool not available

1. whox tools — check if toolset is enabled for your platform
2. Some tools need env vars (check .env)
3. /reset after enabling tools

Model/provider issues

1. whox doctor — check config and dependencies
2. whox login — re-authenticate OAuth providers
3. Check .env has the right API key

Changes not taking effect

• Tools/skills: /reset starts a new session with updated toolset
• Config changes: /restart reloads gateway config
• Code changes: Restart the CLI or gateway process

Skills not showing

1. whox skills list — verify installed
2. whox skills config — check platform enablement
3. Load explicitly: /skill name or whox -s name

Gateway issues

Check logs first:

grep -i "failed to send\|error" ~/.whox/logs/gateway.log | tail -20

---

Where to Find Things

Looking for...	Location
Config options	whox config edit or Configuration docs
Available tools	whox tools list or Tools reference
Slash commands	/help in session or Slash commands reference
Skills catalog	whox skills browse or Skills catalog
Provider setup	whox model or Providers guide
Platform setup	whox gateway setup or Messaging docs
MCP servers	whox mcp list or MCP guide
Profiles	whox profile list or Profiles docs
Cron jobs	whox cron list or Cron docs
Memory	whox memory status or Memory docs
Env variables	whox config env-path or Env vars reference
CLI commands	whox --help or CLI reference
Gateway logs	~/.whox/logs/gateway.log
Session files	~/.whox/sessions/ or whox sessions browse
Source code	~/.whox/whox-agent/

---

Contributor Quick Reference

For occasional contributors and PR authors. Full developer docs: https://whox-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/developer-guide/

Project Layout

whox-agent/
├── run_agent.py          # AIAgent — core conversation loop
├── model_tools.py        # Tool discovery and dispatch
├── toolsets.py           # Toolset definitions
├── cli.py                # Interactive CLI (WHOXCLI)
├── whox_state.py       # SQLite session store
├── agent/                # Prompt builder, compression, display, adapters
├── whox_cli/           # CLI subcommands, config, setup, commands
│   ├── commands.py       # Slash command registry (CommandDef)
│   ├── config.py         # DEFAULT_CONFIG, env var definitions
│   └── main.py           # CLI entry point and argparse
├── tools/                # One file per tool
│   └── registry.py       # Central tool registry
├── gateway/              # Messaging gateway
│   └── platforms/        # Platform adapters (telegram, discord, etc.)
├── cron/                 # Job scheduler
├── tests/                # ~3000 pytest tests
└── website/              # Docusaurus docs site

Config: ~/.whox/config.yaml (settings), ~/.whox/.env (API keys).

Adding a Tool (3 files)

1. Create tools/your_tool.py:

import json, os
from tools.registry import registry

def check_requirements() -> bool:
    return bool(os.getenv("EXAMPLE_API_KEY"))

def example_tool(param: str, task_id: str = None) -> str:
    return json.dumps({"success": True, "data": "..."})

registry.register(
    name="example_tool",
    toolset="example",
    schema={"name": "example_tool", "description": "...", "parameters": {...}},
    handler=lambda args, **kw: example_tool(
        param=args.get("param", ""), task_id=kw.get("task_id")),
    check_fn=check_requirements,
    requires_env=["EXAMPLE_API_KEY"],
)

2. Add import in model_tools.py → _discover_tools() list.

3. Add to toolsets.py → _WHOX_CORE_TOOLS list.

All handlers must return JSON strings. Use get_whox_home() for paths, never hardcode ~/.whox.

Adding a Slash Command

1. Add CommandDef to COMMAND_REGISTRY in whox_cli/commands.py
2. Add handler in cli.py → process_command()
3. (Optional) Add gateway handler in gateway/run.py

All consumers (help text, autocomplete, Telegram menu, Slack mapping) derive from the central registry automatically.

Agent Loop (High Level)

run_conversation():
  1. Build system prompt
  2. Loop while iterations < max:
     a. Call LLM (OpenAI-format messages + tool schemas)
     b. If tool_calls → dispatch each via handle_function_call() → append results → continue
     c. If text response → return
  3. Context compression triggers automatically near token limit

Testing

source venv/bin/activate  # or .venv/bin/activate
python -m pytest tests/ -o 'addopts=' -q   # Full suite
python -m pytest tests/tools/ -q            # Specific area

• Tests auto-redirect WHOX_HOME to temp dirs — never touch real ~/.whox/
• Run full suite before pushing any change
• Use -o 'addopts=' to clear any baked-in pytest flags

Commit Conventions

type: concise subject line

Optional body.

Types: fix:, feat:, refactor:, docs:, chore:

Key Rules

• Never break prompt caching — don't change context, tools, or system prompt mid-conversation
• Message role alternation — never two assistant or two user messages in a row
• Use get_whox_home() from whox_constants for all paths (profile-safe)
• Config values go in config.yaml, secrets go in .env
• New tools need a check_fn so they only appear when requirements are met