| name | syriana-agent |
| description | Configure, extend, or contribute to Syriana Agent. |
| version | 2.3.0 |
| author | Syriana Agent + Teknium |
| license | MIT |
| platforms | ["linux","macos","windows"] |
| metadata | {"syriana":{"tags":["syriana","setup","configuration","multi-agent","spawning","cli","gateway","development"],"homepage":"https://github.com/SyrianaAIResearch/syriana-agent","related_skills":["claude-code","codex","opencode"]}} |
Syriana Agent
Syriana Agent is an open-source AI agent framework by syriana ai Research that runs in your terminal, a native desktop app, messaging platforms, and IDEs. It's in 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. Syriana works with any LLM provider (OpenRouter, Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, DeepSeek, xAI, local models, and 20+ others) and runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, and WSL.
What makes Syriana different:
- Self-improving through skills — Syriana 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, iMessage, Signal, Matrix, Teams, Email, and a dozen more platforms with full tool access, not just chat.
- Many surfaces — the same agent core drives the CLI, the Ink TUI, a native Electron desktop app, a web dashboard, and an ACP server for IDEs (VS Code / Zed / JetBrains).
- Provider-agnostic — swap models and providers mid-workflow without changing anything else. Credential pools rotate across multiple API keys automatically.
- Profiles — run multiple independent Syriana 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 Syriana 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 Syriana 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://syriana-agent.syriana.ai/docs/
Scope & Verification
This skill is a concise operating guide, not the complete source of truth for every Syriana feature. If a Syriana feature, command, or setting is not mentioned here, do not treat that absence as evidence that it does not exist. Check the live repository and official docs before giving a negative answer.
Good verification targets:
Quick Start
curl -fsSL https://syriana-agent.syriana.ai/install.sh | bash
pip install syriana-agent
syriana
syriana chat -q "What is the capital of France?"
syriana setup
syriana model
syriana doctor
syriana desktop
syriana dashboard
syriana proxy
CLI Reference
Global Flags
syriana [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
syriana 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
syriana setup [section] Interactive wizard (model|terminal|gateway|tools|agent)
syriana model Interactive model/provider picker
syriana config View current config
syriana config edit Open config.yaml in $EDITOR
syriana config set KEY VAL Set a config value
syriana config path Print config.yaml path
syriana config env-path Print .env path
syriana config check Check for missing/outdated config
syriana config migrate Update config with new options
syriana doctor [--fix] Check dependencies and config
syriana status [--all] Show component status
Credentials (OAuth + API keys, with pooling) are managed under syriana auth — see the Credentials & Pools section below.
Tools & Skills
syriana tools Interactive tool enable/disable (curses UI)
syriana tools list Show all tools and status
syriana tools enable NAME Enable a toolset
syriana tools disable NAME Disable a toolset
syriana skills list List installed skills
syriana skills search QUERY Search the skills hub
syriana skills install ID Install a skill (ID can be a hub identifier OR a direct https://…/SKILL.md URL; pass --name to override when frontmatter has no name)
syriana skills inspect ID Preview without installing
syriana skills config Enable/disable skills per platform
syriana skills check Check for updates
syriana skills update Update outdated skills
syriana skills uninstall N Remove a hub skill
syriana skills publish PATH Publish to registry
syriana skills browse Browse all available skills
syriana skills tap add REPO Add a GitHub repo as skill source
MCP Servers
syriana mcp serve Run Syriana as an MCP server
syriana mcp add NAME Add an MCP server (--url or --command)
syriana mcp remove NAME Remove an MCP server
syriana mcp list List configured servers
syriana mcp test NAME Test connection
syriana mcp configure NAME Toggle tool selection
How the built-in MCP client connects servers (stdio/HTTP), auto-discovers
their tools, and exposes them as first-class tools, plus catalog install
(syriana mcp install <name>): skill_view(name="syriana-agent", file_path="references/native-mcp.md").
Gateway (Messaging Platforms)
syriana gateway run Start gateway foreground
syriana gateway install Install as background service
syriana gateway start/stop Control the service
syriana gateway restart Restart the service
syriana gateway status Check status
syriana gateway setup Configure platforms
Supported platforms (20+): Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp (Baileys bridge + official Business Cloud API), iMessage (Photon — syriana photon setup, the BlueBubbles successor with no Mac relay), Signal, Email, SMS, Matrix, Mattermost, Microsoft Teams, LINE, SimpleX, ntfy, Google Chat, Home Assistant, DingTalk, Feishu, WeCom, Weixin (WeChat), Raft (agent network), API Server, Webhooks. Open WebUI connects via the API Server adapter. Most adapters ship under plugins/platforms/, so new ones drop in without touching core.
Platform docs: https://syriana-agent.syriana.ai/docs/user-guide/messaging/
Sessions
syriana sessions list List recent sessions
syriana sessions browse Interactive picker
syriana sessions export OUT Export to JSONL
syriana sessions rename ID T Rename a session
syriana sessions delete ID Delete a session
syriana sessions prune Clean up old sessions (--older-than N days)
syriana sessions stats Session store statistics
Cron Jobs
syriana cron list List jobs (--all for disabled)
syriana cron create SCHED Create: '30m', 'every 2h', '0 9 * * *'
syriana cron edit ID Edit schedule, prompt, delivery
syriana cron pause/resume ID Control job state
syriana cron run ID Trigger on next tick
syriana cron remove ID Delete a job
syriana cron status Scheduler status
Webhooks
syriana webhook subscribe N Create route at /webhooks/<name>
syriana webhook list List subscriptions
syriana webhook remove NAME Remove a subscription
syriana webhook test NAME Send a test POST
Full setup, route config, payload templating, and event-driven agent-run
patterns: skill_view(name="syriana-agent", file_path="references/webhooks.md").
Profiles
syriana profile list List all profiles
syriana profile create NAME Create (--clone, --clone-all, --clone-from)
syriana profile use NAME Set sticky default
syriana profile delete NAME Delete a profile
syriana profile show NAME Show details
syriana profile alias NAME Manage wrapper scripts
syriana profile rename A B Rename a profile
syriana profile export NAME Export to tar.gz
syriana profile import FILE Import from archive
Credentials & Pools
syriana auth Interactive credential manager
syriana auth add [PROVIDER] Add OAuth or API-key credential
(e.g. nous, openai-codex, qwen-oauth, anthropic)
syriana auth list [PROVIDER] List pooled credentials
syriana auth remove P INDEX Remove by provider + index
syriana auth reset PROVIDER Clear exhaustion status
Multiple credentials per provider form a pool that rotates automatically and skips exhausted keys.
Other
syriana insights [--days N] Usage analytics
syriana update Update to latest version
syriana desktop / gui Launch the native desktop app
syriana dashboard Web admin panel + embedded chat
syriana proxy OpenAI-compatible local proxy backed by an OAuth provider
syriana portal Quick setup / sign in via Nous Portal
syriana kanban <verb> Multi-agent work-queue board (init/create/list/show/assign/…)
syriana pairing list/approve/revoke DM authorization
syriana plugins list/install/remove Plugin management
syriana secrets bitwarden … External secret store (Bitwarden Secrets Manager)
syriana memory setup/status/off Memory provider config
syriana send Send a one-off message through a gateway platform
syriana completion bash|zsh Shell completions
syriana acp ACP server (IDE integration)
syriana claw migrate Migrate from OpenClaw
syriana uninstall Uninstall Syriana
For the full, authoritative command list run syriana --help (and syriana <command> --help). Plugin- and provider-supplied subcommands (e.g. syriana photon setup for iMessage) only appear once their plugin is installed/active.
Slash Commands (In-Session)
Type these during an interactive chat session. New commands land fairly
often; if something below looks stale, run /help in-session for the
authoritative list or see the live slash commands reference.
The registry of record is syriana_cli/commands.py — every consumer
(autocomplete, Telegram menu, Slack mapping, /help) derives from it.
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
/snapshot [sub] Create or restore state snapshots of Syriana config/state (CLI)
/background <prompt> Run prompt in background
/queue <prompt> Queue for next turn
/steer <prompt> Inject a message after the next tool call without interrupting
/agents (/tasks) Show active agents and running tasks
/resume [name] Resume a named session
/goal [text|sub] Set a standing goal Syriana works on across turns until achieved
(subcommands: status, pause, resume, clear)
/redraw Force a full UI repaint (CLI)
Configuration
/config Show config (CLI)
/model [name] Show or change model
/personality [name] Set personality
/reasoning [level] Set reasoning (none|minimal|low|medium|high|xhigh|show|hide)
/verbose Cycle: off → new → all → verbose
/voice [on|off|tts] Voice mode
/yolo Toggle approval bypass
/busy [sub] Control what Enter does while Syriana is working (CLI)
(subcommands: queue, steer, interrupt, status)
/indicator [style] Pick the TUI busy-indicator style (CLI)
(styles: kaomoji, emoji, unicode, ascii)
/footer [on|off] Toggle gateway runtime-metadata footer on final replies
/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
/reload-skills Re-scan ~/.syriana/skills/ for added/removed skills
/reload Reload .env variables into the running session (CLI)
/reload-mcp Reload MCP servers
/cron Manage cron jobs (CLI)
/curator [sub] Background skill maintenance (status, run, pin, archive, …)
/kanban [sub] Multi-profile collaboration board (tasks, links, comments)
/plugins List plugins (CLI)
Gateway
/approve Approve a pending command (gateway)
/deny Deny a pending command (gateway)
/restart Restart gateway (gateway)
/sethome Set current chat as home channel (gateway)
/update Update Syriana to latest (gateway)
/topic [sub] Enable or inspect Telegram DM topic sessions (gateway)
/platforms (/gateway) Show platform connection status (gateway)
Utility
/branch (/fork) Branch the current session
/handoff <platform> Hand the live session off to a messaging platform (CLI)
/fast Toggle priority/fast processing
/browser Open CDP browser connection
/history Show conversation history (CLI)
/save Save conversation to file (CLI)
/copy [N] Copy the last assistant response to clipboard (CLI)
/paste Attach clipboard image (CLI)
/image Attach local image file (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
/debug Upload debug report (system info + logs) and get shareable links
Exit
/quit (/exit, /q) Exit CLI
Key Paths & Config
~/.syriana/config.yaml Main configuration
~/.syriana/.env API keys and secrets (under $SYRIANA_HOME if set)
$SYRIANA_HOME/skills/ Installed skills
~/.syriana/sessions/ Gateway routing index, request dumps, *.jsonl transcripts (and optional per-session JSON snapshots when sessions.write_json_snapshots: true)
~/.syriana/state.db Canonical session store (SQLite + FTS5)
~/.syriana/logs/ Gateway and error logs
~/.syriana/auth.json OAuth tokens and credential pools
~/.syriana/syriana-agent/ Source code (if git-installed)
Profiles use ~/.syriana/profiles/<name>/ with the same layout.
Config Sections
Edit with syriana config edit or syriana 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, interface (cli/tui), tool_progress, show_reasoning, show_cost, language |
stt | enabled, provider (local/groq/openai/mistral) |
tts | provider (edge/elevenlabs/openai/minimax/mistral/neutts) |
memory | memory_enabled, user_profile_enabled, provider |
security | tirith_enabled, website_blocklist |
delegation | model, provider, base_url, api_key, max_iterations (50), reasoning_effort |
checkpoints | enabled, max_snapshots (50) |
curator | enabled, consolidate (false — opt-in aux-model skill consolidation), interval_hours, stale_after_days |
Full config reference: https://syriana-agent.syriana.ai/docs/user-guide/configuration
Providers
20+ providers supported. Set via syriana model or syriana setup.
| Provider | Auth | Key env var |
|---|
| OpenRouter | API key | OPENROUTER_API_KEY |
| Anthropic | API key | ANTHROPIC_API_KEY |
| Nous Portal | OAuth | syriana auth |
| OpenAI Codex | OAuth | syriana auth |
| GitHub Copilot | Token | COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN |
| Google Gemini | API key | GOOGLE_API_KEY or GEMINI_API_KEY |
| DeepSeek | API key | DEEPSEEK_API_KEY |
| xAI / Grok | API key | XAI_API_KEY |
| Hugging Face | Token | HF_TOKEN |
| Z.AI / GLM | API key | GLM_API_KEY |
| MiniMax | API key | MINIMAX_API_KEY |
| MiniMax CN | API key | MINIMAX_CN_API_KEY |
| Kimi / Moonshot | API key | KIMI_API_KEY |
| Alibaba / DashScope | API key | DASHSCOPE_API_KEY |
| Xiaomi MiMo | API key | XIAOMI_API_KEY |
| Kilo Code | API key | KILOCODE_API_KEY |
| OpenCode Zen | API key | OPENCODE_ZEN_API_KEY |
| OpenCode Go | API key | OPENCODE_GO_API_KEY |
| Qwen OAuth | OAuth | syriana auth add qwen-oauth |
| Custom endpoint | Config | model.base_url + model.api_key in config.yaml |
| GitHub Copilot ACP | External | COPILOT_CLI_PATH or Copilot CLI |
Full provider docs: https://syriana-agent.syriana.ai/docs/integrations/providers
Toolsets
Enable/disable via syriana tools (interactive) or syriana tools enable/disable NAME.
| Toolset | What it provides |
|---|
web | Web search and content extraction |
search | Web search only (subset of web) |
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 and image-to-image editing |
video | Video analysis (video_analyze) and generation |
x_search | First-class X (Twitter) search (X OAuth or API key) |
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 |
messaging | Cross-platform message sending |
todo | In-session task planning and tracking |
kanban | Multi-agent work-queue tools (gated to workers) |
debugging | Extra introspection/debug tools (off by default) |
safe | Minimal, low-risk toolset for locked-down sessions |
spotify | Spotify playback and playlist control |
homeassistant | Smart home control (off by default) |
discord | Discord integration tools |
discord_admin | Discord admin/moderation tools |
feishu_doc | Feishu (Lark) document tools |
feishu_drive | Feishu (Lark) drive tools |
yuanbao | Yuanbao integration tools |
rl | Reinforcement learning tools (off by default) |
Full enumeration lives in toolsets.py as the TOOLSETS dict; _SYRIANA_CORE_TOOLS is the default bundle most platforms inherit from.
Tool changes take effect on /reset (new session). They do NOT apply mid-conversation to preserve prompt caching.
Project Context Files
Syriana injects project-level instructions into the system prompt by reading context files from the working directory. The discovery order is first match wins — only one project context source is loaded per session.
| File (in priority order) | Discovery | Use when |
|---|
.syriana.md / SYRIANA.md | Walks parents up to the git root, stops at git root | You want hierarchical project rules (root + per-package overrides) |
AGENTS.md / agents.md | Cwd only — subdirectory and parent copies are ignored | You want portable agent instructions that work the same in Syriana, Claude Code, Codex, etc. |
CLAUDE.md / claude.md | Cwd only | Same as AGENTS.md, Claude-flavored |
.cursorrules / .cursor/rules/*.mdc | Cwd only | Migrating from Cursor |
SOUL.md (in $SYRIANA_HOME) is independent and always loaded when present — it sets the agent's identity, not project rules.
Pick the right one
- Use
.syriana.md when you want Syriana-specific behavior that lives above the cwd (root + subtree), or when you want rules to inherit from a parent directory. The parent walk stops at the git root, so a home-level .syriana.md won't leak into every project (a git repo's root is the boundary).
- Use
AGENTS.md when the same project will also be worked on by other agents (Codex, Claude Code, OpenCode). Those tools all have their own conventions for AGENTS.md, and the "cwd only" contract keeps the file portable.
- Don't put project rules in
~/.syriana/AGENTS.md (or any other home-level location). When Syriana runs with that directory as cwd, the file loads — but only for that one directory. For cross-project context, use SOUL.md (in $SYRIANA_HOME, identity-only) or install a skill via syriana skills install.
Size and truncation
Each context file is capped at 20,000 characters. Files longer than that get head + tail truncated (the middle is dropped, with a [...truncated...] marker). For large project rules, prefer splitting into multiple skills over cramming one file.
Security
All context files pass through the threat-pattern scanner before reaching the system prompt. Patterns matching prompt injection or promptware are replaced with a [BLOCKED: ...] placeholder. This means an AGENTS.md containing obvious injection attempts won't reach the model — the scanner blocks the content, not the file, so the rest of the file still loads.
Disable for one session
syriana --ignore-rules skips auto-injection of all project context files (.syriana.md, AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules) and SOUL.md identity, plus user config, plugins, and MCP servers. Use it to isolate whether a problem is your setup or Syriana itself.
Example: a small .syriana.md
# My Project
Syriana: when working in this repo, follow these rules.
## Build
- Always run `make test` before declaring a change done.
- Use `uv run` for Python, not `pip install`.
## Style
- Prefer `pathlib.Path` over `os.path`.
- No `print()` in production code — use the `logger`.
That file at /home/me/projects/myrepo/.syriana.md is auto-loaded when Syriana runs in any subdirectory of /home/me/projects/myrepo, but not when it runs in /home/me/other-project.
Security & Privacy Toggles
Common "why is Syriana doing X to my output / tool calls / commands?" toggles — and the exact commands to change them. Most of these need a fresh session (/reset in chat, or start a new syriana invocation) because they're read once at startup.
Secret redaction in tool output
Secret redaction is on by default — tool output (terminal stdout, read_file, web content, subagent summaries, etc.) is scanned for strings that look like API keys, tokens, and secrets before it enters the conversation context and logs. Leave it enabled for normal use:
syriana config set security.redact_secrets true
Restart required. security.redact_secrets is snapshotted at import time — toggling it mid-session (e.g. via export SYRIANA_REDACT_SECRETS=false from a tool call) will NOT take effect for the running process. Tell the user to change it in config from a terminal, then start a new session. This is deliberate — it prevents an LLM from flipping the toggle on itself mid-task.
Disable only when you deliberately need raw credential-like strings for debugging or redactor development:
syriana config set security.redact_secrets false
PII redaction in gateway messages
Separate from secret redaction. When enabled, the gateway hashes user IDs and strips phone numbers from the session context before it reaches the model:
syriana config set privacy.redact_pii true
syriana config set privacy.redact_pii false
Command approval prompts
By default (approvals.mode: manual), Syriana prompts the user before running shell commands flagged as destructive (rm -rf, git reset --hard, etc.). The modes are:
manual — always prompt (default)
smart — use an auxiliary LLM to auto-approve low-risk commands, prompt on high-risk
off — skip all approval prompts (equivalent to --yolo)
syriana config set approvals.mode smart
syriana config set approvals.mode off
Per-invocation bypass without changing config:
syriana --yolo …
export SYRIANA_YOLO_MODE=1
Note: YOLO / approvals.mode: off does NOT turn off secret redaction. They are independent.
Shell hooks allowlist
Some shell-hook integrations require explicit allowlisting before they fire. Managed via ~/.syriana/shell-hooks-allowlist.json — prompted interactively the first time a hook wants to run.
Disabling the web/browser/image-gen tools
To keep the model away from network or media tools entirely, open syriana tools and toggle per-platform. Takes effect on next session (/reset). See the Tools & Skills section above.
Voice & Transcription
STT (Voice → Text)
Voice messages from messaging platforms are auto-transcribed.
Provider priority (auto-detected):
- Local faster-whisper — free, no API key:
pip install faster-whisper
- Groq Whisper — free tier: set
GROQ_API_KEY
- OpenAI Whisper — paid: set
VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY
- Mistral Voxtral — set
MISTRAL_API_KEY
Config:
stt:
enabled: true
provider: local
local:
model: base
TTS (Text → Voice)
| Provider | Env var | Free? |
|---|
| Edge TTS | None | Yes (default) |
| ElevenLabs | ELEVENLABS_API_KEY | Free tier |
| OpenAI | VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY | Paid |
| MiniMax | MINIMAX_API_KEY | Paid |
| Mistral (Voxtral) | MISTRAL_API_KEY | Paid |
| NeuTTS (local) | None (pip install neutts[all] + espeak-ng) | Free |
Voice commands: /voice on (voice-to-voice), /voice tts (always voice), /voice off.
Spawning Additional Syriana Instances
Run additional Syriana processes as fully independent subprocesses — separate sessions, tools, and environments.
When to Use This vs delegate_task
| delegate_task | Spawning syriana 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="syriana chat -q 'Research GRPO papers and write summary to ~/research/grpo.md'", timeout=300)
# Background for long tasks:
terminal(command="syriana chat -q 'Set up CI/CD for ~/myapp'", background=true)
Interactive PTY Mode (via tmux)
Syriana 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 'syriana'", 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 'syriana -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 'syriana -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 'syriana --continue'", timeout=10)
# Resume specific session
terminal(command="tmux new-session -d -s resumed 'syriana --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
syriana 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
Durable & Background Systems
Four systems run alongside the main conversation loop. Quick reference
here; full developer notes live in AGENTS.md, user-facing docs under
website/docs/user-guide/features/.
Delegation (delegate_task)
Spawn a subagent with an isolated context + terminal session.
- Single:
delegate_task(goal, context).
- Batch:
delegate_task(tasks=[{goal, ...}, ...]) runs children in
parallel, capped by delegation.max_concurrent_children (default 3).
- Background:
delegate_task(background=true) returns a handle
immediately and keeps the parent loop going; the child's result
re-enters the conversation as a new turn when it finishes.
- Roles:
leaf (default; cannot re-delegate) vs orchestrator
(can spawn its own workers, bounded by delegation.max_spawn_depth).
- Not durable. A backgrounded child is still process-local — if the
parent process exits, the child is lost. For work that must outlive
the process, use
cronjob or
terminal(background=True, notify_on_complete=True).
Config: delegation.* in config.yaml.
Cron (scheduled jobs)
Durable scheduler — cron/jobs.py + cron/scheduler.py. Drive it via
the cronjob tool, the syriana cron CLI (list, add, edit,
pause, resume, run, remove), or the /cron slash command.
- Schedules: duration (
"30m", "2h"), "every" phrase
("every monday 9am"), 5-field cron ("0 9 * * *"), or ISO timestamp.
- Per-job knobs:
skills, model/provider override, script
(pre-run data collection; no_agent=True makes the script the whole
job), context_from (chain job A's output into job B), workdir
(run in a specific dir with its AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md loaded),
multi-platform delivery.
- Invariants: 3-minute hard interrupt per run,
.tick.lock file
prevents duplicate ticks across processes, cron sessions pass
skip_memory=True by default, and cron deliveries are framed with a
header/footer instead of being mirrored into the target gateway
session (keeps role alternation intact).
User docs: https://syriana-agent.syriana.ai/docs/user-guide/features/cron
Curator (skill lifecycle)
Background maintenance for agent-created skills. Tracks usage, marks
idle skills stale, archives stale ones, keeps a pre-run tar.gz backup
so nothing is lost.
- CLI:
syriana curator <verb> — status, run, pause, resume,
pin, unpin, archive, restore, prune, backup, rollback.
- Slash:
/curator <subcommand> mirrors the CLI.
- Scope: only touches skills with
created_by: "agent" provenance.
Bundled + hub-installed skills are off-limits. Never deletes —
max destructive action is archive. Pinned skills are exempt from
every auto-transition and every LLM review pass.
- Cost: the deterministic inactivity/prune sweep runs for free. The
aux-model "consolidate overlapping skills into umbrellas" pass is
off by default — opt in with
curator.consolidate: true or
syriana curator run --consolidate. Routine background curation costs
zero tokens.
- Telemetry: sidecar at
~/.syriana/skills/.usage.json holds
per-skill use_count, view_count, patch_count,
last_activity_at, state, pinned.
Config: curator.* (enabled, interval_hours, min_idle_hours,
stale_after_days, archive_after_days, backup.*).
User docs: https://syriana-agent.syriana.ai/docs/user-guide/features/curator
Kanban (multi-agent work queue)
Durable SQLite board for multi-profile / multi-worker collaboration.
Users drive it via syriana kanban <verb>; dispatcher-spawned workers
see a focused kanban_* toolset gated by SYRIANA_KANBAN_TASK, and
orchestrator profiles can opt into the broader kanban toolset. Normal
sessions still have zero kanban_* schema footprint unless configured.
- CLI verbs (common):
init, create, list (alias ls),
show, assign, link, unlink, comment, complete, block,
unblock, archive, tail. Less common: watch, stats, runs,
log, dispatch, daemon, gc.
- Worker/orchestrator toolset:
kanban_show, kanban_complete,
kanban_block, kanban_heartbeat, kanban_comment, kanban_create,
kanban_link; profiles that explicitly enable the kanban toolset
outside a dispatcher-spawned task also get kanban_list and
kanban_unblock for board routing.
- Dispatcher runs inside the gateway by default
(
kanban.dispatch_in_gateway: true) — reclaims stale claims,
promotes ready tasks, atomically claims, spawns assigned profiles.
Auto-blocks a task after failure_limit consecutive spawn failures
(default 2; configurable via kanban.failure_limit or per-task
max_retries).
- Isolation: board is the hard boundary (workers get
SYRIANA_KANBAN_BOARD pinned in env); tenant is a soft namespace
within a board for workspace-path + memory-key isolation.
User docs: https://syriana-agent.syriana.ai/docs/user-guide/features/kanban
Surfaces & Other Capabilities
Beyond the CLI and gateway, a few things worth knowing about:
- Desktop app (
syriana desktop / syriana gui) — native Electron app
for macOS/Linux/Windows: streaming chat, session list, drag-and-drop +
clipboard-paste files, Cmd+K palette, status-bar model picker,
rebindable shortcuts, native notifications, live subagent watch-windows,
VS Code Marketplace themes, and per-profile remote-gateway login (OAuth
or username/password) so a thin local GUI can drive a heavy remote agent.
- Web dashboard (
syriana dashboard) — full admin panel: configure
every messaging channel, the MCP catalog, webhooks/hooks, memory, and a
complete profile builder (model + skills + MCPs) from the browser, plus
an embedded syriana --tui chat. Secured behind an OAuth/token gate.
- OpenAI-compatible proxy (
syriana proxy) — exposes a
http://localhost:port OpenAI API backed by whichever OAuth provider
you're signed into (Claude Pro, ChatGPT Pro, SuperGrok). Point Codex
CLI, Aider, Cline, Continue, or any script at it — no API key.
- Automation Blueprints — pick a named automation and Syriana asks for
what it needs (no cron syntax). One definition renders as a dashboard
form, a slash command, an agent conversation, and a docs-catalog entry.
memory tool batch operations — pass an operations array of
add/replace/remove edits applied atomically against the final character
budget, so a single call can free space and add entries even when an add
alone would overflow.
session_search — FTS5-backed, no aux-LLM, effectively free. One
tool, three modes inferred from which args are set: discovery (query),
scroll (session_id + around_message_id), browse (no args).
- xAI Grok via SuperGrok OAuth — sign in with your xAI account (no API
key); includes Cursor's
grok-composer-2.5-fast coding model.
Windows-Specific Quirks
Syriana runs natively on Windows (PowerShell, cmd, Windows Terminal, git-bash
mintty, VS Code integrated terminal). Most of it just works, but a handful
of differences between Win32 and POSIX have bitten us — document new ones
here as you hit them so the next person (or the next session) doesn't
rediscover them from scratch.
Input / Keybindings
Alt+Enter doesn't insert a newline — Windows Terminal (and mintty) grab it
for fullscreen before prompt_toolkit sees it. Use Ctrl+Enter instead (the
CLI binds it to newline on Windows; raw Ctrl+J does the same, harmlessly).
To inspect how your terminal reports a keystroke, run
python scripts/keystroke_diagnostic.py from the repo root.
Config / Files
HTTP 400 "No models provided" on first run — config.yaml was saved with
a UTF-8 BOM (Notepad does this). Re-save as UTF-8 without BOM;
syriana config edit writes correctly.
execute_code / Sandbox
WinError 10106 from the sandbox child process — it can't create an
AF_INET socket. Root cause is usually Syriana's env scrubber dropping
SYSTEMROOT/WINDIR/COMSPEC (Python's socket needs SYSTEMROOT to find
mswsock.dll), not a broken Winsock LSP. The _WINDOWS_ESSENTIAL_ENV_VARS
allowlist in tools/code_execution_tool.py covers it; if you still hit it,
echo os.environ inside an execute_code block to confirm SYSTEMROOT is set.
Testing on Windows
scripts/run_tests.sh is POSIX-only (expects .venv/bin/activate); the
Syriana-installed venv/Scripts/ has no pip/pytest (stripped for size).
Install pytest into a system Python and run directly with -n 0
(pyproject.toml's addopts already sets -n):
"/c/Program Files/Python311/python" -m pip install --user pytest pytest-xdist pyyaml
export PYTHONPATH="$(pwd)"
"/c/Program Files/Python311/python" -m pytest tests/foo/test_bar.py -v --tb=short -n 0
(POSIX-only tests need skip guards — see the cross-platform guard list in the
Contributor section below.)
Path / Filesystem
Line endings. Git may warn LF will be replaced by CRLF. Cosmetic — the
repo's .gitattributes normalizes. Don't let editors auto-convert committed
POSIX-newline files to CRLF.
Forward slashes work almost everywhere. C:/Users/... is accepted by
every Syriana tool and most Windows APIs. Prefer forward slashes in code
and logs — avoids shell-escaping backslashes in bash.
Troubleshooting
Voice not working
- Check
stt.enabled: true in config.yaml
- Verify provider:
pip install faster-whisper or set API key
- In gateway:
/restart. In CLI: exit and relaunch.
Tool not available
syriana tools — check if toolset is enabled for your platform
- Some tools need env vars (check
.env)
/reset after enabling tools
Model/provider issues
syriana doctor — check config and dependencies
syriana auth — re-authenticate OAuth providers (or syriana auth add <provider>)
- Check
.env has the right API key
- Copilot 403:
gh auth login tokens do NOT work for Copilot API. You must use the Copilot-specific OAuth device code flow via syriana model → GitHub Copilot.
Changes not taking effect
- Tools/skills:
/reset starts a new session with updated toolset
- Config changes: In gateway:
/restart. In CLI: exit and relaunch.
- Code changes: Restart the CLI or gateway process
Skills not showing
syriana skills list — verify installed
syriana skills config — check platform enablement
- Load explicitly:
/skill name or syriana -s name
Gateway issues
Check logs first:
grep -i "failed to send\|error" ~/.syriana/logs/gateway.log | tail -20
Common gateway problems:
- Gateway dies on SSH logout: Enable linger:
sudo loginctl enable-linger $USER
- Gateway dies on WSL2 close: WSL2 requires
systemd=true in /etc/wsl.conf for systemd services to work. Without it, gateway falls back to nohup (dies when session closes).
- Gateway crash loop: Reset the failed state:
systemctl --user reset-failed syriana-gateway
Platform-specific issues
- Discord bot silent: Must enable Message Content Intent in Bot → Privileged Gateway Intents.
- Slack bot only works in DMs: Must subscribe to
message.channels event. Without it, the bot ignores public channels.
- Windows-specific issues (
Alt+Enter newline, WinError 10106, UTF-8 BOM config, test suite, line endings): see the dedicated Windows-Specific Quirks section above.
Auxiliary models not working
If auxiliary tasks (vision, compression, session_search) fail silently, the auto provider can't find a backend. Either set OPENROUTER_API_KEY or GOOGLE_API_KEY, or explicitly configure each auxiliary task's provider:
syriana config set auxiliary.vision.provider <your_provider>
syriana config set auxiliary.vision.model <model_name>
Where to Find Things
Contributor Quick Reference
For occasional contributors and PR authors. Full developer docs: https://syriana-agent.syriana.ai/docs/developer-guide/
Project Layout
syriana-agent/
├── run_agent.py # AIAgent — core conversation loop
├── model_tools.py # Tool discovery and dispatch
├── toolsets.py # Toolset definitions
├── cli.py # Interactive CLI (SyrianaCLI)
├── syriana_state.py # SQLite session store
├── agent/ # Prompt builder, context compression, memory, model routing, credential pooling, skill dispatch
├── syriana_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/ # Extensive pytest suite (run via scripts/run_tests.sh)
└── website/ # Docusaurus docs site
Config: ~/.syriana/config.yaml (settings), ~/.syriana/.env (API keys) — both under $SYRIANA_HOME when it is set.
Adding a Tool
Two files. Auto-discovery imports any tools/*.py with a top-level
registry.register() call, but a tool is only exposed to an agent once
its name appears in a toolset.
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. Wire it into a toolset in toolsets.py — add the name to
_SYRIANA_CORE_TOOLS (every platform) or to a specific toolset.
All handlers must return JSON strings. Use get_syriana_home() for paths,
never hardcode ~/.syriana. For custom/local-only tools, write a plugin in
~/.syriana/plugins/ instead of editing core — see the developer docs.
Adding a Slash Command
- Add
CommandDef to COMMAND_REGISTRY in syriana_cli/commands.py
- Add handler in
cli.py → process_command()
- (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
Use the canonical runner — it enforces CI-parity (hermetic env, unset
credentials, TZ=UTC, xdist workers, per-test subprocess isolation):
scripts/run_tests.sh
scripts/run_tests.sh tests/tools/
scripts/run_tests.sh tests/tools/test_x.py
scripts/run_tests.sh -v --tb=long
- Tests auto-redirect
SYRIANA_HOME to temp dirs — never touch real ~/.syriana/.
- The script probes
.venv, then venv, then the shared worktree venv.
- Windows: the wrapper is POSIX-only; see the Windows-Specific Quirks
section above for the direct-pytest workaround.
Cross-platform test guards: tests using POSIX-only syscalls need a skip marker. Common ones already in the codebase:
- Symlink creation →
@pytest.mark.skipif(sys.platform == "win32", reason="Symlinks require elevated privileges on Windows") (see tests/cron/test_cron_script.py)
- POSIX file modes (0o600, etc.) →
@pytest.mark.skipif(sys.platform.startswith("win"), reason="POSIX mode bits not enforced on Windows") (see tests/syriana_cli/test_auth_toctou_file_modes.py)
signal.SIGALRM → Unix-only (see tests/conftest.py::_enforce_test_timeout)
- Live Winsock / Windows-specific regression tests →
@pytest.mark.skipif(sys.platform != "win32", reason="Windows-specific regression")
Monkeypatching sys.platform is not enough when the code under test also calls platform.system() / platform.release() / platform.mac_ver(). Those functions re-read the real OS independently, so a test that sets sys.platform = "linux" on a Windows runner will still see platform.system() == "Windows" and route through the Windows branch. Patch all three together:
monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "platform", "linux")
monkeypatch.setattr(platform, "system", lambda: "Linux")
monkeypatch.setattr(platform, "release", lambda: "6.8.0-generic")
See tests/agent/test_prompt_builder.py::TestEnvironmentHints for a worked example.
System prompt's execution-environment block
Factual host/backend guidance (OS, $HOME, cwd, terminal backend, shell)
is emitted by agent/prompt_builder.py::build_environment_hints(). The key
invariant for prompt authors: with a remote terminal backend
(docker, singularity, modal, daytona, ssh, managed_modal), host info is
suppressed and every file tool runs inside the backend container — the
prompt must never describe the host the agent can't touch.
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_syriana_home() from syriana_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