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agents-in-a-box

Quickstart — first session in 60 seconds

From install to your first running agent session.

1. Pre-flight

Make sure you have git, tmux, and a provider CLI (e.g. Claude Code) installed, then:

Terminal window
ainb init --check    # verify prerequisites without changing anything
ainb auth            # set up authentication if needed

2. Launch

Terminal window
ainb

First launch runs onboarding. From the home screen, press s for Sessions or n to start a new session immediately.

3. Spawn a session (CLI)

You can also start a session straight from the shell. Isolate it in a worktree and attach in one step:

Terminal window
ainb run --repo . --worktree --attach

Useful variants:

Terminal window
ainb run --repo . --create-branch feat/new        # isolated worktree on a named branch
ainb run --repo . --worktree -p "fix the tests"   # spawn with an initial prompt
ainb run --repo . --worktree --tool codex         # use Codex instead of Claude
ainb run --remote-repo owner/repo --worktree      # clone a GitHub repo first, then isolate

Without --worktree (or --create-branch) the session runs directly in the checkout you point at, sharing that branch, index and working tree with your editor and with every other session started there. Reach for that only when you deliberately want the shared checkout:

Terminal window
ainb run --repo .                                 # shared checkout, NO isolation

4. Attach, detach, reattach

Terminal window
ainb list                 # see running sessions
ainb attach my-project    # drop into the session's tmux

Detach with your tmux detach key (default Ctrl-b d) — the agent keeps running. Reattach any time with ainb attach <name>.

5. Kill a session safely

Terminal window
ainb kill my-project       # prompts for confirmation
ainb kill my-project -f     # force, no prompt

Where to go next