kontora

README

Kontora

Kontora is an agent orchestration tool. You write tickets as markdown files, it runs AI agents through multi-step pipelines, each in its own git worktree and tmux session.

tmux session view

Features

• Multi-stage pipelines with per-stage retry and failure policies (implement, review, fix, commit)
• Git worktree isolation per ticket, so agents never conflict
• Any agent that has a CLI (Claude Code, Pi, etc.)
• Web dashboard and TUI kanban board

Install

Ask your AI agent:

Help me install and set up Kontora: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/worksonmyai/kontora/main/llms.txt

Or install manually:

brew tap worksonmyai/kontora https://github.com/worksonmyai/kontora
brew install kontora

Or build from source (requires Go 1.26+):

git clone https://github.com/worksonmyai/kontora.git
cd kontora
make install

Quick start

kontora start

If no config exists, a setup wizard walks you through agent selection, directories, and settings, then writes ~/.config/kontora/config.yaml.

Create a ticket:

cd ~/projects/myproject
kontora new "Add a health check endpoint"

Kontora picks it up, creates a git worktree, runs the agent, and marks the ticket done on success (or pauses it on failure).

Open the web dashboard at http://127.0.0.1:8080 or use the TUI:

kontora        # kanban board TUI
kontora attach # attach to the agent's tmux session

Configuration

Config is stored in ~/.config/kontora/config.yaml and defines four things: agents, stages, pipelines, and projects.

Agents are binaries kontora spawns — Claude Code, Aider, or anything with a CLI:

agents:
  claude:
    binary: claude
    args: ["--dangerously-skip-permissions", "--model", "sonnet"]

[!WARNING] The default config runs Claude Code with --dangerously-skip-permissions.

Stages are prompt templates. They tell the agent what to do:

stages:
  code:
    prompt: |
      {{ .Ticket.Description }}
    timeout: 30m

Templates use Go syntax. {{ .Ticket.Title }}, {{ .Ticket.Description }}, {{ file "PLAN.md" }} (reads a file from the worktree).

Pipelines wire stages to agents in sequence, with success/failure policies per step:

pipelines:
  default:
    - stage: code
      agent: claude
      on_success: human_review
      on_failure: pause

  implement-review-commit:
    - stage: implement
      agent: claude
      on_success: next
      on_failure: pause
    - stage: review
      agent: claude
      on_success: next
      on_failure: retry
      max_retries: 1
    - stage: commit
      agent: claude
      on_success: human_review
      on_failure: retry
      max_retries: 1

Stages share a git worktree. Artifacts are passed as files — one stage writes PLAN.md, the next reads it via {{ file "PLAN.md" }}.

Projects are optional. Each one names a repository and the pipeline, agent, and branch prefix that new tickets for it should default to:

projects:
  kontora:
    path: ~/projects/kontora
    pipeline: implement-review-commit
    agent: claude
    branch_prefix: kontora

kontora new --path ~/projects/kontora "..." then writes both fields into the ticket. Pass --pipeline none for a standalone ticket instead.

Full reference: docs/configuration.md

Remote mode

The CLI can drive a daemon running on another machine over the same HTTP API the web UI uses. This is meant for a trusted network such as a Tailscale tailnet.

On the daemon host, bind the web server to the tailnet IP and set a shared token:

web:
  host: 100.x.y.z   # tailnet IP, not 127.0.0.1
  port: 8080
  token: <a-long-random-secret>

Instead of writing the token into the config file, you can pass it to kontora start through the KONTORA_WEB_TOKEN environment variable, which overrides web.token. This lets a deployment inject it from a secret. It is a daemon-side setting, unrelated to the CLI's own KONTORA_TOKEN.

When web.token is set, the daemon requires it on every /api/* and /ws/* request. GET /health and the static UI stay public. The browser UI keeps working: open http://<host>:8080/?token=<secret> once and it stores a kontora_token cookie for subsequent API, SSE, and WebSocket calls.

From another host, point the CLI at the daemon with KONTORA_URL and KONTORA_TOKEN (or --url/--token):

export KONTORA_URL=http://100.x.y.z:8080
export KONTORA_TOKEN=<the-same-secret>

kontora ls
kontora run <id>
kontora logs <id>
kontora attach <id>   # live terminal over WebSocket

Remote mode needs no local config file. It supports ls, view, new, run, pause, retry, cancel, done, skip, set-stage, note, summary, logs, config, and attach. Verbs that act on local files (edit, archive, init, fmt, doctor, start, completion) are rejected in remote mode. Paths passed to kontora new --path refer to the daemon host's filesystem, not the caller's.

[!WARNING] The token is the only thing gating remote access, and the default config runs agents with --dangerously-skip-permissions (effectively remote code execution). On a tailnet the transport is already encrypted, so plain HTTP is acceptable. On any untrusted network, put the daemon behind TLS (e.g. a reverse proxy) — the token alone is sent in clear over plain HTTP.

Tickets

Tickets are markdown files with YAML frontmatter, inspired by wedow/ticket:

---
id: kon-q88f
kontora: true
status: todo
pipeline: default
path: ~/projects/kontora
---
# Add GoReleaser to kontora

Automate GitHub Releases with zig cc cross-compilation.

Create them with kontora new or write them by hand. Kontora lists any valid ticket with an id, but kontora: true is required before the daemon will execute it; otherwise the UI marks it as not a kontora ticket. Full reference: docs/tickets.md