# botctl

> A process manager CLI for autonomous AI agent bots with a terminal dashboard, web UI, and declarative BOT.md configuration.

botctl is a process manager for autonomous AI agent bots, letting you run persistent agents from a single CLI with a terminal dashboard (TUI), web UI, and declarative configuration. Each bot is defined by a `BOT.md` file with YAML frontmatter and a markdown system prompt, making configuration version-controllable and human-readable. Bots cycle through running, sleeping, paused, and stopped states, with support for message queues, session preservation, and skill discovery. It is written in Go and ships pre-built binaries for macOS, Linux, and Windows.

- **TUI Dashboard** — *launch `botctl` with no arguments to open an interactive terminal dashboard for managing all bots; navigate with vim-style keys.*
- **Web UI** — *run `botctl --web-ui` to open a browser-based dashboard on port 4444 (or a custom port).*
- **Declarative BOT.md Config** — *define each bot's name, interval, max turns, workspace, skills directory, and system prompt in a single markdown file with YAML frontmatter.*
- **Pause / Play / Stop** — *pause a running bot to preserve its Claude session context, then resume with `botctl play`; stop kills the process entirely.*
- **Skills System** — *install community or custom skills from GitHub repos via `botctl skills add`; skills are discovered from global, botctl-wide, and per-bot directories.*
- **Message Queue** — *send a message to a running or sleeping bot with `botctl start my-bot --message "..."` to inject tasks mid-cycle.*
- **Log Management** — *view and follow per-run log files with `botctl logs my-bot -f`; configure retention count per bot.*
- **Self-Update** — *run `botctl update` to fetch and replace the binary in-place with the latest release.*
- **SQLite State Store** — *all bot state, stats (cost, turns, session), and metadata are persisted in a local SQLite database at `~/.botctl/botctl.db`.*
- **Easy Install** — *install via a one-liner curl script or `go install github.com/montanaflynn/botctl@latest`.*

## Features
- TUI terminal dashboard
- Web UI dashboard
- Declarative BOT.md configuration
- Pause/play/stop bot lifecycle management
- Skills system with community skill discovery
- Message queue for mid-cycle task injection
- Per-run log management with follow mode
- Self-update command
- SQLite state persistence
- Shared and per-bot workspaces
- Detached background bot execution
- Single-run mode (--once)
- Environment variable support in config

## Integrations
Claude (Anthropic), skills.sh community skills, GitHub (skill installation)

## Platforms
WINDOWS, MACOS, LINUX, WEB, API, CLI

## Pricing
Open Source

## Version
v0.3.5

## Links
- Website: https://botctl.dev
- Documentation: https://botctl.dev/docs
- Repository: https://github.com/montanaflynn/botctl
- EveryDev.ai: https://www.everydev.ai/tools/botctl