BOTROSTER

BOTROSTER is an open-source, self-hostable runtime and desktop client from mandarwagh9 for running persistent, named AI teammates called Bots. Each Bot has its own conversation, memory and schedule, and all Bots share one durable computer with a browser, a shell and a filesystem. The README describes it as pre-alpha, with the latest release listed as v0.6.0.

What It Is

BOTROSTER is an agent platform in which you message a Bot like a colleague and it does the work in real tools. It uses MCP connectors where one exists and drives the browser where one does not, then returns when it needs approval. The README presents it as an independent implementation of the shape xAI shipped as Grok Bot, not affiliated with xAI and containing none of its code.

How the workflow runs

Bots are created through the botroster CLI or the desktop client, given a standing brief, and can hand work to each other or post in group threads. Routines fire on cron or event triggers, with an inactivity brake that pauses them when nobody has looked at the account for a while. The botroster up command runs the hub and one guest in a single process and checks for due routines every minute. Everything is stored in ~/.botroster by default, and the window and the command line read the same home.

Approvals, credentials and the computer

The policy gate runs in the hub's control plane rather than in the agent. Users can allow a call once, allow it for the session, or refuse it, and approvals fail closed when a hook times out or errors. A credential broker holds connector tokens and attaches them at call time inside the hub, so the guest never sees them. The hub records every tool call with its arguments, how it was allowed and how it ended. The shared computer offers content-addressed snapshots and restore, a CDP-driven browser, a shell, and a filesystem confined to the workspace root. A live viewer lets a person take over control and locks the Bot out while they drive.

Models, editors and setup

Model providers can use the Anthropic or OpenAI dialects, including xAI, Groq, Ollama and most gateways. A local Ollama or LM Studio model on loopback is detected automatically. Official installers ship with a built-in OpenRouter model whose credential is recoverable from the installer, and whose provider retains prompts. botroster acp speaks the Agent Client Protocol so ACP-capable editors can drive a Bot. Installers are available for Windows, macOS and Linux but are unsigned, and the project can also be built from source with Rust 1.89 or newer.

Tradeoffs to know

The shipped guest is an ordinary process running as the user, not a VM or container, and a hypervisor backend is not yet built. Bots share files, browser sessions and shell credentials, so they organise work but are not a security boundary. The README also flags prompt injection from visited pages as a live risk, mitigated by approvals.