<div align="center">
  <picture>
    <source media="(prefers-color-scheme: dark)" srcset="brand/logo/lockup-horizontal.svg">
    <source media="(prefers-color-scheme: light)" srcset="brand/logo/lockup-horizontal.svg">
    <img src="brand/logo/lockup-horizontal.svg" alt="Husk" height="72">
  </picture>

  <p><strong>Your AI chat gets a computer.</strong></p>
  <p>A terminal, files and a browser it can actually use, and a workspace that keeps what it finds for next time.</p>

  <p>
    <a href="https://github.com/Hotragn/husk/actions/workflows/ci.yml"><img src="https://github.com/Hotragn/husk/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg" alt="CI"></a>
    <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/@husk-ai/cli"><img src="https://img.shields.io/npm/v/@husk-ai/cli?label=npm&color=cb3837" alt="npm"></a>
    <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/status-alpha-orange" alt="Status: Alpha">
    <a href="LICENSE"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/license-Apache--2.0-blue" alt="License"></a>
  </p>
</div>

Husk gives your AI chat named local workspaces. Save public web sources, ask your AI
for a cited brief, comparison, or action list, then review and download the result.
Reopen the same workspace in your next chat. No Husk account, Docker, terminal, or
additional model API key is needed for this starter flow.

For coding and automation, Husk also provides optional computer tools: a shell,
files, and a browser. Existing MCP and CLI computer workflows remain available.

> [!NOTE]
> **0.2.0 public preview.** Download the unsigned desktop extension from the
> [GitHub prerelease](https://github.com/Hotragn/husk/releases/tag/preview-0.2.0).
> It has passed automated checks; installation and first-task completion inside
> Claude Desktop still need beta testing. See the
> [one-day delivery and launch checklist](docs/one-day-delivery.md).

## Start with a workspace

Download `husk-0.2.0.mcpb` from the [public preview](https://github.com/Hotragn/husk/releases/tag/preview-0.2.0).
Install it in Claude Desktop through **Settings → Extensions
→ Advanced settings → Install Extension**. Claude Desktop supplies Node.js. This
candidate is unsigned; organization policies may restrict custom extensions.

Ask Claude: **“Create a Husk workspace called My first brief and open its viewer.”**
Add public page URLs, choose a starter prompt, paste it back into Claude, then return
to review and download the saved result. Keep Claude running while the viewer is open.

The [workspace guide](apps/docs/content/start/workspaces.mdx) explains the full flow,
privacy, recovery, and limits. To build the installer as a contributor:

```bash
npm ci
npm run build
npm run bundle:mcpb
npm run smoke:starter -- --bundle
```

The artifact and checksum are written to `build/`. The smoke test extracts that
archive and checks restart persistence, access control, assets, downloads, and ZIP export.

<picture>
  <source media="(prefers-color-scheme: dark)" srcset="docs/diagrams/png/01-hero.dark.png">
  <img alt="A chat client talks to @husk-ai/mcp over stdio, which asks @husk-ai/runtime for a computer holding /work, a shell and Chromium" src="docs/diagrams/png/01-hero.light.png">
</picture>

<sub>[Open interactively](docs/diagrams/01-hero.html) — pan, zoom, trace relationships · [SVG](docs/diagrams/svg/01-hero.light.svg) · [all 16 diagrams](docs/diagrams/)</sub>

## Computer tools for developers

```bash
npx @husk-ai/cli setup
```

`setup` asks where your chats' computers should run (Docker, Podman, this machine, SSH or
Fly, with the reason any of them is unavailable and its fix), adds Husk to the chat apps
it finds (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Codex, Gemini CLI),
and starts the one Husk every chat goes through, printing its console link. It backs up
each app's config file before changing it and touches only its own `husk` entry.
`--remove` takes it out again. The console's **Connect** page does the same.

> [!NOTE]
> `setup`, the shared Husk and the console's Connect page are on `main` and not yet
> published: npm has 0.1.4. Until the next release, run it from a checkout with
> `npm ci && npm run build && node packages/cli/dist/bin.js setup`.

Once the next release is on npm, you can let the chat do it. Paste this into Claude Code,
Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor or any chat that can run a command (the Connect page makes one
for a single app). Until then the `npx` line in it fails, because npm's 0.1.4 has no
`setup`: use the checkout command above instead.

```text
Set up Husk for me, so you get a computer of your own for tasks: a terminal and a real browser, kept apart from my files.

1. Run this in a terminal:
   npx -y @husk-ai/cli@latest setup --computer auto --apps all --yes
   It picks the safest computer this machine can run (a Docker container if Docker is installed) and adds Husk to my chat apps. If you can't run terminal commands, show me that line and I'll run it.
2. Tell me to restart my chat apps so the Husk tools load.
3. Tell me that if the Husk desktop app is installed, it shows your computer in a small window and I can take over any time.

After the restart: call computer_info, open https://example.com in the browser, and tell me what you see.
```

A desktop app (`apps/desktop`) carries the same Husk with its own Node and keeps each
chat's computer one click away: a very small 3D computer for each in the bottom-right
corner, which names its chat app when you hover it. Click one and a compact Computers
window opens, its tabs your computers (each with its chat app's logo), the browser
live on a white screen, Take over a click away. Minimize it and it goes to a notch at
the top of the screen (around the real notch on a Mac). It sits in the tray to tell you
when a chat is waiting for you. Its installers build and pass a smoke test in CI but are
not released or signed yet; see [apps/desktop](apps/desktop/README.md).

To add Husk to one app by hand instead:

```bash
claude mcp add husk -- npx -y @husk-ai/mcp
```

That is the whole setup. Nothing is created until the first tool call, so an installed
husk that nobody uses costs nothing. Works with Cursor, Zed, or anything else that
speaks MCP.

In Claude Code you can install it as a plugin instead, which adds a `husk` skill that
teaches the model when to use which tool and when to hand the computer to you:

```text
/plugin install husk --marketplace Hotragn/husk
```

The default computer profile exposes eight workspace tools plus 26 computer tools.
Eight are for the machine — `shell`, `read_file`, `write_file`,
`edit_file`, `list_dir`, `expose_port`, `browse`, `computer_info` — fifteen
`browser_*` tools that drive a real Chromium inside that same machine, addressed by
accessibility ref rather than pixel coordinates, `hand_off` / `hand_off_done`,
which give you the computer for a login, a 2FA code or a CAPTCHA and give it back
only when you say you're done, and `computer_open_ui`, which gives the chat a link
to show you the computer. Apps that render MCP Apps cards also get the card's two
tools.

The first tool result says what kind of machine it got. A model that thinks it is
sandboxed when it is not makes worse decisions than one that knows.

Every chat on the machine goes through one shared Husk, started on the first tool call,
so `husk serve`'s console shows each chat's computer, its live browser and what it did
last, and takes over a handoff from any of them. `HUSK_DAEMON=off` keeps a chat's tools
in its own process.

## The CLI

```bash
npx @husk-ai/cli onboard                 # guided setup, five steps, start here
npx @husk-ai/cli doctor                  # or go straight to what this machine can offer
npx @husk-ai/cli up dev --flavor python  # bring up a Linux computer
npx @husk-ai/cli exec dev -- 'uname -sr && python3 -V'
npx @husk-ai/cli rm dev                  # tear it down
```

`onboard` names your provider and how isolated it really is, creates a computer and
destroys it in front of you, points at the shortest route to a model if you have none,
and prints the MCP line for your editor. It never asks for an API key — husk reads
credentials from the environment and does not store them, so it prints the `export` line
and re-checks.

On Windows `cmd.exe`, use double quotes -- it does not strip single ones, so the
quotes would reach the container as part of the command:

```bat
npx @husk-ai/cli exec dev -- "uname -sr && python3 -V"
```

`--flavor python` is there because the default `base` flavour is
`debian:bookworm-slim`, which has no `python3` -- and a quickstart whose third line
prints `python3: not found` is not a quickstart. On a laptop with Docker running, that
sequence prints `Linux 6.18.33.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2` and `Python 3.12.14`; with
Docker stopped and WSL2 installed it picks `local` and prints the same kernel with the
distro's own `Python 3.14.4`. `doctor` reports every provider it probed, which one it
would pick, and why the others were skipped.

## Turn a chat into a bot

A conversation that worked once becomes a file you can run again.

```bash
husk import                          # lists transcripts it found
husk import --pick 1                 # imports one, prints its id
husk distill <id> --out triage.yaml  # conversation → agent spec
husk run triage.yaml "check the build"
```

Importers read Claude Code JSONL, ChatGPT, Cursor, Gemini and markdown into one
`Transcript`. Branched threads are rebuilt by walking `parentUuid` back from the last
leaf. The distiller runs with no API key at all, and the model-backed mode falls back to
that free path rather than failing. Secrets are stripped before the file is written,
not after.

What comes out is YAML you can read and diff:

```yaml
name: triage
model: sonnet
persona: |
  You triage CI failures for a TypeScript monorepo.
  Always read the failing job log before guessing.
tools: [computer, files]
computer:
  flavor: node
  network: { mode: egress, allow: ['*.github.com'] }
limits: { maxSteps: 24, maxCostUsd: 0.25 }
```

`husk distill` prints its confidence and everything it could not work out, so a thin
transcript announces itself instead of producing a plausible-looking persona nobody
checks. Five worked examples live in [`examples/`](examples/).

## What is in it

- **A machine, not an interpreter.** Files, a shell, ports, a browser. `/work` survives
  the whole session, and `persist` keeps it past that.
- **Five computer providers.** `docker`, `podman`, `ssh`, `fly`, `local`. One interface;
  `auto` takes the highest available.
- **Eleven model providers.** Ollama, Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Groq, DeepSeek,
  Cerebras, OpenRouter, Mistral, Together, LM Studio. Aliases resolve across all of
  them, so one `husk.yaml` runs on Opus or on a local Gemma.
- **Four adapters.** Discord, Slack, Telegram, webhook.
- **No product telemetry.** The installed runtime has no analytics, crash reporter,
  or version ping. The marketing and documentation websites use Vercel Web Analytics.
- **No native modules.** `npm install` finishes on Windows with no C++ toolchain. Node
  20.10 or newer.
- **Automated regression tests and archive smoke checks.** `npm test` checks the
  packages; integration cases that need an unavailable provider are explicitly skipped.

## How it works

<picture>
  <source media="(prefers-color-scheme: dark)" srcset="docs/diagrams/png/02-system-architecture.dark.png">
  <img alt="The husk monorepo: four entry points over an orchestration layer over runtime, models, browser and sessions, all on @husk-ai/core" src="docs/diagrams/png/02-system-architecture.light.png">
</picture>

Thirteen packages and five apps. Dependencies run downhill: core imports nothing from
the workspace, every other package except `console-assets` (the built console, no code)
imports it, and nothing imports `@husk-ai/cli`.

```
packages/
  core         contracts, husk.yaml schema, primitives
  runtime      computer providers: docker, podman, local, ssh, fly
  models       one surface over eleven model providers
  sessions     transcript importers + the distiller
  browser      Chromium lifecycle and CDP automation
  agent        tool-calling loop and built-in tools
  adapters     Discord, Slack, Telegram, webhook
  mcp          MCP server (stdio), and the shared Husk every chat forwards to
  server       control-plane API + bot host
  sdk          typed client for the control plane
  workspaces   named local workspaces: sources, results, export
  console-assets  the built console, served by server
  cli          the husk command
apps/
  console      dashboard: live terminal, files, browser
  desktop      the desktop app: corner, Computers window, notch, tray
  mac          Husk Bar, a macOS menu-bar companion
  docs         documentation site (Next.js + MDX)
  web          marketing site (Next.js + Three.js)
```

`server` reaches `@husk-ai/agent` through a dynamic import and never declares it as a
dependency, so the control plane starts on a tree where the agent was never built.

Four flavours choose the image: `base`, `python`, `node`, `full`. Husk publishes none of
its own. `base` is `debian:bookworm-slim`, `python` is `python:3.12-slim`, `node` is
`node:22-slim`, and `full` is Playwright's image, which already carries the twenty-odd
shared libraries Chromium links against. An image you publish is an operating system you
have promised to keep patched, and Debian and the Playwright team already do that better.
Set `HUSK_REGISTRY` to point the lot at your own mirror.

<sub>[Open interactively](docs/diagrams/02-system-architecture.html) · [SVG](docs/diagrams/svg/02-system-architecture.light.svg)</sub>

## Providers

`auto` walks the ladder and takes the highest rung that answers. Every rung is free
except `fly`, which is metered. An explicit `--provider` that turns out to be
unavailable is an error, never a quiet downgrade to weaker isolation.

| Provider | Priority | Isolation | Cost | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `docker` | 20 | Kernel namespaces, cgroups, seccomp, read-only root | Free | Default when the daemon is up |
| `podman` | 18 | Kernel, rootless | Free | Linux without Docker |
| `ssh` | 16 | Whatever the remote gives you | Free if you own the box | An Oracle Always Free instance, a Pi, a VPS |
| `fly` | 14 | microVM | Metered | Bursty parallel work |
| `local` | 10 | **Guardrails only** | Free | WSL2 gives real Linux; POSIX runs your own shell with guardrails |

> **The `local` provider is not a sandbox.** It stops accidents, not adversaries.
> `husk doctor` reports `isolated: false` for it, and the first MCP tool result says so
> again.

## Security model

<picture>
  <source media="(prefers-color-scheme: dark)" srcset="docs/diagrams/png/05-trust-boundaries.dark.png">
  <img alt="A tool call passes the local-only path jail, the command policy and the env scrub into the computer; results pass redact() and the audit log" src="docs/diagrams/png/05-trust-boundaries.light.png">
</picture>

These hold in every mode, `local` included, and were re-checked against a live `local`
and a live `docker` computer for 0.1.4: the command deny list, the environment scrub,
output caps, process-tree kill, `redact()` on every result and `audited()` on every MCP
call.

The path jail is not one of them, and this paragraph used to say it was
([#120](https://github.com/Hotragn/husk/issues/120)). It is a `local` control, and there
it confines the file tools rather than the shell. On `docker`, `podman` and `fly` the
container *is* the boundary, so the file tools address the container's own filesystem:
`read_file /etc/passwd` returns the container's copy, and `/dev/shm` takes a write.
Neither reaches your machine, which is the point of running those providers — a jail
inside a kernel boundary is largely redundant. Claiming one anyway is exactly what this
section exists not to do.

What `local` does not give you is a kernel boundary. It shares your kernel, your network
and your user account.

`169.254.169.254` stays blocked even under `network.mode: full`, because `full` means
the internet and not the cloud metadata service that hands IAM credentials to whatever
asks. Loopback and the RFC1918 ranges are the same problem one hop out. An operator who
wants one of them names it in `allow`, where a reviewer reading the `husk.yaml` can see
the decision.

Address spellings are normalised first. `127.1`, `2130706433` and `0x7f000001` are all
`127.0.0.1` to curl, to Chromium and to Python's urllib, so a rule that only understands
four dotted octets is not a rule.

<sub>[Open interactively](docs/diagrams/05-trust-boundaries.html) · [SVG](docs/diagrams/svg/05-trust-boundaries.light.svg)</sub>

## Documentation

- **[Architecture](docs/ARCHITECTURE.md)** — why it is shaped this way
- **[API reference](docs/API.md)** — the control-plane HTTP contract
- **[Build contract](docs/BUILD-CONTRACT.md)** — conventions every package obeys
- **[Security model](docs/SECURITY-MODEL.md)** — what is isolated and what is not
- **[Examples](examples/)** — five `husk.yaml` recipes and an MCP session demo
- **[Diagrams](docs/diagrams/)** — 16 interactive architecture, dataflow and design diagrams

## Status

Alpha, pre-1.0. The `husk.yaml` schema and the HTTP contract can still change between
releases. What is known not to work today:

- **On container providers the rendered browser needs the `full` flavor.** CI drives
  the fifteen `browser_*` tools on Docker with `full` (Playwright's image, which carries
  Chromium's libraries). The slim flavors cannot run Chromium: their root filesystem is
  read-only, so the libraries cannot be added later. `base` (`debian:bookworm-slim`) has
  neither curl nor python3, so even `browse` fails there. Pass `--flavor full`, or choose
  "Include a browser" in `husk setup` or on the Connect page.
- **`fly` is the least exercised provider.** It has tests. It has far fewer real hours
  than `docker` and `local`.

## Development

```bash
git clone https://github.com/Hotragn/husk.git && cd husk
npm install
npm run build
npm test
```

## Contributing

Contributions are welcome. [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) covers the build contract,
the test requirements, and how to add a provider or a model.

## Contributors

Everyone who has shipped something here is on the
[contributors graph](https://github.com/Hotragn/husk/graphs/contributors), which counts
commits rather than asking anyone to remember to add a name.

## License

[Apache-2.0](LICENSE)