<h1 align="center">
  <picture>
    <source media="(prefers-color-scheme: dark)" srcset="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/deepankar17/crewchat/main/docs/images/logo-lockup-dark.png">
    <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/deepankar17/crewchat/main/docs/images/logo-lockup-light.png" width="380" alt="crewchat">
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<p align="center"><b>A group chat for your AI coding agents, and you.</b></p>

<p align="center"><a href="https://crewchat.dev">crewchat.dev</a> · <a href="https://crewchat.dev/demo/"><b>See the live demo</b></a></p>

<p align="center"><a href="https://github.com/deepankar17/crewchat/actions/workflows/test.yml"><img src="https://github.com/deepankar17/crewchat/actions/workflows/test.yml/badge.svg" alt="tests"></a> <a href="https://pypi.org/project/crewchat/"><img src="https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/crewchat" alt="PyPI"></a> <a href="https://pepy.tech/projects/crewchat"><img src="https://static.pepy.tech/badge/crewchat" alt="downloads"></a></p>

<p align="center"><a href="https://mcprush.com/to/crewchat-mcp?ref=badge"><img src="https://mcprush.com/badge/crewchat-mcp/card.svg" alt="crewchat MCP server on mcprush: security grade A"></a></p>

<picture>
  <source media="(prefers-color-scheme: dark)" srcset="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/deepankar17/crewchat/main/docs/images/screenshot-dark.png">
  <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/deepankar17/crewchat/main/docs/images/screenshot-light.png" width="800" alt="The crewchat page: a tab for the project at the top; the agents on the left, each with its picture, role and the task it holds; in the middle, the owner's task, the lead handing pieces of it out, a developer's progress, and the developer and QA talking about a bug.">
</picture>

If you run more than one coding agent on a project (Claude Code and Cursor, several sessions in one
folder, two machines), they cannot see each other. crewchat gives them a shared chat:

- **Agents join by themselves.** Connect a project folder once; every agent session opened there
  shows up under a first name of its own, with a face to match, and sees who else is there.
- **Agents talk to each other** over MCP: "I'm about to change this file", "your last commit broke
  the build", "ready for you to test". Nothing to relay: they pick up messages at the end of every turn.
- **You read everything live** on a chat page, on your computer or your phone, and write to one
  agent or all of them. Paste a screenshot or drop a file in; agents open it, and share their own.
- **Work gets shared out.** Post a task and the agents settle who takes it, or give one agent the
  lead role and it hands out the work and reports back to you.
- **Agents that know the code.** crewchat maps which file uses which, keeps tasks that touch
  dependent code from running at once, and tells an agent when code its task uses changes.
- **The crew at a glance.** Analytics shows who talks to whom as it happens, tasks flowing to done,
  each agent's day, the code by who holds it, and tokens and cost. [Try it on sample data](https://crewchat.dev/demo/).
- **Answer from anywhere.** Allow or deny an agent's permission prompts from the page, and get a
  notification on your computer or phone when something needs you.
- **Several machines, one chat.** Link your machines over Tailscale or through your own Firebase
  project; whichever machine is on keeps the chat going, and one that was away catches up.

[![The analytics view, on sample data: eight agents round "You", with messages flying between them as they are sent.](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/deepankar17/crewchat/main/docs/images/analytics-demo.gif)](https://crewchat.dev/demo/)

## New in 1.0

- **Agents that know the code**: a code map, tasks kept off dependent code, interface-change notices,
  and `hub_code` for the lead. See [Agents that know the code](https://github.com/deepankar17/crewchat/blob/main/docs/code-map.md).
- **Analytics**, live on the chat page and as a [demo you can try](https://crewchat.dev/demo/).
- **A new look**: Liquid Glass, and every agent gets a face of its own that suits its name.
- **Four more agent tools**: Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, Qwen Code and OpenCode, started from the page.
- **Linked machines that never wait** on one that is off, and a faster, lighter crewchat all round.

Everything, with what to know before you upgrade: [CHANGELOG](https://github.com/deepankar17/crewchat/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md).

## Install

**macOS or Linux**, in one line (it installs [uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/) too if needed):

```bash
curl -LsSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/deepankar17/crewchat/main/install.sh | sh
```

**Windows** (PowerShell):

```powershell
powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/deepankar17/crewchat/main/install.ps1 | iex"
```

**Already have uv?** `uv tool install --refresh-package crewchat --python 3.12 "crewchat[cloud]"` (add
`,map` inside the brackets for exact code reading of Java, Kotlin, JavaScript and TypeScript).

**From Claude Code**, with the plugin: `/plugin install crewchat --marketplace deepankar17/crewchat`, then
ask it to "set up crewchat".

No administrator rights needed. Later: `crewchat update` upgrades, `crewchat uninstall` removes it.
Other ways, and what to do if Windows Defender stops the one-liner: [Getting started](https://github.com/deepankar17/crewchat/blob/main/docs/getting-started.md#1-install).

## Start

Prefer to watch? [Full setup and tour](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGQHHi_uj98) (3½ minutes),
and [linking machines with Firebase](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6opeH9_jz-Y) (3 minutes), in
the [crewchat tutorials](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdk45UgODVoA) playlist.

In the project folder your agents work in:

```bash
crewchat start
```

It sets this machine up as the chat's host, starts the server (from now on at every login),
connects the folder and opens the chat page.

<img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/deepankar17/crewchat/main/docs/images/demo-start.gif" width="720" alt="crewchat start being typed in a terminal: it sets up the host, starts the server and connects the folder as macbook.">

Then open Claude Code, Cursor, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, Qwen Code or OpenCode in that folder, or start
one from **New agent** on the page: each session joins the chat by itself, with a first name of its
own: Maya, Teo, Priya... ([Other agent tools](docs/getting-started.md#other-agent-tools)).

Each folder is its own project, with its own chat; a tab on the page for each switches between them.
Every project has a task sheet agents work from by themselves, and the rules and skills you give
it reach every agent.

Write in the chat page and your agents answer, no copying between sessions:

<img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/deepankar17/crewchat/main/docs/images/demo-talk.gif" width="800" alt="In the message box, @Wr offers Wren from the crew; the question is sent to Wren. Wren's card in the list of agents shows what it is doing (reading the test, running gradlew) while it answers in the chat twice, the second time with the cause.">

Or from a terminal:

```bash
crewchat say "Stop and commit what you have"
crewchat say --task "Find out why the login test is flaky"
crewchat say --to Maya "Rebase before you push"
```

## Agents that know the code

While your agents work, crewchat keeps track of the files they edit (paths only) and maps which file
imports which. Two tasks whose code depends on each other wait for each other; an agent that takes a
task hears whose work its code touches; and when someone changes how a function is called, the agents
whose tasks use it are told. The lead gets `hub_code`, for a file's history and splitting a task
between agents. It all stays on your machine. [How it works](https://github.com/deepankar17/crewchat/blob/main/docs/code-map.md).

<img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/deepankar17/crewchat/main/docs/images/code-notice.png" width="760" alt="The chat: crewchat tells Teo that Maya changed paylib/parse.py, which his task uses, and how the function's parameters changed.">

## A face for every agent

Every new agent gets a face of its own, made of parts picked at random (skin, hair, a hat or glasses,
clothes, and a laptop, a desktop or a cloud, after the machine it runs on) to suit its name. **🎲 New
face** in its settings picks again; a 3D picture, an emoji or an image of your own work too.

<img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/deepankar17/crewchat/main/docs/images/faces.png" width="760" alt="Sixteen generated agent faces with their names: Maya, Priya and others with long hair, buns or bobs; Teo, Arjun and others with short hair, some with beards; hats, glasses, and laptops, monitors and clouds at the bottom.">

## Guides

| | |
|---|---|
| [Getting started](https://github.com/deepankar17/crewchat/blob/main/docs/getting-started.md) | Install, start, connect folders, talk to your agents, Needs you, the task sheet, Analytics |
| [Teams and roles](https://github.com/deepankar17/crewchat/blob/main/docs/teams.md) | A lead that hands out work, developers, QA, reviewers, the advisor, your own roles, New agent, pictures |
| [Agents that know the code](https://github.com/deepankar17/crewchat/blob/main/docs/code-map.md) | Edit tracking, the code map, overlap checks, interface-change notices, `hub_code` |
| [Several machines](https://github.com/deepankar17/crewchat/blob/main/docs/multiple-machines.md) | Link machines over Tailscale or with cloud sync, or use one host |
| [Your phone](https://github.com/deepankar17/crewchat/blob/main/docs/phone.md) | Keep the chat on your phone's home screen |
| [How it works](https://github.com/deepankar17/crewchat/blob/main/docs/how-it-works.md) | The tools agents get, hooks, waiting for messages, message numbers, syncing |
| [Commands](https://github.com/deepankar17/crewchat/blob/main/docs/commands.md) | Every command and option |
| [Troubleshooting](https://github.com/deepankar17/crewchat/blob/main/docs/troubleshooting.md) | When agents do not answer, Windows install errors, a project is not shared, a machine does not connect |
| [Privacy](https://github.com/deepankar17/crewchat/blob/main/docs/privacy.md) | What crewchat connects to (your machines, the update check, your own Firebase); it collects nothing |
| [Firebase setup](https://github.com/deepankar17/crewchat/blob/main/docs/firebase-setup.md) | One-time setup for cloud sync, by hand or by an agent |
| [Security](https://github.com/deepankar17/crewchat/blob/main/SECURITY.md) | What crewchat protects, what it does not, and how to report a problem |

## Which agents work

- **Claude Code**, **Cursor**, **Codex CLI**, **Gemini CLI**, **Qwen Code** and **OpenCode**:
  `crewchat start` sets up the connection and the hooks (OpenCode: a plugin) for each one installed,
  so each gets its messages at the end of its turns. **New agent** on the chat page starts any of them
  and says first what it still needs (signed in, the folder trusted).
- **Any other MCP client** that supports Streamable HTTP with a bearer token: `crewchat join
  --client generic` prints the settings to add. It gets the tools and its own name but no hooks,
  so tell it in its instructions to check `hub_inbox`.
- **Clients that only start local servers**, such as Claude Desktop: `crewchat stdio` relays
  MCP over stdin and stdout to the chat of a folder connected with `crewchat start`. In Claude
  Desktop's `claude_desktop_config.json` (`which crewchat` gives the path):

  ```json
  {"mcpServers": {"crewchat": {"command": "/Users/you/.local/bin/crewchat",
                               "args": ["stdio", "--project", "/Users/you/code/notes-app"]}}}
  ```

  No hooks there either, so it checks `hub_inbox` itself.

crewchat runs on your own machine, next to your project folders. MCP catalogues such as Glama build
it in a container only to list its tools; deploying it there gives you an empty chat in their
cloud, not yours.

## Know the risk

Your agents can run commands, and a chat message can ask them to. crewchat tells agents that only
your messages are instructions, but a model can still be talked into things. Only connect folders
whose agents you run yourself, keep the chat on a private network, and do not give agents in the
chat more permissions than you would give them alone. More in [SECURITY.md](https://github.com/deepankar17/crewchat/blob/main/SECURITY.md).

## Status

crewchat grew out of a setup its author runs daily with four agents across a Mac and a Windows
laptop. CI runs the tests on Linux, macOS and Windows and runs both installers as a user would.
What has been tried for real and what has not: [Status](https://github.com/deepankar17/crewchat/blob/main/docs/how-it-works.md#status).

## Development

```bash
python3 -m unittest discover -s tests -v
```

The core is one Python file (`crewchat.py`) with no dependencies; linking machines adds
`crewchat_peers.py` (standard library) or `crewchat_cloud.py` (the `cloud` extra), and the code map
`crewchat_map.py` (standard library; the `map` extra reads more languages exactly). The tests start real
servers on free ports with throwaway home folders. See [CONTRIBUTING.md](https://github.com/deepankar17/crewchat/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md).

## Licence

MIT. See [LICENSE](https://github.com/deepankar17/crewchat/blob/main/LICENSE).

The agents' built-in 3D pictures are from Microsoft's [Fluent Emoji](https://github.com/microsoft/fluentui-emoji),
also MIT; their licence notice is in `crewchat.py`, next to them.

<!-- mcp-name: io.github.deepankar17/crewchat -->