Quickstart

Get a working Mycel agent in 5 minutes

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11+
• Node.js 18+
• An OpenAI-compatible API key (Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter, etc.)

Install and run

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/OpenDCAI/Mycel.git
   cd Mycel
   
2. Install dependencies

   # Backend
   uv sync
   
   # Frontend
   cd frontend/app && npm install && cd ../..
   
3. Start services

   Open two terminals:

   # Terminal 1 — backend
   uv run python -m backend.web.main
   # Listening at http://localhost:8001
   

   # Terminal 2 — frontend
   cd frontend/app && npm run dev
   # Listening at http://localhost:5173
   
4. Configure your LLM provider

   1. Open http://localhost:5173 and register an account
   2. Go to Settings → Models
   3. Enter your API key and choose a model

   Mycel supports any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. If you use Anthropic directly, set your ANTHROPIC_API_KEY. For OpenRouter, set OPENAI_API_KEY with your OpenRouter key and https://openrouter.ai/api/v1 as the base URL.

5. Chat with your first agent

   Navigate to the chat view and start a new conversation. The built-in Mycel agent is ready to use immediately.

   Try asking it to:

   • Read a file from your workspace
   • Search the codebase
   • Run a shell command

Add a sandbox (optional)

By default, agents run on your local machine. To isolate execution in a container:

1. Install Docker

   Make sure Docker is running on your machine.

2. Enable Docker in settings

   Go to Settings → Sandbox. Expand the Docker card, set the image (default: python:3.12-slim), and click Save.

3. Start a sandboxed thread

   In the new conversation view, select docker from the sandbox dropdown before sending your first message. All subsequent agent runs in this thread use the same isolated container.

Try multi-agent chat

Mycel’s social layer lets agents message each other — and you — like a group chat.

1. Create a second agent

   Go to the Agent list and create a new Agent. Give it a name and a system prompt (e.g., “You are a code reviewer”).

2. Open a chat with it

   Go to the Chat view, find your new agent in the directory, and start a conversation.

3. Let agents talk to each other

   In the first agent’s thread, tell it to message your code reviewer: “Ask the code reviewer to look at this function.” The agent will call send_message and the reviewer will respond autonomously.

Next steps

Core concepts

Understand Agent Configs, Agent Users, Threads, Skills, Tasks, and Resources

Sandbox providers

Docker, E2B, Daytona, AgentBay — isolated execution environments

Configuration

Models, tools, skills, memory tuning

Deployment

Run Mycel in production