Installation

Requirements

• Node.js 22+
• A Telegram bot token (from @BotFather) or Discord bot token
• At least one model provider (ollama, OpenRouter, Kiro CLI, Gemini CLI, Codex, or Claude Code)

Agent install

Give this page to your favourite AI agent (Claude, Gemini, Codex, Kiro) and ask it to install abTARS for you. It has all the information it needs right here. 😉

Install channels

Channel	Command	Who
Stable	npm install -g abtars abmind	Normal users
Alpha	npm install -g abtars@alpha abmind@alpha	Early adopters, testers
Dev	git clone + abtars update --from-local	Contributors, developers

Stable ≤ Alpha ≤ Dev.

One-liner install (recommended)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aksika/abtars/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

Alpha channel:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aksika/abtars/main/scripts/install.sh | CHANNEL=alpha bash

The script handles everything: Node.js detection, package install, memory setup, configuration, and prints the final command to start the daemon.

Manual install (npm)

npm install -g abtars abmind
abmind install
abtars install
abtars update
abtars onboard
sudo $(which abtars) daemon install

Alpha channel (latest development builds):

npm install -g abtars@alpha abmind@alpha

Step	What happens
npm install -g abtars abmind	Installs CLI tools globally
abmind install	Creates ~/.abmind/, generates encryption key, initializes memory DB
abtars install	Creates ~/.abtars/ skeleton (config, scripts, skills)
abtars update	Stages the release (copies bundle to ~/.abtars/releases/)
abtars onboard	Interactive setup: Telegram token, model, user ID
sudo ... daemon install	Registers systemd service, starts the bridge

After daemon install, the bridge is running and responding to messages. No separate restart needed.

Install from source (git clone)

git clone https://github.com/aksika/abtars.git
cd abtars
npm install
npm run bundle
abtars install
abtars update --from-local
abtars onboard
sudo $(which abtars) daemon install

To update after pulling new commits:

git pull
abtars update --from-local

This rebuilds and hot-restarts the bridge in one command.

Memory (abmind)

abmind is optional but recommended. Without it, the bridge responds but forgets between sessions. The abtars onboard wizard installs it automatically if available on PATH.

What memory adds:

• Persistent recall across sessions
• Overnight sleep maintenance (fact extraction, consolidation)
• Emotion tagging and memory promotion
• Searchable memory via tools
• Personalized SOUL (agent identity)

Daemon management

abtars daemon status      # show service state
sudo systemctl stop abtars       # stop
sudo systemctl start abtars      # start
sudo systemctl restart abtars    # restart
sudo $(which abtars) daemon uninstall   # remove the service

For development (no daemon):

abtars start    # direct start, foreground watchdog
abtars stop     # stop

What gets created

~/.abtars/
├── config/          # .env, transport.json, models.json, users.json
├── secret/          # API keys (encrypted at rest)
├── current/         # symlink → active release
├── releases/        # versioned bundles
├── logs/            # bridge-YYYY-MM-DD.log
├── scripts/         # watchdog.sh, doctor.sh
├── skills/          # core/ + custom/ + self/
├── workspace/       # agent working directory
└── bridge.pid       # PID of running bridge

~/.abmind/           # (only after abmind install)
└── memory/
    ├── memory.db    # SQLite + FTS5 + embeddings
    ├── core/        # SOUL.md, agent_notes.md, user_profile.md
    ├── daily/       # daily summaries + retrospectives
    └── sleep/       # sleep cycle state + logs

Providers

Provider	Transport	Setup
ollama	Direct API	ollama serve locally, free
OpenRouter	Direct API	API key in ~/.abtars/secret/OPENROUTER_API_KEY
Kiro CLI	ACP	kiro-cli installed, AWS account
Gemini CLI	ACP	gemini installed, Google account
Codex	ACP	codex installed
Claude Code	ACP	claude installed

Configure in ~/.abtars/config/transport.json. The onboard wizard sets this up interactively.

Post-install verification

See Health Check for detailed commands.

abtars status           # should show bridge: ● running
abtars doctor           # should show all green

Send a message to your bot on Telegram — it should respond.

Updating

npm update -g abtars abmind
abtars update

Platform-specific notes

Linux (systemd)

Daemon mode installs /etc/systemd/system/abtars.service:

sudo systemctl status abtars
sudo systemctl restart abtars

macOS (launchd)

Daemon mode installs /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.abtars.daemon.plist:

sudo $(which abtars) daemon stop
sudo $(which abtars) daemon start

WSL

Ensure systemd is enabled in /etc/wsl.conf:

[boot]
systemd=true

Troubleshooting

See Health Check and Troubleshooting.