Quick Start

Steps only. For detailed explanations, see Installation.

1. Install

npm install -g abtars abmind

Requires Node.js 22+. For alpha builds: npm install -g abtars@alpha abmind@alpha

2. Setup

abtars install
abtars update
abtars onboard

The onboard wizard asks for:

• Telegram bot token (from @BotFather)
• Model provider (Kiro CLI, OpenRouter, ollama, etc.)
• Agent name and passphrase (for memory encryption)

3. Start

sudo $(which abtars) daemon install

Done. Your bot is live on Telegram.

4. Verify

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

Send a message to your bot — it should respond.

Post-install cheat sheet

Telegram commands

Command	What it does
/status	Bridge health, uptime, model
/model	Switch model/provider on the fly
/new	Start a fresh conversation session
/sleep	Trigger sleep + memory consolidation
/restart	Restart the bridge
/help	Full command list

Customize personality

Edit ~/.abmind/memory/core/SOUL.md — defines who your agent is: name, personality, language, tone.

Updating

npm update -g abtars abmind
abtars update

Stop / restart

sudo systemctl stop abtars      # stop
sudo systemctl restart abtars   # restart

Something broke?

abtars doctor --fix
tail -20 ~/.abtars/logs/bridge-$(date +%F).log

See Health Check for more.

Where is everything?

~/.abtars/
├── config/          .env, transport.json, models.json, users.json
├── secret/          API keys (encrypted at rest)
├── logs/            Daily log files
├── skills/          core/, self/, custom/
├── releases/        Versioned deployments
└── current → releases/<version>

~/.abmind/
├── memory/core/     SOUL.md, agent_notes.md, user_profile.md
├── memory/memory.db SQLite memory database
└── secret/          Encryption key