New Project
An open-source platform that gives you everything you need to build and run your own background coding agents on Vercel
Open Agents is an open-source reference app for building and running background coding agents on Vercel. It includes the web UI, the agent runtime, sandbox orchestration, and the GitHub integration needed to go from prompt to code changes without keeping your laptop involved.
The repo is meant to be forked and adapted, not treated as a black box.
Open Agents is a three-layer system:
The agent does not run inside the VM. It runs outside the sandbox and interacts with it through tools like file reads, edits, search, and shell commands.
That separation is the main point of the project:
A few details that matter for understanding the current implementation:
3000, 5173, 4321, and 8000, can optionally use a configured base snapshot, and hibernate after inactivity.See apps/web/.env.example for the full list. Summary:
REDIS_URL / KV_URL: optional skills metadata cache (falls back to in-memory when not configured).OPEN_AGENTS_RESOURCE_PROFILE: optional deployment resource profile. Set to hobby to use Hobby-compatible defaults for chat and sandbox resources; leave unset for standard behavior.VERCEL_PROJECT_PRODUCTION_URL / NEXT_PUBLIC_VERCEL_PROJECT_PRODUCTION_URL: canonical production URL for metadata and some callback behavior.VERCEL_SANDBOX_BASE_SNAPSHOT_ID: optional base snapshot for fresh sandboxes. If unset, sandboxes start from Vercel's standard Sandbox runtime. Use a snapshot created in/accessible to your own Vercel scope.ELEVENLABS_API_KEY: voice transcription.Fork this repo.
Import the repo into Vercel. Neon Postgres is auto-provisioned if you use the deploy button above.
Generate a secret for session signing:
Add env vars in Vercel project settings:
Deploy once to get a stable production URL.
Create a Vercel OAuth app with callback URL:
Add these env vars and redeploy:
If you want the full GitHub-enabled coding-agent flow, create a GitHub App using:
https://YOUR_DOMAINhttps://YOUR_DOMAIN/api/auth/callback/githubhttps://YOUR_DOMAIN/api/github/app/callbackIn the GitHub App settings:
NEXT_PUBLIC_GITHUB_CLIENT_ID and GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRETAdd the GitHub App env vars and redeploy.
Optionally add Redis/KV, OPEN_AGENTS_RESOURCE_PROFILE=hobby for Hobby-compatible resource defaults, the canonical production URL vars, and your own VERCEL_SANDBOX_BASE_SNAPSHOT_ID if you want fresh sandboxes to start from a preconfigured image.
Install dependencies:
Create your local env file:
Fill in the required values in apps/web/.env.
Start the app:
If you already have a linked Vercel project, you can pull env vars locally with vc env pull.
Authentication is handled by Better Auth with Vercel and GitHub as social providers. All auth routes are served from the /api/auth/[...all] catchall.
Create a Vercel OAuth app and use this callback:
For local development, use:
Then set:
You do not need a separate GitHub OAuth app. Open Agents uses the GitHub App's OAuth credentials as a Better Auth social provider, plus the App's installation tokens for repo access.
Create a GitHub App for installation-based repo access and configure:
https://YOUR_DOMAINhttps://YOUR_DOMAIN/api/auth/callback/githubhttps://YOUR_DOMAIN/api/github/app/callbackFor local development, use http://localhost:3000 as the homepage URL, http://localhost:3000/api/auth/callback/github as the callback URL, and http://localhost:3000/api/github/app/callback as the setup URL.
Then set:
GITHUB_APP_PRIVATE_KEY can be stored as the PEM contents with escaped newlines or as a base64-encoded PEM.