APEX

Autonomous Product Engineering eXecutor
AI-powered development team automation built on the Claude Agent SDK

Quick Start • Features • Architecture • Documentation • Contributing

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APEX orchestrates specialized AI agents to automate software development workflows. It provides a "product team in a box" that can plan, implement, test, and review code changes.

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• Git
• Anthropic API key

Installation

# NPM (all platforms)
npm install -g @apexcli/cli

# Homebrew (macOS)
brew tap joshuaaferguson/apex
brew install apex

Usage

# Initialize in your project
cd your-project
apex init

# Set your API key
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_key_here

# Run a development task
apex run "Add user authentication with JWT tokens"

# Start the API server and web dashboard
apex serve

Features

• Specialized Agents — Purpose-built agents for planning, architecture, implementation, testing, code review, and DevOps
• Configurable Workflows — Define custom workflows with stages, dependencies, and approval gates
• Autonomy Levels — From fully autonomous to human-in-the-loop approval at each stage
• Git Worktree Support — Parallel task execution with automatic branch isolation and cleanup
• Built-in Tools — Full Claude Code tool parity (Read, Write, Edit, Bash, Glob, Grep, WebFetch, etc.)
• Browser Automation — Headless browser testing with Playwright integration
• Permission System — Fine-grained per-tool, per-directory permission controls with presets
• Policy Engine — Policy-as-code governance with approval rules and secret detection
• Smart Autonomy Controls — Budget, token, time, and change limits with approval gates
• Code Quality — Lint-after-edit, type checking integration, and TDD mode
• MCP Integration — Model Context Protocol for third-party tool servers
• Context & Memory — Git-aware context, project analysis, and persistent conversation memory
• Codebase Intelligence — AST-aware analysis with Tree-sitter for semantic code search
• AI Platform Agnostic — Modular driver architecture supporting Claude, OpenAI Codex, Gemini, and generic LLMs
• Real-time Monitoring — Web UI and WebSocket API for live task tracking
• Cost Controls — Built-in token budgets and usage tracking

Built-in Agents

Agent	Role	Model
planner	Creates implementation plans and breaks down tasks	opus
architect	Designs system architecture and makes technical decisions	opus
developer	Implements features and writes production code	sonnet
tester	Creates and runs tests, analyzes coverage	sonnet
reviewer	Reviews code for quality, bugs, and security issues	haiku
devops	Handles infrastructure, CI/CD, and deployment	sonnet

Architecture

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                      APEX Platform                        │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  CLI / Web UI / Slack                                     │
│          │                                                │
│          ▼                                                │
│  ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │                  APEX API Server                    │  │
│  │    REST endpoints + WebSocket streaming             │  │
│  └────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘  │
│          │                                                │
│          ▼                                                │
│  ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │                APEX Orchestrator                    │  │
│  │       (Claude Agent SDK Integration)               │  │
│  │                                                     │  │
│  │   ┌────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌────────┐   │  │
│  │   │Planner │ │Architect│ │Developer│ │ Tester │   │  │
│  │   └────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └────────┘   │  │
│  │   ┌────────┐ ┌────────┐                            │  │
│  │   │Reviewer│ │ DevOps │  ... Custom Agents         │  │
│  │   └────────┘ └────────┘                            │  │
│  └────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘  │
│          │                                                │
│          ▼                                                │
│  ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │                Project Repository                   │  │
│  │  .apex/config.yaml  .apex/agents/  .apex/workflows/ │  │
│  └────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘  │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Project Structure

apex/
├── packages/
│   ├── core/           # Shared types, config, utilities
│   ├── orchestrator/   # Task engine, Claude Agent SDK integration
│   ├── cli/            # Commander.js CLI
│   ├── api/            # Fastify REST + WebSocket server
│   ├── browser/        # Playwright browser automation
│   └── web-ui/         # Next.js web dashboard
├── docs/               # Documentation
└── templates/          # Default agent/workflow templates

Documentation

Document	Description
Getting Started	Installation and first steps
Configuration	Project configuration options
Agents	Built-in agents and customization
Workflows	Defining development workflows
Browser Automation	Headless browser testing and visual regression
Permission System	Fine-grained permission controls
Tool System	Built-in tools, extensions, and MCP integration
Autonomy Controls	Budget, token, and time limits
Service Management	Daemon mode and system service setup
TDD Workflows	Test-Driven Development with AI assistance
Slack Integration	Socket Mode Slack app setup
API Reference	REST API and utility functions
Windows Installation	Windows-specific setup

Development

git clone https://github.com/JoshuaAFerguson/apex.git
cd apex
npm install
npm run build
npm run dev

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Acknowledgments

• Built on Claude Agent SDK by Anthropic

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Made with 🤖 by Joshua A. Ferguson