OpenAgentLayer

OpenAgentLayer (OAL) builds agent setup files for Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode. It can preview, deploy, update, and uninstall those files.

OAL keeps the source of truth in source/. Generated provider files are disposable. Deploy records which files OAL owns, and uninstall removes only those OAL-owned files.

Contents

1. OpenAgentLayer
   1. Contents
   2. Quick start
   3. Install paths
   4. Provider support
   5. Model plans
   6. CLI commands
   7. Interactive CLI
   8. Common workflows
      1. Inspect generated output
      2. Deploy to one project
      3. Deploy globally
      4. Sync provider plugins into your home directory
      5. Remove OAL from a project or provider home
   9. Homebrew
   10. Repository layout
   11. Validation
   12. Contributing
   13. Star History
   14. License

Quick start

Clone the repo, load submodules, install dependencies, and check that OAL can render provider files:

git clone https://github.com/xsyetopz/OpenAgentLayer.git
cd OpenAgentLayer
git submodule update --init --recursive
bun install --frozen-lockfile
bun run oal:check

bun is required. The Homebrew cask depends on Bun. bun run oal:toolchain and setup --toolchain include Bun in setup plans so generated shims work when you run them.

RTK setup must use rtk-ai/rtk. Install it, verify it with rtk gain, then initialize provider policies with rtk init -g --auto-patch, rtk init -g --codex, and rtk init -g --opencode. OAL enforces RTK only when the binary works and an RTK.md policy exists globally or in the project.

Preview what OAL would generate before writing files:

bun run oal:preview -- --provider all
bun run oal:preview -- --provider codex --path .codex/config.toml --content

Dry-run deployment before applying changes:

bun run setup -- --target /path/to/project --scope project --provider all --dry-run
bun run oal:deploy -- --target /path/to/project --scope project --provider all --dry-run

Apply only after the dry-run output points at the right paths:

bun run oal:deploy -- --target /path/to/project --scope project --provider all

Run the CLI without a command for guided prompts:

bun packages/cli/src/main.ts

Detailed setup options are in INSTALLATION.md.

Convenience install scripts are available from the repository root:

./install.sh setup --scope global --provider all --toolchain --dry-run
./install-online.sh setup --scope global --provider all --toolchain --dry-run

install-online.sh clones OAL into a temporary directory, copies it into OAL_INSTALL_DIR or $HOME/.local/share/openagentlayer, runs install.sh, and removes the temporary clone.

Install paths

Path	Use when	Commands
Source checkout	You want the current repository behavior or plan to contribute.	git submodule update --init --recursive, then bun install --frozen-lockfile.
Online install	You want a persistent user install without manually cloning the repo.	./install-online.sh setup --scope global --provider all --toolchain --dry-run.
Homebrew cask	You want the packaged oal binary after a release archive exists.	Use the tap cask described in Homebrew.
Provider plugin sync	You want OAL available from provider plugin locations in your user home.	bun run oal:plugins -- --home "$HOME" --provider all --dry-run.
Project deploy	You want OAL artifacts in one project repository.	bun run oal:deploy -- --target /path/to/project --scope project --provider all --dry-run.
Global deploy	You want OAL active in global provider config.	bun run oal:deploy -- --scope global --provider all --dry-run.

Provider support

Legend: ✅ supported, ⚠️ warning or setup required, 🚧 partial or under construction, ❌ unsupported by the provider, N/A not applicable.

Capability	Claude Code	Codex	OpenCode
Agents/subagents	✅ Markdown agents.	✅ TOML agents.	✅ Markdown plus config agents.
Per-agent model routing	✅ Claude allowlist.	✅ Codex allowlist.	✅ Auth model detection plus free fallback.
Per-agent colors	✅ Quoted hex frontmatter.	✅ Quoted hex TOML values.	✅ Quoted hex frontmatter.
Skills	✅ skills/*/SKILL.md.	✅ openagentlayer/skills/*/SKILL.md.	✅ skills/*/SKILL.md.
Commands/routes	✅ Slash-command Markdown.	🚧 Rendered into AGENTS.md.	✅ Command Markdown plus config entries.
Hooks	✅ Hook entries plus executable .mjs.	✅ Executable .mjs plus feature flags.	⚠️ Plugin-mediated executable .mjs.
Custom tools	❌ No matching provider surface.	❌ No matching provider surface.	✅ @opencode-ai/plugin TypeScript tools.
Provider instructions	✅ CLAUDE.md.	✅ AGENTS.md.	✅ instruction file plus config reference.
Structured config merge	✅ settings.json.	✅ config.toml.	✅ opencode.jsonc.
Plugin payload sync	✅ Claude plugin layout.	✅ Codex plugin layout.	✅ OpenCode plugin layout.
RTK command enforcement	⚠️ Requires rtk init -g --auto-patch.	✅ Hook-enforced with rtk init -g --codex.	⚠️ Requires rtk init -g --opencode.
Privileged exec helper	✅ Executable helper scripts.	✅ Executable helper scripts.	✅ Executable helper scripts.
Manifest deploy/uninstall	✅ OAL-owned artifact tracking.	✅ OAL-owned artifact tracking.	✅ OAL-owned artifact tracking.
Drift checks	✅ Generated edit guards.	✅ Generated edit guards.	✅ Generated edit guards.

For Codex, OAL renders .codex/requirements.toml with hooks = true and managed OAL hook entries. Codex only treats hooks as approval-free when that requirements file is installed into Codex's managed requirements layer for the environment; deploy prints a warning when this step is still external.

Codex also has an OAL-managed delegation CLI. Use it when the native subagent launcher is not available in the current session:

oal codex agent hermes --dry-run "map runtime hooks"
oal codex route review --dry-run "audit the current diff"
oal codex peer batch --dry-run "investigate, implement, validate, and review"

oal codex peer batch creates a .openagentlayer/codex-peer/<run-id>/ directory. It coordinates orchestrator, validate, worker, and review passes.

Model plans

OAL chooses models by plan and role. It does not give every generated agent the same model. Use --plan with preview, render, deploy, or plugins.

Provider	Plans	Notes
Codex	plus, pro-5, pro-20	Uses gpt-5.5 for intelligence and orchestration, gpt-5.3-codex for code-writing roles, and gpt-5.4-mini for utility profiles. plus avoids xhigh; pro-5 and pro-20 use xhigh only for narrow GPT-5.3-Codex worker cases.
Claude Code	max-5, max-20, max-20-long	max-20-long is the explicit claude-opus-4-6[1m] route for long-context Opus agents.
OpenCode	opencode-auto, opencode-auth, opencode-free	opencode-auto reads opencode models when available and falls back to OAL's free OpenCode model set.

Examples:

bun run oal:preview -- --provider codex --plan pro-20 --path .codex/agents/athena.toml --content
bun run oal:preview -- --provider claude --plan max-20-long --path .claude/agents/nemesis.md --content
bun run oal:preview -- --provider opencode --plan opencode-auto --path opencode.jsonc --content

For deterministic OpenCode previews, save opencode models output and pass it explicitly:

opencode models > /tmp/opencode-models.txt
bun run oal:preview -- --provider opencode --plan opencode-auto --opencode-models-file /tmp/opencode-models.txt --path opencode.jsonc --content

CLI commands

Run package scripts from a source checkout. After installing the binary, replace bun run <script> -- with oal.

Command	Purpose	Common flags	Safe first command
check	Load source, validate policy, and prove renderability.	None.	bun run oal:check.
preview	Show generated artifact paths and optional file contents without writing.	--scope, --home, --provider, --path, --content, --plan.	bun run oal:preview -- --provider all.
render	Write generated artifacts into an output directory.	--scope, --home, --provider, --out, --plan.	bun run oal:render -- --provider codex --out generated.
setup	Plan or apply toolchain, deploy, plugin sync, binary shim, and installed checks.	--target, --scope, --provider, --toolchain, --optional, --dry-run, --verbose.	bun run setup -- --scope global --provider all --toolchain --dry-run.
profiles	Save, edit, show, activate, rename, or remove reusable setup profiles.	list, show, save, edit, use, rename, remove, --config, setup flags.	bun run oal:profiles -- save global --scope global --provider codex,opencode --activate.
state	Inspect active profile, provider availability, deploy changes, and removal state.	inspect, --profile, --config, --provider, --json.	bun run oal:state -- inspect --json.
deploy	Merge OAL artifacts into a target project or global provider home.	--target, --scope project|global, --home, --provider, --dry-run, --verbose, --quiet.	bun run oal:deploy -- --target /path/to/project --scope project --provider all --dry-run.
bin	Install, inspect, or remove the source-checkout oal executable shim.	--home, --bin-dir, --remove, --dry-run.	bun packages/cli/src/main.ts bin --dry-run.
uninstall	Remove one provider's OAL-owned artifacts from a target project or provider home.	--target, --scope project|global, --home, --provider.	bun run oal:uninstall -- --target /path/to/project --scope project --provider codex.
plugins	Sync provider plugin payloads into user-level provider homes.	--home, --provider, --dry-run, --plan, --opencode-models-file.	bun run oal:plugins -- --home "$HOME" --provider all --dry-run.
inspect	Print shared OAL capability, manifest, generated-input, policy, or release evidence.	capabilities, manifest, generated-diff, rtk-report, command-policy, release-witness.	bun packages/cli/src/main.ts inspect capabilities.
toolchain	Print OS package-manager setup commands for OAL-friendly tools.	--os, --pkg, --optional, --json.	bun run oal:toolchain -- --os macos --optional ctx7,skill-frontend-design.
features	Print optional feature install, removal, or officialskills.sh catalog commands.	--install, --remove, --catalog, --catalog-url, --json.	bun run oal:features -- --install ctx7,skill-frontend-design.
mcp	Run OAL-owned MCP servers over stdio.	serve oal-inspect.	bun packages/cli/src/main.ts mcp serve oal-inspect.
rtk-gain	Check RTK token-savings policy.	--from-file, --allow-empty-history.	bun run oal:rtk-gain -- --allow-empty-history.
codex-usage	Inspect local Codex state for weekly quota-drain patterns.	--home, --db, --project, --limit, --json.	bun packages/cli/src/main.ts codex-usage --project "$PWD".
roadmap-evidence	Print the acceptance evidence ledger.	None.	bun run oal:roadmap:evidence.
accept	Run full product acceptance over source, rendering, deploy, uninstall, and fixtures.	None.	bun run oal:accept.

Provider-aware commands accept all, codex, claude, opencode, or a comma-separated set such as codex,opencode. uninstall requires one provider, not all.

Profiles live in ~/.openagentlayer/config.json by default. They store provider order, scope, target and home paths, model plans, optional tools, and setup toggles:

bun run oal:profiles -- save work --scope global --provider opencode,codex --optional ctx7,skill-frontend-design --activate
bun run oal:state -- inspect --profile work
bun run setup -- --profile work --dry-run

Interactive CLI

OAL uses Commander for options and Clack for terminal prompts. Run without a command in a TTY, or call interactive directly:

bun packages/cli/src/main.ts
bun packages/cli/src/main.ts interactive

Interactive mode supports setup, profile saving, state inspection, preview, deploy, plugin sync, uninstall, and check. Setup wraps the same setup command used by scripts. Provider prompts use multiselect when a command can act on more than one provider. Global deploy detects the home directory and asks only when you override it. Non-interactive commands stay script-safe and print help instead of prompting when stdin is not a TTY.

Optional features are explicit add/remove commands on top of OAL:

bun run oal:features -- --install ctx7,playwright,skill-frontend-design,skill-react-best-practices
bun run oal:features -- --remove playwright,skill-frontend-design,skill-react-best-practices

Feature labels use [CLI] for command-line setup, [MCP] for provider MCP configuration, and [skill] for curated external skills from officialskills.sh.

Copy commands from fenced bash blocks. Do not paste Markdown list bullets.

Common workflows

Inspect generated output

bun run oal:preview -- --provider all
bun run oal:preview -- --provider opencode --path opencode.jsonc --content

Deploy to one project

bun run oal:deploy -- --target /path/to/project --scope project --provider all --dry-run
bun run oal:deploy -- --target /path/to/project --scope project --provider all

Deploy globally

bun run oal:deploy -- --scope global --provider all --dry-run
bun run oal:deploy -- --scope global --provider all

Global deploy writes provider-native config under your provider homes. It records global ownership under .openagentlayer/manifest/global/.

Sync provider plugins into your home directory

bun run oal:plugins -- --home "$HOME" --provider all --dry-run
bun run oal:plugins -- --home "$HOME" --provider all

Remove OAL from a project or provider home

bun run oal:uninstall -- --target /path/to/project --scope project --provider codex
bun run oal:uninstall -- --target /path/to/project --scope project --provider claude
bun run oal:uninstall -- --target /path/to/project --scope project --provider opencode
bun run oal:uninstall -- --scope global --provider codex

Uninstall removes OAL-owned artifacts from the manifest. It must preserve user-owned files and user-authored config blocks.

Homebrew

The cask definition lives at homebrew/Casks/openagentlayer.rb. It expects release archives from xsyetopz/OpenAgentLayer on the master branch with this name:

openagentlayer-<version>-macos-universal.tar.gz

The archive must contain bin/oal. After a tap contains the cask, the installed binary supports the same commands as the source checkout:

oal check
oal preview --provider all
oal deploy --target /path/to/project --scope project --provider all --dry-run

Run the syntax check before submitting cask changes:

rtk ruby -c homebrew/Casks/openagentlayer.rb

Repository layout

Path	Responsibility
source/	Authored OAL source records, prompt templates, skills, routes, hooks, tools, and provider inputs.
docs/	Indexed user-facing operation docs for install, CLI, provider setup, validation, and release.
specs/	Indexed product, provider, runtime, acceptance, and reference-evidence contracts for implementers.
packages/source	Source loading and record validation.
packages/policy	Product policy validation, model allowlists, and generated text checks.
packages/adapter	Provider-native rendering for Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode.
packages/deploy	Deploy planning, merging, backup, and uninstall behavior.
packages/manifest	OAL ownership metadata.
packages/runtime	Executable .mjs hooks and runtime helpers.
packages/accept	Full product acceptance gates.
packages/cli	User-facing command entrypoint.
packages/toolchain	OS toolchain setup plan rendering.
plugins/	Provider plugin metadata and sync roots, not duplicated generated content.

Validation

Use package scripts where possible:

rtk bun run biome:format
rtk bun run test
rtk bun run oal:accept
rtk proxy -- bun run oal:accept
rtk bun run oal:rtk-gain -- --allow-empty-history
rtk bun run biome:check
rtk bunx tsc --noEmit
rtk ruby -c homebrew/Casks/openagentlayer.rb

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for workflow and validation guidance.

All contributors must follow CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md.

Star History

License

MIT