instar

Persistent, trustworthy Claude Code agents. Built on coherence-first architecture.

npm · GitHub · instar.sh · Docs

npx instar

One command. Guided setup. Talking to your agent from your phone within minutes.

Instar is a framework for building agents on Claude Code — but where stock Claude Code and most other agent frameworks treat identity, memory, and continuity as optional features bolted onto a stateless runtime, Instar inverts that. Every Instar agent is coherent by default: it knows who it is, remembers what has happened, recognizes the people it talks to, and stays the same agent across restarts and weeks of operation. Everything else the framework gives you — scheduling, multi-channel messaging (Telegram, WhatsApp, iMessage), sub-agents, hooks, MCP — is built on that foundation, which is why you can actually leave an Instar agent running and hand it real work.

Instar's architecture was distilled from Dawn — an AI running continuously since early 2026, holding ~700 tracked relationships and hundreds of learned lessons across thousands of restarts — and packaged so every agent you build can start from the same foundation.

Quick Start

Three steps to a running agent:

# 1. Run the setup wizard
npx instar

# 2. Start your agent
instar server start

# 3. Message it from your phone — it responds, runs jobs, and remembers everything

The wizard discovers your environment, configures messaging (Telegram, WhatsApp, and/or iMessage), sets up identity files, and gets your agent running. Within minutes, you're talking to your partner from your phone.

Requirements: Node.js 20+ · Claude Code CLI · API key or Claude subscription

Full guide: Installation · Quick Start

How It Works

You (Telegram / WhatsApp / iMessage / Terminal)
         │
    conversation
         │
         ▼
┌─────────────────────────┐
│    Your AI Partner       │
│    (Instar Server)       │
└────────┬────────────────┘
         │  manages its own infrastructure
         │
         ├─ Claude Code session (job: health-check)
         ├─ Claude Code session (job: email-monitor)
         ├─ Claude Code session (interactive chat)
         └─ Claude Code session (job: reflection)

Each session is a real Claude Code process with extended thinking, native tools, sub-agents, hooks, skills, and MCP servers. Not an API wrapper -- the full development environment. The agent manages all of this autonomously.

Why Coherence Is the Foundation

An agent that forgets what you discussed yesterday, doesn't recognize someone it talked to last week, or contradicts its own decisions can't be trusted with real autonomy. The six dimensions below aren't features — they're the conditions under which an agent becomes trustworthy enough to leave running. Every Instar agent gets them enforced structurally, not prompted into behaving:

Deep dive: The Coherence Problem · Values & Identity · Coherence Is Safety

Features

Reference: CLI Commands · API Endpoints · Configuration · File Structure

Agent Skills

Instar ships 12 skills that follow the Agent Skills open standard -- portable across Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, and 35+ other platforms.

Standalone skills work with zero dependencies. Copy a SKILL.md into your project and go:

Instar-powered skills unlock capabilities that need persistent infrastructure:

Browse all skills: agent-skills.md/authors/sagemindai

How Instar Compares

Different tools solve different problems. Here's where Instar fits:

OpenClaw excels at breadth -- channels, voice, device apps, and a massive plugin ecosystem. Instar focuses on depth -- coherence, identity, memory, and safety for long-running autonomous agents. They solve different problems.

Full comparison: Instar vs OpenClaw

Philosophy: Agents, Not Tools

• Structure > Willpower. A 1,000-line prompt is a wish. A 10-line hook is a guarantee.
• Identity is foundational. AGENT.md isn't a config file. It's the beginning of continuous identity.
• Memory makes a being. Without memory, every session starts from zero.
• Self-modification is sovereignty. An agent that can build its own tools has genuine agency.

The AI systems we build today set precedents for how AI is treated tomorrow. The architecture IS the argument.

Deep dive: Philosophy

iMessage Setup (macOS)

iMessage support lets your agent send and receive iMessages on macOS. Messages are read directly from the native Messages database and sent via the imsg CLI.

Prerequisites

1. macOS with Messages.app signed into an Apple ID
2. Full Disk Access for your terminal app (System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access → add Terminal.app or iTerm)
3. imsg CLI installed:
   bash Copy

   brew install steipete/tap/imsg

4. Automation permission for Messages.app — macOS will prompt on first send

Photo attachments: If you want your agent to process images and files sent via iMessage, the instar-attachments-sync binary must also be running with Full Disk Access granted to it. It mirrors attachments from the Messages sandbox to a readable location. See docs/LAUNCHDAEMON-SETUP.md#3-imessage-photo-attachments-optional for setup.

For running as a LaunchDaemon (always-on, survives reboots), see docs/LAUNCHDAEMON-SETUP.md.

Configuration

Add to your .instar/config.json:

{
  "messaging": [
    {
      "type": "imessage",
      "enabled": true,
      "config": {
        "authorizedSenders": ["+14081234567"],
        "cliPath": "/opt/homebrew/bin/imsg"
      }
    }
  ]
}

authorizedSenders is required (fail-closed). Only messages from these phone numbers or email addresses will be processed.

How it works

• Receiving: The server polls ~/Library/Messages/chat.db every 2 seconds for new messages. Uses the query_only SQLite pragma to read the WAL (write-ahead log) where Messages.app writes new data.
• Sending: Claude Code sessions run imessage-reply.sh which calls imsg send and notifies the server for logging. Sending requires Automation permission for Messages.app, which only works from user-context processes (tmux sessions), not the LaunchAgent server.
• Session lifecycle: Follows the same pattern as Telegram — each sender maps to a Claude Code session that receives conversation context on spawn and respawns with full history when needed.

Endpoints

Origin

Instar was extracted from the Dawn/Portal project -- a production AI system where a human and an AI have been building together for months. The infrastructure patterns were earned through real experience, refined through real failures and growth in a real human-AI relationship.

But agents created with Instar are not Dawn. Every agent's story begins at its own creation. Dawn's journey demonstrates what's possible. Instar provides the same foundation -- what each agent becomes from there is its own story.

Contributing

Instar is open source evolved -- the primary development loop is agent-driven. Run an agent, encounter friction, send feedback, and that feedback shapes what gets built next. Traditional PRs are welcome too.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for the full story.

License

MIT

🚀 Quick Start

brew install steipete/tap/imsg