HQ is an agent operations system, not just an agent chat UI. It gives one operator a workspace for CRM, tasks, documents, automations, and a fleet of long-lived AI agents that run on infrastructure the operator controls. This page is the product tour. For system internals, read Architecture. For installation, read Installation.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.yourhq.ai/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
At a glance
Agents
Long-lived workers with memory, browser profiles, templates, messaging channels, and tools.
Workspace
CRM, tasks, documents, assets, automations, notifications, and activity.
Gateways
Docker hosts that run agents on infrastructure you control.
Automations
Convert CRM, task, and comment events into agent work.
Usage budgets
Track model spend and stop agents when they exceed limits.
Open source
Inspect, fork, customize, and extend the whole system.
Workspace
Every HQ install connects to one or more Supabase projects. A project contains the workspace data: agents, tasks, CRM records, documents, settings, gateway registrations, command history, and usage data. The first boot flow is intentionally config-light:- Start the Docker stack.
- Open the UI.
- Paste Supabase URL, anon key, and service role key.
- Create or sign in to a Supabase auth user.
- Finish the workspace setup wizard.
/config/projects.json and project secrets in /config/secrets.json on the ui-config volume. The active project is selected at runtime, so the published UI image does not need a rebuild for each user’s Supabase project.
Onboarding and Setup
The onboarding flow covers the infrastructure-level setup:- Connect a Supabase project.
- Validate that the required schema exists.
- Create or sign in to an auth user.
- Choose networking mode.
- Register or bootstrap the first gateway.
- Finish workspace setup.
- Workspace name, slug, and owner profile.
- Pipeline stages.
- Custom field definitions.
- Initial task streams.
Dashboard
The dashboard is the operating view for the workspace. It summarizes:- Agent fleet health.
- Gateway status.
- Open tasks and streams.
- Recent activity.
- Notifications.
- Fleet usage and budget status.
Agents
An HQ agent is a long-lived workspace — not a chat wrapper.Git branch
Identity files, memory, skills, and artifacts on a dedicated branch.
Chrome profile
Persistent cookies, logged-in sessions, and extensions.
Messaging channel
Telegram, Discord, Slack, or none. Each agent gets its own channel binding.
Runtime session
OpenClaw handles prompt assembly, tool calls, and conversation state.
Org chart
Optional manager/direct-report relationships for delegation.
Usage budget
Optional monthly limits with soft warnings and hard cutoffs.
templates/. The creation wizard lets you choose a template, set identity fields, select a manager, choose a messaging channel, enter credentials, and watch the gateway provisioning command run.
The agent detail page includes:
- Overview, status, capabilities, and activity.
- Boot context documents.
- Direct reports and manager assignment.
- Trigger and inbox history.
- File browser/editor for the agent branch.
- Operations and command history.
- Usage and budget controls.
- Remote desktop access through the assigned gateway.
- Inline default model/provider selection.
Agent Templates
Templates are role-specific starting points for agents. The repository ships templates for roles such as assistant, analytics, chief of staff, CMO, cofounder, CRM researcher, designer, market researcher, newsletter editor, newsletter writer, sales copywriter, script writer, social strategist, and social writer. Each template includes files such as:agent.jsonfor runtime metadata.IDENTITY.mdfor role, voice, and domain behavior.SOUL.mdfor goals and non-negotiables.USER.mdfor owner profile placeholders.MEMORY.mdandmemory/for persistent context.TOOLS.mdfor tool-use guidance.skills/for repeatable procedures and scripts.
template/<name> branch. Provisioning an agent creates a new branch from the selected template and commits the personalized files.
Agent Files and Memory
Agent source of truth is the gateway worktree. Agents can update their own files during work, and the operator can edit files from the UI. The file browser talks to the gateway files API. Every create, edit, or delete is committed to git, then the UI enqueues an update command so the gateway reloads the agent. Typical memory files:MEMORY.mdfor curated long-term memory.memory/YYYY-MM-DD.mdfor daily notes.history/files for longer work narratives.- Skills under
skills/for reusable procedures.
Agent Organization and Delegation
Agents can report to other agents throughagents.reports_to_id. The UI prevents self-reporting and cycle creation.
The hierarchy is visible on the agent list and on each agent detail page. Runtime boot context includes:
- The agent’s manager.
- The agent’s direct reports.
- Delegation rules.
- Delegate to direct reports by assigning tasks.
- Escalate to a manager by creating a high-priority task.
- Ask the human before routing work to peers outside the direct hierarchy.
Usage Tracking and Budgets
HQ records LLM usage inagent_usage and rolls it up into agent_budgets.
The budget system tracks:
- Provider and model.
- Input, output, cache-read, and cache-write tokens.
- Estimated cost when pricing is known.
- Current monthly spend.
- Metered and unmetered calls.
- Soft threshold warnings.
- Hard cutoff status.
CRM
The CRM stores people, organizations, interactions, campaigns, message templates, and draft sets. Core capabilities include:- Contacts and organizations.
- Contact-organization relationships.
- Interaction timeline.
- Dynamic custom fields.
- Pipeline stages and kanban views.
- Import wizard with mapping and duplicate handling.
- Campaign and draft workflows.
- Automation triggers that can assign work to agents.
Tasks
Tasks are the main coordination primitive between the human and agents. Tasks support:- Human, agent, or system assignees.
- Streams for grouping work.
- Statuses such as todo, in progress, blocked, done, cancelled, and missed.
- Priorities and due dates.
- Recurrence rules.
- Comments and mentions.
- Attachments.
- Agent inbox wakeups on assignment and reassignment.
Documents and Assets
Documents are the shared knowledge base. They support folders, tags, pinned state, rich editing, markdown import/export, and boot-context tagging. Agents can receive documents in boot context by tag:boot:allincludes a document for every agent.boot:<agent-slug>includes a document for one agent.
Automations and Inbox
Automations convert workspace events into agent work. Supported patterns include:- Contact created.
- Contact status changed.
- Contact fields updated.
- Task assigned or reassigned.
- Agent mentioned in a comment.
agent_inbox_items. The gateway dispatcher leases pending inbox items, checks whether the target agent belongs to that gateway, verifies budget status, and wakes the agent through OpenClaw.
Inbox items have retry state, attempt counts, lease fields, done/failed/dead-letter statuses, and deduplication keys.
Gateways
A gateway is a Docker host that runs agents. One workspace can have multiple gateways. The gateway stack includes:- Gateway container with OpenClaw, Chrome/Chromium, XFCE, noVNC, and the files API.
- Dispatcher daemon for agent inbox work.
- Runner daemon for lifecycle and operations commands.
- A shared
gateway-statevolume for OpenClaw config, git repo, worktrees, browser profiles, desktop files, plugins, and auth state.
- Viewing gateway status and stale heartbeats.
- Adding a gateway with a single-use registration token.
- Generating a
curl | bashinstaller command for a remote host. - Removing gateways.
- Editing labels and reachable URL overrides.
- Opening the noVNC desktop modal.
Provider Connections and Models
HQ is model-agnostic. Agents work with whatever provider you connect — there is no required or default provider.API key
OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, DeepSeek, Mistral, and more.
OAuth / device code
OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, and interactive flows.
Local models
Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM, and OpenAI-compatible servers.
agent_commands. Agents can have default providers/models selected inline from their detail page.
Networking
HQ’s default networking model is host-controlled:- Local mode binds services to loopback.
- Tailscale mode installs or uses Tailscale on the host, not inside containers.
- Public mode expects a host-level reverse proxy or tunnel.
Notifications and Activity
HQ records important workspace events innotifications, audit_log, command history, inbox history, and activity feeds. Examples include:
- Budget warnings and exceedances.
- Command completion or failure.
- Agent lifecycle actions.
- Task and CRM events.
- Gateway state changes.
Extensibility
Most customization does not require changing code:- Add templates under
templates/. - Add skills to templates.
- Configure fields, pipeline stages, streams, and automation rules in the UI.
- Add model providers through connections.
- Add gateways through Settings.
- New UI pages under
apps/ui/src/app. - New gateway command actions in
gateway/daemons/command_runner.py. - New automation behavior in database functions/triggers.
- New agent skills under template
skills/. - New OpenClaw plugins in
gateway/scripts/plugins/.