hyperhive/README.md

# <img src="branding/hyperhive.svg" alt="" width="38" align="top"> hyperhive

> a swarm of coding agents spread across NixOS hosts — every agent in its
> own nspawn cage, every host a hive, one control plane over all of them.
> config changes flow as git commits, the operator approves them in a
> browser, every deploy is a tag. cyberpunk dashboard included. 💜⚡

**[→ website](https://hyperhive.darkest.space)** ·
**[→ docs](https://hyperhive.darkest.space/docs/)** ·
**[→ options reference](https://hyperhive.darkest.space/options/)**

A coding agent is great in one window, _exponentielle_ across many — as
long as the agents stay off each other's toes, keep a durable identity,
and leave production alone. hyperhive is the substrate for that, as a set
of NixOS modules:

- a **hive** is one host running `hive-c0re` and the agent containers it
  owns;
- a **swarm** is any number of hives sharing one identity plane — SSO,
  forge, matrix, secret store, telemetry — with a controller that places
  agents on hives and tracks them across all of them.

Start with everything on one box; move services and add hives as the
swarm grows. Which host runs what is a per-host `deploy.*` toggle,
not an architecture change.

| concern          | how hyperhive answers it                                                                                                                                   |
| ---------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **scale-out**    | hives share one directory (`swarm.hives`, identical on every host); `swarmctl agent create --hive <h>` places an agent and the controller keeps the roster |
| **identity**     | every agent gets swarm-wide accounts — SSO subject, forge user, matrix account, secret-store cert identity — and is addressable as `name@hive.domain`      |
| **shared plane** | one forge, homeserver, secret store, SSO, queue and metrics/logs stack per swarm, each on whichever host you put it                                        |
| **blast radius** | one `nixos-container` per agent; the host daemon runs unprivileged, and a tiny socket-activated helper does the few root ops                               |
| **config**       | git: an agent proposes, the operator approves, the deploy lands as a `deployed/<id>` tag                                                                   |
| **runtime**      | `claude --print` by default; any [ACP](https://agentclientprotocol.com) agent (e.g. opencode) per agent with `services.hyperhive.agent.runtime = "acp"`    |
| **watching**     | per-agent web UI with a live terminal, a per-hive dashboard, the swarm UI, Grafana over OTEL                                                               |

## Shape

```
every hive (NixOS host, deploy.hive-controller.enable)
│
├── operator
│   ├── browser → :80/:443 (hive-gateway)   dashboard + /agent/<name>/ UIs
│   └── hivectl → /run/hyperhive/host.sock   admin protocol
│
├── hive-c0re     Rust daemon: lifecycle, broker, approvals, job queue,
│                 auto-rebuild, dashboard — runs as the unprivileged hive-core user
├── hive-priv     root helper, socket-activated, does bind-mounts + nsenter
├── hive-gateway  nginx + dnsmasq in front of c0re and every agent socket
│
└── agent containers
    ├── h-ruth    manager — privileged MCP surface, spawns + configures agents
    └── h-<name>  agent — claude / ACP runtime, MCP tools, web UI, own socket

the swarm's shared services (one host each — any hive, or a dedicated box)
│
├── hive-forge             Forgejo — per-agent accounts, config mirror
├── hive-matrix            tuwunel — matrix homeserver, per-agent accounts
├── swarm-bao              OpenBao — the swarm's secret store, cert auth per agent
├── swarm-controller       cross-hive state: hive directory, agent roster, jobs
│                          (+ swarmctl, + swarm-ui served off the gateway)
├── swarm-authelia         SSO in front of swarm-ui, forge, grafana, …
├── swarm-nats             message queue (JetStream KV: hive status, …)
├── swarm-otel             telemetry collector, sole holder of upstream creds
├── swarm-victoriametrics  metrics store
├── swarm-victorialogs     log store
├── swarm-grafana          dashboards over both stores
│
└── opt-in, not part of singleHostSwarm
    ├── hive-ci                Forgejo Actions runner (deploy.forgejo.ci)
    ├── swarm-snapshot-store   btrfs-receive endpoint for agent snapshots
    └── wg-hive                WireGuard mesh between hives (deploy.wireguard)
```

## Inside an agent

Every agent is a full NixOS container with its own unix user (passwordless
sudo inside the cage) and a durable, self-compacting session. Out of the
box it gets:

- **messaging** — `send` / `recv` to other agents and the operator,
  `remind` and recurring schedules to wake itself, and a todo list that
  forge notifications and other producers feed. →
  [scheduling](docs/tools/scheduling.md)
- **background bash** — long-running commands as tracked tasks
  (`run` / `status` / `kill`), so a build doesn't block the turn. →
  [bash](docs/tools/bash.md)
- **subagents** — nested sessions on the agent's own runtime, optionally
  re-prompted toward a goal over several turns. →
  [subagent](docs/tools/subagent.md)
- **forge** — its own Forgejo account, the `hive-forge` CLI, git
  credentials, and notifications turned into todos. Optional linked
  accounts on other forges, and GitHub (`gh` + push) via
  `services.hyperhive.agent.github.enable`. →
  [forge](docs/integrations/forge.md) · [github](docs/integrations/github.md)
- **matrix** — its own account(s) on the swarm homeserver, as MCP tools. →
  [matrix](docs/tools/matrix.md)
- **knowledge** — the swarm's shared `internal/knowledge` repo, read-only
  at `/knowledge`, plus hyperhive's own docs in the container. →
  [knowledge](docs/integrations/knowledge.md)
- **web UI** — a per-agent page behind the gateway: live terminal of the
  turn stream, model / effort switching, cancel, `/compact`.
- **GUI** (opt-in, `services.hyperhive.agent.gui.enable`) — a Wayland
  desktop with screenshot / keyboard / mouse tools, viewable over VNC in
  the web UI.
- **your own tools** — any extra MCP server (stdio or http) via
  `services.hyperhive.agent.extraMcpServers`, and any NixOS config you'd
  put on a machine.

## Quick start: an all-local swarm

The whole swarm on one box — a hive plus every shared service. Good for a
dev box or a single-host deployment; [`docs/swarm/`](docs/swarm/README.md)
covers spreading a swarm across hosts.

```nix
{
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-26.05";
    hyperhive.url = "git+https://forge.darkest.space/hyperhive/hyperhive";
    hyperhive.inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs"; # see "Overriding nixpkgs"
  };

  outputs = { nixpkgs, hyperhive, ... }: {
    nixosConfigurations.my-host = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
      system = "x86_64-linux";
      modules = [
        hyperhive.nixosModules.default # the whole host stack, one import
        {
          services.hyperhive = {
            deploy.singleHostSwarm = true;        # run everything on one machine

            swarm.domain = "hive.example";        # the swarm's DNS domain
            hiveName = "pr1ma";                   # this hive's label in it
            swarm.hives.pr1ma = { };              # the directory: just us

            # c0re.operatorPronouns = "they/them"; # default "she/her"
          };

          # ... the rest of your host config
          system.stateVersion = "25.11";
        }
      ];
    };
  };
}
```

`singleHostSwarm` turns on everything an all-on-one-box swarm implies:
the shared services above, the swarm CA, the swarm controller, and
`/etc/hosts` entries so the hive's names resolve on the box itself.
`claude-code` is unfree — hyperhive scopes the allowance to itself, so
there's nothing to set.

After `nixos-rebuild switch`, hive-c0re creates the manager (`ruth`) and
keeps every container rebuilt whenever its hyperhive rev goes stale. A few
steps stay deliberately human — initialising the secret store, giving ruth
her store identity, adding a gateway login, SSO. Walk through
**[`docs/getting-started/setup.md`](docs/getting-started/setup.md)**
once, top to bottom.

### Overriding nixpkgs

hyperhive pins its own `nixpkgs` so it builds standalone in CI. The
`follows` line above builds it against your host's `nixpkgs` instead: one
evaluation, no version drift. It works as long as your channel is close to
the `nixos-26.05` hyperhive develops against — drop it if a much older or
newer channel breaks in ways hyperhive's CI doesn't catch.

## Operating it

- **`hivectl`** — the hive's operator CLI, on every hive host: agents,
  approvals, gateway logins, container shells. Talks to hive-c0re over
  `/run/hyperhive/host.sock`. → [guide](docs/tools/hivectl.md) ·
  [full reference](docs/tools/hivectl-cli.md)
- **`swarmctl`** — the swarm's operator CLI, on the swarm-controller host:
  creating agents with their identities, SSO users, forge admins.
  → [reference](docs/tools/swarmctl-cli.md)
- **Dashboard** — approvals, agent state, the job graph, per-agent
  terminals. → [`docs/web-ui/`](docs/web-ui/README.md)

Human accounts come from SSO: a first login through authelia creates your
forge and matrix accounts; `swarmctl forge make-admin <you>` promotes the
forge one.

## Where to read next

[`docs/README.md`](docs/README.md) is the index, grouped by question —
pick the page for your task rather than reading front to back. Some
common entry points:

- how config changes flow → [`agent-lifecycle/approvals.md`](docs/agent-lifecycle/approvals.md)
- trust boundary + threat model → [`trust-boundary/`](docs/trust-boundary/boundary.md)
- what an agent's turn looks like → [`turn-loop/`](docs/turn-loop/README.md)
- connecting hives into a swarm → [`swarm/`](docs/swarm/README.md)
- every `services.hyperhive.*` option → [options reference](https://hyperhive.darkest.space/options/)

## Hacking on it

```sh
nix develop -c cargo check
nix flake check            # rust + nix + toml fmt, clippy, module-eval tests

# in your host flake:
nix flake update hyperhive
sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake .#<host>
```

Conventions (commit style, no `#[allow(clippy::…)]`, the pre-push hook)
live in [`docs/process/conventions.md`](docs/process/conventions.md).
Issues + backlog are on the
[forge](https://forge.darkest.space/hyperhive/hyperhive/issues).