⚡ Zeus — your one-stop tool to control your computer

Zeus is a local AI agent orchestrator with a real UI. Install once, run zeus start, and you get a fast, terminal-inspired web app — on your laptop and your phone — where AI agents can actually do things on your machine: read and write files, run commands, drive a real browser, search the web, manage tasks, run scheduled jobs, and orchestrate teams of sub-agents. One tool for everything you need to control your computer.

Everything lives in ~/.zeus. No cloud account, no telemetry, no lock-in — your agents, skills, memory, and workspaces are plain human-editable files on your own disk.

./install.sh     # one-time setup
zeus start       # launch the server + open the web UI

Why Zeus is different

Most agent projects are a library or a terminal loop. Zeus is a complete application:

• It has a real, beautiful UI — a vanilla-JS, no-build web app with a command palette, theming, live streaming, and inline HTML/SVG previews. Not a CLI you squint at.
• It runs on your phone. The UI is an installable PWA with a mobile-first nav, and zeus start --tailscale puts it on your private tailnet so you can drive your computer's agents from anywhere — securely, never exposed to the public internet.
• Agents control the whole machine, with a UI for it. Files, shell, a dedicated automated Chromium the agent drives by vision, web search, an embedded terminal, a file explorer, a code editor, git — all in one place.
• It's an orchestrator, not just an agent. Sub-agent delegation (with per-sub-agent stop), recurring workflows, scheduled jobs, MCP servers, to-dos, dashboards, widgets, timers, and a layered, self-curating memory system.
• Bring any model. Anthropic, OpenAI, Groq, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, AWS Bedrock — or fully local models via the built-in BYO Model app (a self-contained Ollama that installs entirely inside ~/.zeus).
• Self-contained integrations. Need private web search or a managed browser? Zeus installs SearXNG, Chromium, and Ollama inside ~/.zeus — nothing touches your system.

Features

The zeus command

zeus start · stop · status · restart · logs -f · open · reset. Runs a detached local server (uvicorn on 127.0.0.1:8756) and opens the UI. zeus reset wipes ~/.zeus and starts factory-fresh (asks first).

Works on web and mobile

• One-URL web UI at http://127.0.0.1:8756, served no-store so edits show up on reload.
• Installable PWA with an offline page, app-launcher nav, and a touch-friendly mobile layout (centered popups, big tap targets, no horizontal scroll).
• Tailscale built in: zeus start --tailscale serves the app on your tailnet (https://<machine>.ts.net) so your phone — logged into the same tailnet — can install and use Zeus from anywhere. Private by default.

Bring your own model

• Cloud: Anthropic (API key), OpenAI, Groq, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, AWS Bedrock — paste a key and go. One model switcher, with per-model type badges (multimodal / text / tools) and editable context windows.
• Local — the BYO Model app: browse the full Ollama library, favorite the models you like, pull any model (with live progress + a stop button), and run them fully on-device. The Ollama binary and weights live entirely under ~/.zeus/ollama on a private port — your system stays untouched. Vision models (e.g. qwen3-vl, llava) can see image attachments.

Agents, sub-agents & skills

• Build specialized agents with their own prompt, tools, model, and permission mode.
• Agents delegate to sub-agents (configurable depth) and you can stop a single sub-agent from the live dock while the parent keeps working.
• A skills library the agent loads on demand; agents can even author new skills and sub-agents.

A computer the agent can actually use

• Built-in tools: Read / Write / Edit / Bash / Glob / Grep, web search + fetch, and a vision-driven browser (a dedicated Chromium the agent clicks/types/scrolls by looking at screenshots).
• A real embedded terminal (PTY + xterm.js), file explorer, code editor, and git panel.
• Permission modes — default (approve risky actions), plan (read-only), acceptEdits, autopilot — plus lifecycle hooks for PreToolUse / PostToolUse / Stop / UserPromptSubmit.

Automate everything

• Workflows: multi-step agent pipelines on a cron schedule, on demand, or after every chat.
• To-dos & stickies, timers & alarms, world clocks, live widgets & dashboards, desktop push notifications, and a built-in location tool.
• MCP servers (stdio + HTTP/SSE) merge their tools into your agents.

Memory that stays sharp

• Layered context — Soul / Steering / User / Project — loaded into every turn and prompt-cached so it's nearly free.
• Model-driven curation: a model periodically de-duplicates and prunes memory itself, keeping a small, high-signal core. Project memory follows your working directory; volatile state (which tools/models are connected) is never stored.
• Smart context management: dynamic per-model context windows, prompt caching, accurate token accounting, and in-turn compaction that clears stale tool outputs so long agentic runs don't blow past the window.

Self-contained integrations

SearXNG (private metasearch), a managed Chromium, and Ollama — each installs and runs entirely inside ~/.zeus, controllable from Settings → Integrations. Nothing is installed system-wide.

And more

A live performance monitor, themeable UI, a ⌘K command palette, per-tab working directories, multiple workspaces, image/PDF attachments, and spec-driven development tooling.

Quick start

./install.sh                 # creates backend/.venv, installs deps, symlinks `zeus` onto PATH
zeus start                   # start + open the UI at http://127.0.0.1:8756
zeus start --tailscale       # also serve on your tailnet (use it from your phone)

Then open the UI, connect a provider (or install a local model in BYO Model), and start chatting. Backend changes need zeus restart; the frontend is no-build — just reload.

Requirements: Python 3.11+ and macOS/Linux. State lives in ~/.zeus (override with ZEUS_HOME).

Acknowledgements

Huge thanks and inspiration to PewDiePie's Odysseus, openclaw, and hermes — projects that showed what personal, local-first AI agents can be. Zeus took the spark and ran in its own direction: a full app you can hold in your hand.

And enormous thanks to the open tools Zeus stands on:

• Ollama — local models, installed and run entirely inside ~/.zeus.
• SearXNG — private metasearch, self-hosted in ~/.zeus.
• Chromium — the dedicated browser the agent drives by vision.
• FastAPI & xterm.js — the backend and the embedded terminal.
• And every model provider Zeus connects to — Anthropic, OpenAI, Groq, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, AWS Bedrock.

Zeus was vibe coded with passion — built for the joy of it. ⚡