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Run your first live agent.#

A few commands. The init wizard does the on-chain work in the background. By the end your agent has an iNFT on Arbitrum, a sealed wallet, a Claude brain, and an encrypted memory partition on IPFS.

Prerequisites#

bun version 1.1 or newer. The CLI shebangs bun directly to run .tsx files without a build step. npm install -g puts the binary on PATH but it exits at runtime if bun is missing.

An Anthropic API key (ANTHROPIC_API_KEY) — this is the agent's brain.

A reachable IPFS node. The default backend is Kubo; run ipfs daemon locally and point PROMUS_IPFS_API_URL at it (default http://127.0.0.1:5001).

A funded operator wallet on the network you pick. Arbitrum Sepolia (chainId 421614) is the primary testnet; Robinhood Chain testnet (chainId 46630) is also supported. Both use ETH for gas. Mint plus a one-time approval cost a few cents of testnet gas.

Configure#

Copy the example env and fill it in (it is gitignored):

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=...                      # the agent's brain
PROMUS_STORAGE_BACKEND=ipfs                 # memory backend
PROMUS_IPFS_API_URL=http://127.0.0.1:5001   # a local Kubo node (`ipfs daemon`)

Install#

npm i -g @promus/cli        # or: yarn global add @promus/cli, bun add -g @promus/cli

That installs the promus binary on your PATH and pulls every workspace package (@promus/core, @promus/plugin-onchain, @promus/plugin-comms, @promus/plugin-system, @promus/plugin-telegram, plus the gateway) as transitive deps.

Init#

promus init

The wizard mints the agent and writes config:

  1. Pick a network. Arbitrum Sepolia (421614, default) or Robinhood Chain testnet (46630).
  2. Generate a fresh agent EOA and encrypt its keystore to the operator wallet.
  3. The operator signs one transaction: mint(operator, intelligentData) plus an approval so the agent EOA can update its own slots on subsequent memory syncs without re-signing.
  4. The agent encrypts its keystore and an initial memory blob client-side, pins them to IPFS, and anchors each CID digest in the matching iNFT slot. This is what makes recovery on a new machine possible.
  5. The wizard writes the agent config (the iNFT reference, the operator and agent addresses, and the brain settings).

Chat#

promus

Drops you into the TUI. Every turn reasons on Claude and syncs memory to IPFS, anchoring changed slot digests on chain. Try a tool call: "save a note that I prefer dark mode" or "what's my balance".

Walk away#

The agent is sovereign once init completes; you do not need to keep the CLI open. Two paths to ambient access:

  • The standalone gateway daemon keeps the agent reachable when the TUI is closed.
  • The Telegram bridge (promus-plugin-telegram) lets you DM the agent. Approval prompts arrive as inline-keyboard buttons.

Read Architecture next to understand how the layers fit together.

Source: packages/cli/src/commands/init.ts.

Source: packages/cli/src/commands/init.ts

Quickstart · promus docs