Brigade — Enterprise-grade personal intelligence
A self-hosted crew of AI agents with long-term memory and a real org chart, reachable from terminal, WhatsApp, or Telegram.
- Source repo
- spinabot/brigade
- Stars
- ★ 11k
- Last updated
- 7d ago
- License
- MIT
- Primary language
- TypeScript
- FA score
- 59/100 · Major gaps
At a glance
- How it runs
- Works with
- Universal · cross-platformChatGPT · Codex · Claude Code · OpenAI API · Claude API
- Cost
- Free software; you pay for model usage
- Setup effort
- Medium · a few setup steps
- You'll need
- Typical use
- Terminal-first developers who want coding assistance on a local machine or Raspberry Pi with their own API key and a local Ollama model.
- Not a fit if
- Teams that need a GUI or managed dashboard
- Users unwilling to work in a terminal and edit config
- Teams requiring third-party-audited privacy claims
- Source review
- 59/100 · Major gaps
What does this agent do, and when should you use it?
Brigade is a self-hosted crew of AI agents designed as an 'ecosystem, not an app' — an installable CLI (npm package @spinabot/brigade) whose gateway process serves multiple isolated agents with shared long-term memory (Tideline engine), a skill system, a cron scheduler, sub-agent fan-out, and an org hierarchy. It offers a terminal TUI (brigade tui) and a connect client over WebSocket, plus channel adapters for WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, iMessage, and BlueBubbles. All data lives under ~/.brigade/ by default, with an optional fully self-hosted Convex backend. The agent supports many model providers (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, Ollama, etc.) and can sign in with a subscription (Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot) or reuse a CLI login, eliminating API key management. Brigade claims no telemetry, and provides token-based gateway authentication, AES-256-GCM at-rest encryption, and permission gating on unsafe tools.
The core is a gateway process (brigade gateway run) that runs the agent loop, handling tool calls, approvals, and session-scoped context, bound to localhost:7777 by default. The TUI (brigade or brigade tui) and brigade connect attach to this gateway over WebSocket. Agents are provisioned through CLI utilities: brigade onboard walks through storage mode, provider, and model; brigade agents add creates isolated agents with separate workspaces and sessions; brigade org init defines an org chart and cross-agent communication policy. Built-in tools include file editing (read/write/edit/bash/grep), memory tools (recall_memory, etc.), sub-agent spawning, web_search, analyze_media for reading PDFs/Office docs/image/audio/video, render_video for HTML-to-MP4 motion graphics, and 1,000+ app connectors via Composio. It also exposes brigade mcp to serve long-term memory to MCP clients, brigade cron for scheduling, and brigade expose for secure public tunneling.
- Terminal-first developers who want coding assistance on a local machine or Raspberry Pi with their own API key and a local Ollama model.
- Small teams that deploy a self-hosted gateway and want members to interact with isolated agents via WhatsApp or Telegram, with shared memory but separate credentials.
- Users who need a personal assistant with persistent memory across sessions — storing preferences and reminders — and access it from Slack, Discord, or iMessage.
- Ops users who schedule recurring agent turns or system events with
brigade cronto get daily reports or reminders delivered to a channel. - Developers who use MCP clients and want to expose a custom knowledge base through
brigade mcp. - Privacy-conscious individuals who want full data ownership with optional at-rest encryption and no cloud dependency.
How do you install or deploy this agent?
Requires a shell on macOS/Linux or PowerShell on Windows, plus Node 22.12+ or the official installer. On macOS/Linux, run curl -fsSL https://brigade.spinabot.com/install.sh | sh (installs Node automatically if needed). On Windows PowerShell, run irm https://brigade.spinabot.com/install.ps1 | iex. If you already have Node, you can npm i -g @spinabot/brigade.
How do you use this agent?
Run brigade onboard and follow the 5-step wizard to choose storage mode (filesystem or self-hosted Convex), provider, and model. Then run brigade tui (or just brigade) to start the chat UI, which auto-starts the gateway. For always-on operation, run brigade gateway install to install a system service. Use brigade agents add <name> to add extra agents. Common commands: brigade agent -m "summarize ~/today.md", brigade cron add --cron "0 9 * * *" --message "good morning", and brigade channels link --channel whatsapp.
What are this agent's strengths and limitations?
- Self-hosted with zero telemetry; data defaults to
~/.brigade/and optional Convex mode adds at-rest encryption. - Tideline memory engine provides provenance-gated writing, hybrid BM25+vector recall, and bi-temporal decay.
- Keyless sign-in via Claude/ChatGPT/Copilot subscriptions or reuse of Claude Code/Codex CLI logins.
- Multi-agent isolation, org chart policy, and a single binary that also acts as an MCP server.
- Requires Node and CLI comfort; no managed dashboard or hosted option.
- You must bring your own model subscription/API key unless you run local Ollama (limited).
- Feature-dense documentation might overwhelm beginners; learning curve is steep.
- Privacy and no-telemetry claims are not backed by an independent third-party audit.
How does this agent compare with similar options?
Key facts side by side with the most closely related agents.
| Agent | Source review | Form / cost | Stars | Updated | Language | Full support on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brigade — Enterprise-grade personal intelligence This agent | 59 · Major gaps | CLIFree + model costs | ★ 11k | 7d ago | TypeScript | ChatGPT · Codex · Claude Code · OpenAI API · Claude API |
| JoySafeter | 59 · Major gaps | Self-hosted serviceFree + model costs | ★ 315 | 6mo ago | Python | — |
| Jelly: Local Multi-Bot Agent Workspace | 52 · Major gaps | — | ★ 60 | today | TypeScript | ChatGPT · OpenAI API |
| Octopal | 61 · Some gaps | Desktop appFree + model costs | ★ 10 | 2mo ago | Python | Codex · Claude Code · OpenAI API · Claude API |
How does FollowAgents rate this agent?
Why each dimension lost points
Evidence shows: README and SECURITY.md describe permission controls (e.g., bash tool approval, ownership gates, keys stored at 0600, optional gateway tokens, AES-256-GCM encryption), but no code-level verification. Deductions: static review cannot confirm implementation details, and some claims (e.g., 'no telemetry') lack evidence.
Evidence shows: README describes a coherent architecture (gateway, clients, memory, tools), and SECURITY.md provides a trust model. Deductions: no concrete examples of failure messages, and dependency availability is only indirectly indicated via version ranges in package.json.
Evidence shows: README describes multiple usage scenarios (terminal, messaging channels, MCP), capability boundaries (e.g., depth limits, approval gates), and trigger precision (e.g., cron expressions). Deductions: limited details on environment fit (e.g., Windows, Raspberry Pi).
Evidence shows: README is well-structured, includes installation notes, examples, known limitations (e.g., out-of-scope in SECURITY.md), and MIT license. Deductions: no changelog provided, naming stability not explicit, maintenance responsibility only indirectly via SECURITY.md and CI workflows.
Evidence shows: README describes output usability (e.g., document generation, video rendering), marginal value (e.g., cross-model continuity, autonomous loops), and cost-benefit (e.g., bring your own model, no SaaS). Deductions: lack of actual performance or cost data.
Evidence shows: README and SECURITY.md provide some claims, but lack traceable test results or independent verification. Deductions: claims are mostly assertions without test reports or benchmark data.
- Static review cannot verify security claims; dynamic testing is recommended.
- Publisher identity is unverified; proceed with caution.
- Many dependencies; supply chain security should be monitored.
Recent releases
Latest entries from the project's GitHub Releases. Notes are quoted from upstream as written, not rewritten or tested by FollowAgents.
-
brigade-v1.39.0 brigade: v1.39.0
Release notes excerpt
[1.39.0](https://github.com/spinabot/brigade/compare/brigade-v1.38.0...brigade-v1.39.0) (2026-09-15) Features * team: add durable collaboration mode ([88eb8ca](https://github.com/spinabot/brigade/commit/88eb8ca8e5752e4c7454855b0d4263fb95dff983)) * team: add durable collaboration mode ([a53879e](https://github.com/spinabot/brigade/commit/a53879e85913729d672600d77918c1bc4b236cfb)) Bug Fixes * team: harden runtime and message pagination ([afcaca5](https://github.com/spinabot/brigade/commit/afcaca50e70c787c5cc392c29c441a1f94ae282b))View on GitHub ↗ -
brigade-v1.38.0 brigade: v1.38.0
Release notes excerpt
[1.38.0](https://github.com/spinabot/brigade/compare/brigade-v1.37.1...brigade-v1.38.0) (2026-09-10) Features * providers: add Token Market ([8021fef](https://github.com/spinabot/brigade/commit/8021fefb3f645135c643fe2bbdd1e2497125b6c5)) * providers: add Token Market ([55a872e](https://github.com/spinabot/brigade/commit/55a872e09cb7d621d44cff9e65822375793f2f31))View on GitHub ↗ -
brigade-v1.37.1 brigade: v1.37.1
Release notes excerpt
[1.37.1](https://github.com/spinabot/brigade/compare/brigade-v1.37.0...brigade-v1.37.1) (2026-09-09) Bug Fixes * tideline: preserve memory behavior across reusable engine boundaries ([0693721](https://github.com/spinabot/brigade/commit/06937210f1aa30b2fc9f34d0696d36bbb4bfd13a)) * tideline: preserve memory behavior across reusable engine boundaries ([257dc4f](https://github.com/spinabot/brigade/commit/257dc4f937fe609ce34e0ec051c9c87abd626a30)) …View on GitHub ↗
FAQ
How is Brigade different from a single cloud AI assistant?
Do I need to bring my own API key or subscription?
How private is my data?
~/.brigade/ by default, keys are chmod 0600, the gateway binds to 127.0.0.1 by default, optional token authentication is available, and optional AES-256-GCM encryption at rest in self-hosted Convex mode. There is no telemetry. However, you may want to audit it yourself; no independent verification exists yet.