Moltis Personal Agent Server
A self-hosted Rust server for persistent, multi-channel assistance with sandboxed tool execution on hardware you control.
What does this agent do, and when should you use it?
Moltis is a local-first persistent personal-agent server written in Rust and shipped as one binary. Its Gateway Server exposes HTTP, WebSocket, and authentication entry points, while the Chat Service, Agent Runner, Tool Registry, and Provider Registry handle conversations and tool calls. It persists sessions as JSONL and stores memory in SQLite with hybrid vector and full-text retrieval for cross-session recall. Tool execution can be isolated per session with Docker or Apple Container, with a separate WASM tool path. It is intended to run on hardware you own, including a Mac Mini, Raspberry Pi, or server, and exposes a web UI, messaging channels, voice, and MCP connectivity.
Messages from the Web UI, Telegram, Signal, Microsoft Teams, Discord, Nostr, or an API enter through the Gateway Server over HTTP or WebSocket. The Chat Service invokes the Agent Runner to assemble prompts and stream calls through the Provider Registry; the Tool Registry then runs agent-requested tools, including commands in Docker or Apple Container sandboxes. Moltis stores JSONL session history and SQLite memory, supports scheduling, lifecycle hooks, checkpoints, and restore tooling, and connects MCP servers over stdio or HTTP/SSE. moltis acp serves Moltis to ACP clients over stdio, while Moltis can drive external ACP agents including codex-acp, claude-agent-acp, and Cursor.
- A self-hosting user who wants a continuing personal assistant on a Mac Mini, Raspberry Pi, or owned server can retain session state and resume conversations from web or messaging interfaces.
- A developer who needs an agent to run commands without executing them directly on the host can use per-session Docker or Apple Container isolation.
- A person or team already communicating through Telegram, Signal, Discord, Microsoft Teams, or Nostr can route those channels to one persistent agent service.
- A knowledge worker who needs to recover information from earlier conversations can use SQLite-backed full-text and vector memory across sessions.
- A developer with an ACP workflow can use `moltis acp` as a stdio service or have Moltis drive `codex-acp`, `claude-agent-acp`, and Cursor.
What are this agent's strengths and limitations?
- A single Rust binary supplies a persistent agent-server boundary without requiring Node.js, npm, or a runtime at deployment.
- Tool execution has Docker, Apple Container, and WASM paths, with per-session isolation documented for container execution.
- JSONL sessions, SQLite memory, hybrid vector/full-text search, and cross-session recall are built in rather than left to external assembly.
- It combines a Web UI, multiple messaging channels, voice, MCP, ACP, and multi-provider model support in one server.
- Documented safeguards include WebAuthn passkeys, API keys, an encrypted vault, SSRF protection, cross-origin WebSocket validation, and pre-tool-call hooks.
- Building from source explicitly requires `just` and Node.js to build Tailwind CSS for the web UI, despite the single-binary runtime target.
- Sandboxed command execution depends on Docker or Apple Container; the Docker deployment example also mounts the Docker socket.
- Unattended setup requires a password, provider selection, and `MOLTIS_API_KEY`; the supplied material does not document model-provider accounts or pricing.
- The feature set spans 59 Rust workspace crates; constrained devices require the `lightweight` feature configuration, which implies feature tradeoffs.
How do you install or deploy this agent?
On macOS or Linux, run curl -fsSL https://www.moltis.org/install.sh | sh; Homebrew installation is brew install moltis-org/tap/moltis. For Docker, pull ghcr.io/moltis-org/moltis:latest. Source builds require just and Node.js: clone the repository, run just build-css, then just build-release, and start with cargo run --release --bin moltis. For a release build with WASM sandbox tools, use just build-release-with-wasm.
How do you use this agent?
After startup, open https://moltis.localhost:3000. On first run, the terminal prints a setup code; enter it in the Web UI to set a password or register a passkey. For unattended first boot in Docker, set MOLTIS_PASSWORD, MOLTIS_PROVIDER, and MOLTIS_API_KEY, then open https://localhost:13131. On constrained hardware, use --no-default-features --features lightweight.
How does this agent compare with similar options?
The repository compares Moltis with OpenClaw and Hermes Agent. Moltis is positioned as a persistent personal-agent server with modular Rust crates and a single Rust-binary runtime, while OpenClaw is described as TypeScript with companion apps and Hermes Agent as Python with TypeScript TUI/web surfaces. The comparison also lists Moltis sandbox paths for Docker/Podman, Apple Container, and WASM, plus SQLite, FTS, and vector memory.