Create Agent

Create a Raw agent

Use for a new named assistant, a specialized role or a shareable Raw setup. An agent is one agents. entry selecting model, prompt, tools, skills, hooks, vars and policy. A session is a saved conversation, not an agent definition. Use configure_raw for changing a field of an existing agent.

For creation, establish role/name/location/model; for failure, diagnose referenced assets.

Choose the layout

Personal config: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/raw/config.json or ~/.config/raw/config.json. Reuse model aliases; preserve other agents/default.

Use create-package to distribute an existing setup. Read references/packages.md for package authoring and references/dashboard.md for browser composition with read_file. Copied config directories also work: agent/<id> assets travel with the config; local/<id> assets do not.

Copy examples/agents/project-helper/ for a forkable layout. This example selects a prompt, tools, a skill, a hook and a conditional Bash rule.

jsonCopy code
{
  "default_agent": "writer",
  "models": {
    "local": { "provider": "ollama", "method": "openai-chat-completions", "model_id": "YOUR_INSTALLED_MODEL", "base_url": "http://127.0.0.1:11434/v1", "context_window_tokens": 32768 }
  },
  "agents": {
    "writer": {
      "model": "local",
      "system_prompt_file": "prompt.md",
      "tools": { "use": ["builtin/read_file", "builtin/write_file", "builtin/edit_file", "builtin/bash", "builtin/list_skills", "builtin/load_skill"],
        "rules": [{ "match": "builtin/bash", "effect": "ask", "when": { "source": "arguments", "any": "command", "regex": "(^|[;&|()\\n])\\s*rm(\\s|$)" } }] },
      "skills": { "use": ["builtin/configure_raw"] },
      "hooks": { "use": ["agent/guard"] },
      "max_steps": 25,
      "compact": { "keep_recent_turns": 2, "trigger_tokens": 24000 }
    }
  }
}

Create prompt.md beside raw.json, for example:

markdownCopy code
You are a writing assistant. Read the supplied material, draft clear documentation
in the requested format, and distinguish verified facts from assumptions. Preserve
unrelated files. For requests about Raw configuration, list selected skills and
load the relevant guidance. Report the written artifact and checks performed.

Replace the model ID and limits with verified capabilities. Recipients provide their own credentials.

Compose the role and capabilities

Write the prompt with role, deliverables, scope and uncertainty handling. Choose literal system_prompt (empty allowed) OR a UTF-8 system_prompt_file path, never both. File paths resolve relative to config. --system-prompt and RAW_SYSTEM_PROMPT override it. Add list/load routing only when selected skills help; do not paste skill bodies into the initial prompt.

The model alias must exist under models. Its required nonempty strings are provider, method and exact upstream model_id. Methods: openai-chat-completions, openai-responses, anthropic-messages, google-generate-content. Matching services have supported defaults; custom/gateway pairs need HTTP(S) base_url. Credentials may be api_key_env or literal api_key, not both; an unauthenticated endpoint needs neither. Optional vision is boolean; context_window_tokens and max_output_tokens are positive integers with output below context. Select builtin/view_image only with vision:true.

Required tools.use is ordered and may be empty. Select exact builtin/<id>, local/<id>, agent/<id> or mcp/server/original-tool-name IDs; on Windows without Git Bash select builtin/powershell in place of builtin/bash. Optional skills.use selects unique exact builtin/, local/ or agent/ skill IDs; a nonempty list requires both skill tools. Optional hooks.use selects ordered unique local/, agent/ or pkg/ALIAS/hooks/EXPORT IDs. This example expects hooks/guard/ beside raw.json; copy installed examples/hooks/guard/ there. It gates matching builtin/bash removal calls and reports Bash failures. Omit hooks.use when no event behavior is needed. Use create_hook to author or edit. Missing selected assets block startup.

To make a new plugin or skill, use its creation skill only when needed. For existing assets, copying and checking exact IDs is enough. MCP definitions belong to top-level mcp.servers; select actual original tool names, not the model-facing aliases. add_mcp covers new connection setup.

Policy belongs in this agent's tools.rules. Ordered allow/ask/deny rules match canonical IDs, last match wins, unmatched calls run. Conditional ask may inspect a schema-bound string path with an RE2 search pattern. The example uses Bash's command and a direct rm pattern; it is textual matching, not complete shell analysis. Ask without an approval channel fails closed. Preserve selective Bash approval rather than prompting for every command. Tools retain full OS permissions.

Optional controls: positive integers max_steps, max_output_bytes, request_timeout_ms; request for provider-specific reasoning/output; cache for supported hints; compact for retention/summarization. Automatic compact is on by default when the model declares context_window_tokens; compact.trigger_tokens sets a threshold leaving output reserve, or false keeps it manual; compact.instructions adds text to every checkpoint prompt. Consult configure_raw for nontrivial provider-specific fields instead of copying another provider's controls blindly.

Create, verify and share

1. Select a unique name and destination; back up an existing config before adding fields. Keep its mode 0600. For a portable config omit sessions, which is canonical-only.
2. Add/reuse the model, create the prompt and selected custom assets (including hooks/guard/ for this example), then add the agent with exact IDs. Keep the existing default unless asked; a new standalone file may set its own default_agent. raw --agent writer "query" selects explicitly; raw "query" follows configured selection.
3. Run raw --config /path/to/raw.json config list. It verifies schema and references to model aliases, not file contents or live MCP. If the installed library is importable, use loadConfig({configPath,requireModel:false}) to check the prompt and createRuntimeTools({runtime,cwd}) to load selected tools/skills and connect selected MCP. Close tools.mcp afterward. Otherwise use a harmless task with the intended agent when model access exists and report what remains unverified.
4. For a copied-config share, relocate the directory and repeat loading. For an archive, follow references/packages.md: export or author, validate, pack, install, bind a recipient model/inputs and run. Check owned assets, external commands and selected policy with harmless calls. Exclude private session state and machine-specific paths.

Report agent/config/model, selected assets, checks and prerequisites. raw --resume ID --agent NAME "query" adopts the current agent on the same conversation; meaningful runtime changes rotate once, while skill changes may add a reload notice. Sharing an agent does not transfer session identity.

Select and share variables

Root vars/var_providers define values and executable sources; agent.vars selects exact names, omitted means none. Add builtin/list_vars/read_var to tools.use when discovery/reading is needed. Example: root vars.now={description:"Current UTC time",access:"read",source:{kind:"provider",name:"system.time"}}, agent.vars=["now"]. configure_raw covers the full schema; create_tool covers executable providers.

Keep provider scripts/data beside the shared config; command paths, file sources and provider cwd resolve from config, unlike Bash's session cwd. Recipients supply environment values and executable dependencies. Use references for consumption-only values, e.g. Bash env_refs; do not copy them into the prompt. List/get via raw --config PATH --agent NAME vars needs no model. Repeat after relocating. Runtime values stay out of the initial prefix; old readings are historical on resume. Providers execute on demand, not during listing.