@godmode-team/godmode

GodMode — Personal AI Operating System

GodMode turns your self-hosted AI into a personal operating system. It runs on top of OpenClaw and gives your AI deep context about you — your schedule, tasks, memory, skills, and preferences — so it actually works for you instead of starting from scratch every conversation.

Open source. Self-hosted. Yours.

What You Get

• Persistent Memory — Your AI remembers conversations, facts, and preferences across sessions (powered by Honcho)
• Daily Operating Rhythm — Morning briefs with calendar + intelligence, task tracking, evening capture
• Agent Queue — Delegate tasks to background agents that run overnight and deliver results to your inbox
• Second Brain — Markdown-based knowledge management with semantic search across your Obsidian vault
• Skill Cards — Teach your AI new capabilities by dropping markdown files into a folder
• Persona System — Customizable agent personas for different task types (research, writing, code, etc.)
• Safety Gates — Built-in guardrails that prevent prompt injection, credential leaks, and runaway loops
• Self-Healing — Automatic health monitoring and recovery for all subsystems

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js 22+ (check with node -v, use nvm to install)
• pnpm (npm install -g pnpm)
• OpenClaw >=2026.2.0 (install guide)
• Anthropic API key (get one here)

Option A: One-Line Install (recommended)

curl -fsSL https://lifeongodmode.com/install.sh | sh

This handles everything — Node.js, OpenClaw, GodMode plugin, gateway config, and Tailscale (if present). Safe to re-run.

Windows: irm https://lifeongodmode.com/install.ps1 | iex

Option B: Install as OpenClaw Plugin

# Install the plugin
openclaw plugins install @godmode-team/godmode

# Enable it
openclaw config set plugins.entries.godmode.enabled true

# Restart the gateway
openclaw gateway restart

# Open GodMode
open http://localhost:18789/godmode

Option C: Clone and Build from Source

# Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/GodMode-Team/godmode.git
cd godmode
pnpm install
pnpm build

# Configure
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env and add your ANTHROPIC_API_KEY

# Register as a local plugin in your OpenClaw config
# Add to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json under plugins.entries:
#   "godmode": { "enabled": true, "path": "/path/to/godmode-plugin" }

# Restart your OpenClaw gateway
openclaw gateway restart

# Open GodMode
open http://localhost:18789/godmode

Option D: Clone and Develop

git clone https://github.com/GodMode-Team/godmode.git
cd godmode
pnpm install

# Copy and configure environment
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env — at minimum set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY

# Build and run
pnpm dev

# UI dev server (hot reload)
pnpm dev:ui

Configuration

The only required environment variable is ANTHROPIC_API_KEY. Everything else degrades gracefully:

Variable	Required	What it enables
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	Yes	Agent spawning, auto-titling, identity extraction
HONCHO_API_KEY	Recommended	Persistent conversational memory
OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH	No	Second Brain vault sync (fallback: ~/godmode/memory/)
GOG_CALENDAR_ACCOUNT	No	Google Calendar in daily brief
XAI_API_KEY	No	X/Twitter intelligence
COMPOSIO_API_KEY	No	Third-party tool auth (Gmail, Slack, Notion)
PAPERCLIP_URL	No	Multi-agent orchestration

See .env.example for the full list.

Verify Installation

# Check plugin is registered
openclaw plugins list

# Health check
curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:18789/godmode/health

Customization

GodMode is designed to be personal. Most customization is files, not code:

• Personas — Markdown files in ~/godmode/memory/agent-roster/. Define agent personalities, specialties, and trust levels.
• Skill Cards — Markdown files in skill-cards/. Teach your AI when and how to use specific capabilities.
• Skills — Executable markdown in assets/skills/. Multi-step workflows your AI can run.
• Soul — Your SOUL.md file defines your AI's core personality and values.

Drop a file in, restart, and your AI knows something new. No TypeScript required.

Architecture

godmode/
├── index.ts              # OpenClaw plugin entry point
├── standalone.ts         # Standalone Hermes server (alternative to OpenClaw gateway)
├── src/
│   ├── methods/          # RPC handlers (tasks, calendar, brief, queue, etc.)
│   ├── services/         # Background services (queue, self-heal, heartbeat)
│   ├── lib/              # Core libraries (memory, context budget, vault, identity)
│   ├── tools/            # Agent tools (delegate, repair, queue_add, etc.)
│   ├── hooks/            # Lifecycle hooks (startup, prompt injection, message handling)
│   └── adapter/          # Standalone/Hermes adapter layer
├── ui/                   # Frontend (Lit web components, Vite build)
├── skill-cards/          # Domain skill definitions (markdown)
├── assets/
│   ├── agent-roster/     # Default persona files
│   └── skills/           # Executable skill files
└── docs/                 # Architecture docs

Development

pnpm build          # Full build (UI + TypeScript + bundle)
pnpm build:code     # TypeScript only
pnpm build:ui       # UI only (Vite)
pnpm dev:ui         # UI dev server with hot reload
pnpm typecheck      # Type checking
pnpm test:ui        # UI tests
pnpm clean          # Remove build artifacts
pnpm ui:sync        # Refresh committed UI fallback snapshot

After UI changes, always run pnpm build:ui && pnpm ui:sync and commit the updated snapshot.

Contributing

Contributions welcome! GodMode gets better when the community builds for their own needs.

Good first contributions:

• New skill cards (just a markdown file!)
• New persona templates
• UI improvements
• Bug fixes
• Documentation

Before submitting a PR:

• Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feat/my-feature)
• Run pnpm typecheck (must pass)
• Run pnpm build (must succeed)
• If UI changed: pnpm ui:sync and commit the snapshot

Community

• GitHub Issues — Bug reports and feature requests
• Community Circle — Weekly office hours, power user tips, creative workflows ($99/mo)
• Website — Learn more about the GodMode vision

Troubleshooting

Build fails: "Node.js version unsupported" or missing pnpm

node -v          # Need v22+. Install/upgrade: nvm install 22 && nvm use 22
pnpm -v          # Not found? npm install -g pnpm

"ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is not set"

Get a key at console.anthropic.com, then add it to your .env:

cp .env.example .env
echo 'ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...' >> .env

Port already in use

Change the port with the --port flag or GODMODE_PORT env variable:

GODMODE_PORT=4000 pnpm start
# or
pnpm start -- --port 4000

UI doesn't load (blank page or 404)

The UI must be built before the server can serve it:

pnpm build:ui    # Build the frontend assets
pnpm start       # Then restart the server

Memory features not working

Persistent memory requires a Honcho API key. Get one at honcho.dev and add to .env:

HONCHO_API_KEY=your-key-here

Without it, GodMode still works but conversations won't persist across sessions.

License

FSL-1.1-MIT — Free to use, modify, and self-host. Cannot be used to build a competing commercial product. Each version converts to MIT after 2 years.

Made with conviction by the GodMode Team.