Content
# Dexto (formerly Saiki)
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**A lightweight runtime for creating and running AI agents that turn natural language into real-world actions.**
<div align="center">
<img src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9a796427-ab97-4c8f-8ac2-09cf58135553" alt="Dexto Demo" width="900" />
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---
## Table of Contents
1. [Why Dexto?](#why-dexto)
2. [Installation](#installation)
3. [Run Modes](#run-modes)
4. [Quick Start](#quick-start)
5. [Programmatic API](#programmatic-api)
6. [Configuration](#configuration)
7. [Examples & Demos](#examples--demos)
8. [Capabilities](#capabilities)<!-- 9. [Architecture Overview](#architecture-overview) -->
9. [LLM Providers](#llm-providers)
10. [Standalone MCP Manager](#standalone-mcp-manager)
11. [CLI Reference](#cli-reference)
12. [Next Steps](#next-steps)
13. [Community & Support](#community--support)
14. [Contributors](#contributors)
15. [License](#license)
---
## Why Dexto?
Dexto is the missing **intelligence layer** of your stack—perfect for building AI applications, standalone chatbots, or as the reasoning engine inside larger products.
The main Dexto features are:
| 💡 Feature | What it means for you |
|------------|-----------------------|
| **Powerful CLI and Web UI** | Dexto ships with a powerful CLI and Web UI that enable you to run AI agents in your terminal and over the web. |
| **Single runtime, many interfaces** | Run the same agent via CLI, Web, Discord, Telegram, or a REST/WS server. |
| **Model-agnostic** | Hot-swap LLMs from OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Groq, or local models. |
| **Unified Tooling** | Connect to remote tool servers (filesystem, browser, web-search) via the **Model Context Protocol (MCP)**. |
| **Config-driven** | Define agent behavior (prompts, tools, model, memory) in version-controlled YAML. |
| **Production-ready Core** | Leverage a multi-session chat manager, typed API, pluggable storage, and robust logging. |
| **Extensible** | Ship your own MCP tool servers or plug in custom services with a few lines of config. |
| **Multi-Agent Systems** | Enable multi-agent collaboration via MCP and A2A. |
---
## Installation
```bash
# NPM global
npm install -g dexto
# —or— build from source
git clone https://github.com/truffle-ai/dexto.git
cd dexto && npm i && npm run build && npm link
```
---
## Run Modes
| Mode | Command | Best for |
|------|---------|----------|
| **Interactive CLI** | `dexto` | Everyday automation & quick tasks |
| **Web UI** | `dexto --mode web` | Friendly chat interface w/ image support |
| **Headless Server** | `dexto --mode server` | REST & WebSocket APIs for agent interaction |
| **MCP Server (Agent)** | `dexto --mode mcp` | Exposing your agent as a tool for others via stdio |
| **MCP Server (Aggregator)** | `dexto mcp --group-servers` | Re-exposing tools from multiple MCP servers via stdio |
| **Discord Bot** | `dexto --mode discord` | Community servers & channels ([Requires Setup](src/app/discord/README.md)) |
| **Telegram Bot** | `dexto --mode telegram` | Mobile chat ([Requires Setup](src/app/telegram/README.md)) |
Run `dexto --help` for **all flags, sub-commands, and environment variables**.
---
## Quick Start
Set your API keys first:
```bash
export OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key_here
```
Then, give Dexto a multi-step task that combines different tools:
```bash
dexto "create a new snake game in html, css, and javascript, then open it in the browser"
```
Dexto will use its **filesystem** tools to write the code and its **browser** tools to open the `index.html` file—all from a single prompt.
Then start the Web UI:
```bash
dexto --mode web
```
The Web UI will load up any previous conversations you had, and also allows you to experiment with different models and MCP servers.
---
## Programmatic API
The `DextoAgent` class is the core of the runtime. The following example shows its full lifecycle: initialization, running a single task, holding a conversation, and shutting down.
```ts
import 'dotenv/config';
import { DextoAgent, loadConfigFile } from 'dexto';
const cfg = await loadConfigFile('./agents/default-agent.yml');
const agent = new DextoAgent(cfg);
await agent.start();
// Single-shot task
console.log(await agent.run('List the 5 largest files in this repo'));
// Conversation
await agent.run('Write a haiku about TypeScript');
await agent.run('Make it funnier');
agent.resetConversation();
await agent.stop();
```
Everything in the CLI is powered by this same class—so whatever the CLI can do, your code can too.
Check out our [Typescript SDK docs](https://docs.dexto.ai/api/category/typescript-sdk) for a complete guide.
---
## Configuration
Agents are defined in version-controlled YAML. A minimal example:
```yaml
mcpServers:
filesystem:
type: stdio
command: npx
args: ['-y', '@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem', '.']
puppeteer:
type: stdio
command: npx
args: ['-y', '@truffle-ai/puppeteer-server']
llm:
provider: openai
model: gpt-4o
apiKey: $OPENAI_API_KEY
systemPrompt: |
You are Dexto, an expert coding assistant...
```
Change the file, reload the agent, and chat—the conversation state, memory, and tools will update.
Check out our [Configuration guide](https://docs.dexto.ai/category/dexto-configuration-guide) for the complete reference.
---
## Examples & Demos
### 🛒 Amazon Shopping Assistant
**Task:** `Can you go to amazon and add some snacks to my cart? I like trail mix, cheetos and maybe surprise me with something else?`
```bash
# Default agent has browser tools
dexto
```
<a href="https://youtu.be/C-Z0aVbl4Ik">
<img src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/3f5be5e2-7a55-4093-a071-8c52f1a83ba3" alt="Dexto: Amazon shopping agent demo" width="600"/>
</a>
### 📧 Send Email Summaries to Slack
**Task:** `Summarize emails and send highlights to Slack`
```bash
dexto --agent ./agents/examples/email_slack.yml
```
<img src="assets/email_slack_demo.gif" alt="Email to Slack Demo" width="600">
More ready-to-run recipes live in [`agents/examples`](agents/examples) and the [docs site](https://docs.dexto.ai/).
---
## Capabilities
* **Dynamic LLM Switching**: Change model, provider, or routing rules mid-conversation.
* **Streaming Responses**: Opt-in to receive tokens as they arrive for real-time output.
* **Multi-Session Management**: Create isolated, stateful chat sessions (think workspace tabs).
* **Pluggable Memory Backends**: Use the in-memory default or connect your own DB via the `StorageManager`.
* **Lifecycle Event Bus**: Subscribe to agent events for metrics, logging, or custom side-effects.
* **Standalone MCP Manager**: Use Dexto's core `MCPManager` in your own projects without the full agent.
---
## LLM Providers
Dexto supports multiple LLM providers out-of-the-box, plus any OpenAI SDK-compatible provider.
- **OpenAI**: `gpt-4.1-mini`, `gpt-4o`, `o3`, `o1` and more
- **Anthropic**: `claude-4-sonnet-20250514`, `claude-3-7-sonnet-20250219`, and more
- **Google**: `gemini-2.5-pro`, `gemini-2.0-flash` and more
- **Groq**: `llama-3.3-70b-versatile`, `gemma-2-9b-it`
### Quick Setup
Set your API key and run. You can switch providers instantly via the `-m` flag.
```bash
# OpenAI (default)
export OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key_here
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_anthropic_api_key_here
export GOOGLE_GENERATIVE_AI_API_KEY=your_google_gemini_api_key_here
dexto
# Switch providers via CLI
dexto -m claude-3.5-sonnet-20240620
dexto -m gemini-1.5-flash-latest
```
For comprehensive setup instructions, see our **[LLM Providers Guide](https://docs.dexto.ai/guides/configuring-dexto/llm/providers)**.
---
## Standalone MCP Manager
Need to manage MCP tool servers without the full agent? Use the `MCPManager` directly in your own applications.
```typescript
import { MCPManager } from 'dexto';
// Create manager instance
const manager = new MCPManager();
// Connect to MCP servers
await manager.connectServer('filesystem', {
type: 'stdio',
command: 'npx',
args: ['-y', '@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem', '.']
});
// Get all available tools across servers
const tools = await manager.getAllTools();
console.log('Available tools:', Object.keys(tools));
// Execute a tool
const result = await manager.executeTool('readFile', { path: './README.md' });
console.log('File contents:', result);
// Disconnect when done
await manager.disconnectAll();
```
See the **[MCP Manager Documentation](https://docs.dexto.ai/guides/mcp-manager)** for the complete API reference.
---
## CLI Reference
<details>
<summary>Click to expand for full CLI reference (`dexto --help`)</summary>
```
Usage: dexto [options] [command] [prompt...]
The Dexto CLI allows you to talk to Dexto, build custom AI Agents, and create complex AI applications.
For full documentation, visit https://docs.dexto.ai.
Arguments:
prompt Natural-language prompt to run once. If empty, starts interactive CLI.
Options:
-v, --version output the current version
-a, --agent <path> Path to agent config file
-s, --strict Require all server connections to succeed
--no-verbose Disable verbose output
-m, --model <model> Specify the LLM model to use.
-r, --router <router> Specify the LLM router to use (vercel or in-built)
--mode <mode> Runtime mode: cli | web | server | discord | telegram | mcp (default: "cli")
--web-port <port> Optional port for the web UI (default: "3000")
-h, --help display help for command
Commands:
create-app Scaffold a new Dexto Typescript app.
init-app Initialize an existing Typescript app with Dexto.
mcp Run Dexto as an MCP server.
```
</details>
---
## Next Steps
* **[Quick Start](https://docs.dexto.ai/getting-started/intro)** – Get up and running in minutes.
* **[Configuration Guide](https://docs.dexto.ai/category/guides)** – Configure agents, LLMs, and tools.
* **[Building with Dexto](https://docs.dexto.ai/category/tutorials)** – Developer guides and patterns.
* **[API Reference](https://docs.dexto.ai/api)** – REST APIs, WebSocket, and SDKs.
---
## Contributing
We welcome contributions! Refer to our [Contributing Guide](./CONTRIBUTING.md) for more details.
## Community & Support
Dexto is built by the team at [Truffle AI](https://www.trytruffle.ai).
Join our Discord to share projects, ask questions, or just say hi!
[](https://discord.gg/GFzWFAAZcm)
If you enjoy Dexto, please give us a ⭐ on GitHub—it helps a lot!
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---
## Contributors
Thanks to all these amazing people for contributing to Dexto!
[](https://github.com/truffle-ai/dexto/graphs/contributors)
---
## License
Elastic License 2.0. See [LICENSE](LICENSE) for full terms.
