Quickstart

Your agent needs shell access to run anb. The npm installer requires Node.js 20 or later; native binaries do not.

Install and set up

npm install -g @supolka/agent-notebook
anb setup --agent codex

Run setup in the project. Choose codex, claude-code or agents-md for an agent that reads AGENTS.md; repeat --agent for several hosts. Setup installs the instructions and skills each selected host reads, plus its supported session-start integration. It does not create records or require a config file.

For Codex, trust the project and review the hook with /hooks. Start a new session so the agent can load the installed instructions. See agent integrations for host details.

Give the agent ordinary work

For example:

Fix the export label and keep enough context to continue next time.

A small change can be one Task. The agent recalls relevant project rules and your practices, records useful progress and closes with the result and its verification. A domain model, proposal or separate investigation appears only when the work needs one.

The first record write creates .agent-notebook/. Shared records are Markdown files under tasks/, decisions/, notes/ and questions/. Keep them in Git when they belong to the team. Commits and external actions still require the authority you gave the agent.

Continue naturally

Continue the export work.

Take the next part of task.customer-exports.

What is Grace working on?

recall combines current work, the project’s standing rules and your private practices. A known session focus identifies the intended Task even when the same person has another session working elsewhere. If several Tasks could match a fresh session’s request, the agent asks rather than guessing from the most recent timestamp.

For a personal work queue by default, set scope: mine in .agent-notebook/config. The work views then follow each person’s assignments while project knowledge stays shared. --team opens the team view; --by Grace opens Grace’s. Without that setting, work views default to the team. See configuration.

start --next selects the person’s ready assignments before the untaken queue. Dependencies and holds keep ineligible work out. A Task assigned to somebody else is not silently claimed. Sessions and collaboration explains parallel work and explicit joining.

Remember a practice at the right scope

For me on this project, ask before running the slow integration suite.

The agent records that practice with --personal, outside the repository. It is recalled automatically for you, not for colleagues.

Across my projects, review behavior before formatting.

That practice belongs in --global. Shared project rules remain in the project notebook. Personal knowledge explains storage, retrieval and scope.

The same workflow through the CLI

The explicit ids keep the example short. Without --id, add derives the id from the title: task.clarify-the-export-label.

anb add task "Clarify the export label" --id task.export-label --body "Rename Export to Download CSV. Preserve the action and file contents."
anb start task.export-label
anb comment task.export-label --body "The label is updated. Next: verify the download contents."
anb close task.export-label --body "The label reads Download CSV. The same action runs and the CSV fixture is unchanged."
anb archive task.export-label
anb check

The outcome stays on the Task. Archiving that Task does not retire related knowledge. show can still read its id from the archive, and list --archive includes finished work.

Read anb --help for commands and anb <command> --help for options. Replies use TOON; --json returns the same selected data as JSON. Every truncated section reports what was omitted and how to expand it.

Customize without forking

Put project-specific instructions in .agents/anb.md. Setup preserves that file while updating the generated skill. Reviews, task grouping and sharing policy can change without changing the record model. See customization.

Other installation options

Try the CLI without a global install:

npx -y @supolka/agent-notebook --help

For installed hooks, keep anb on PATH. GitHub releases provide native binaries for macOS and Linux on x64 and arm64, and Windows on x64, with checksums. Extract the appropriate binary, verify its checksum and put it on PATH.

With a Rust toolchain:

cargo install --git https://github.com/maksimyaromin/agent-notebook anb