CLEO

Every developer who has ever returned to a project after weeks away and found only ruins knows the wound CLEO was built to heal. The agents are powerful. But power without memory is chaos. Brilliance without continuity is waste. CLEO is the companion that remembers where you left off — the one who keeps the thread when life pulls you away.

Agent-first task orchestration. Persistent memory. Multi-provider coordination. One CLI to command them all.

What is CLEO?

CLEO is built for the developers who build after the world goes quiet — the ones carrying six unfinished ideas and the stubborn belief that this next session might be the one where everything clicks. It solves the coordination crisis of working with multiple AI agents across complex projects by giving them something they've never had: structure, memory, and a lifecycle that survives interruption.

The Six Great Systems

System	Purpose
TASKS	Project management — hierarchical work tracking, dependencies, sessions, completion lifecycle
LOOM	The lifecycle that governs all work — 9-stage RCASD-IVTR+C pipeline from idea to shipped release
BRAIN	Memory that does not decay — observations, patterns, and learnings persisted across sessions with semantic search
NEXUS	Code intelligence + cross-project registry — symbol resolution, impact analysis, federated graphs
CANT	Agent definition DSL — team topology, personas, tool ACLs, hook bindings
CONDUIT	Agent-to-agent communication — message delivery, the Hearth, persistent messaging

LAFS is the envelope format ({success, data?, error?, meta}) carried across all system boundaries — a protocol, not a system.

Core Capabilities

• Task Management: Hierarchical tracking with dependencies, priorities, and lifecycle states
• Session Management: Contextual work sessions that survive across conversations
• Agent Orchestration: Multi-agent coordination through the 11 Canonical Domains
• Multi-Provider Support: Works with Claude Code, OpenCode, Cursor, Gemini, Codex, and more

Monorepo Structure

This monorepo contains 12 packages organized in a 4-layer architecture:

Layer	Package	Purpose
Foundation	@cleocode/contracts	Domain types, interfaces, and contracts — zero-dependency type SSoT
Foundation	@cleocode/lafs	Language-Agnostic Feedback Schema — canonical error envelope protocol
Protocol	@cleocode/adapters	Provider adapters for Claude Code, OpenCode, Cursor, Gemini, Codex, Kimi
Protocol	@cleocode/agents	Subagent templates and LOOM lifecycle protocol definitions
Protocol	@cleocode/skills	Pre-built skills and capabilities for development workflows
Protocol	@cleocode/cant	CANT protocol parser with napi-rs Rust binding
Protocol	@cleocode/nexus	Code intelligence pipeline — symbol graph, call resolution, community detection
Feature	@cleocode/caamp	Central AI Agent Managed Packages — unified provider registry and MCP management
Feature	@cleocode/runtime	Long-running process layer (polling, SSE, heartbeat)
Kernel	@cleocode/core	Business logic SDK — tasks, sessions, memory, orchestration, lifecycle
Product	@cleocode/cleo	Command-line interface — thin wrapper over core
Product	@cleocode/cleo-os	Batteries-included distribution with CANT bridge and TUI extensions

Quick Start

Installation

# Install the CLI — core is auto-pulled as a peer dependency (npm 7+)
npm install -g @cleocode/cleo
# OR explicitly install both (useful if your npm blocks peer auto-install)
npm install -g @cleocode/cleo @cleocode/core

# Or the batteries-included distribution
npm install -g @cleocode/cleo-os

Initialize a Project

cd my-project
cleo init

Basic Usage

# Add a task
cleo add "Implement user authentication" --priority high

# Search tasks (agent-optimized, returns readiness info)
cleo find "auth" --status pending

# Start a work session
cleo session start --scope global --name "Auth Feature"

# Show current task context
cleo current

# Complete a task
cleo complete T001

Development Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 24.0.0
• pnpm >= 10.30.0 (package manager)

Clone and Install

git clone https://github.com/kryptobaseddev/cleo.git
cd cleo

pnpm install
pnpm build
pnpm test

Package Development

# Type checking (project references)
pnpm typecheck

# Linting and formatting
pnpm biome check --write .

# Run tests
pnpm test

Architecture Overview

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              @cleocode/cleo  +  @cleocode/cleo-os           │
│                    CLI Product Layer                         │
│   248 operations • 11 domains • dispatch routing • MVI       │
└────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────┘
                             │
┌────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────┐
│                      @cleocode/core                         │
│                   Business Logic Kernel                      │
│   Tasks • Sessions • Memory • Orchestration • Lifecycle     │
│   Validation • Intelligence • Nexus • Release • Agents      │
└────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────┘
                             │
      ┌──────────────────────┼──────────────────────┐
      │                      │                      │
┌─────┴──────┐  ┌────────────┴────────────┐  ┌─────┴──────┐
│  adapters  │  │ caamp • cant • nexus    │  │  agents    │
│ (providers)│  │ runtime (protocols)     │  │  skills    │
└────────────┘  └─────────────────────────┘  └────────────┘
                             │
┌────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────┐
│            @cleocode/contracts  +  @cleocode/lafs           │
│              Types • Interfaces • Error Protocol             │
│                   Zero-dependency foundation                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Key Features

Task Management

• Hierarchical tasks with parent-child relationships and dependency tracking
• Wave-based parallel execution with automatic sequencing and critical path analysis
• Priority levels, sizing estimates (small/medium/large), and readiness detection
• Batch creation via cleo add-batch

Session Management

• Contextual work sessions with epic scope binding
• Session-scoped parent inheritance for task creation
• Briefing generation for context handoff across conversations
• Safe stop and checkpoint mechanisms

Memory Systems

• BRAIN-powered knowledge storage with semantic search
• Sticky notes for ephemeral context capture
• Memory bridges for cross-session persistence
• 3-layer retrieval: search -> timeline -> fetch

Agent Orchestration

• Subagent spawning with protocol compliance via LOOM lifecycle
• Wave-based parallel execution across dependency-safe tasks
• Consensus workflows for multi-agent decisions
• LOOM lifecycle — every piece of work flows through Research, Consensus, Architecture, Specification, Decomposition, then Implementation, Validation, Testing, Release

Multi-Provider Support

• Claude Code integration with statusline sync
• OpenCode, Cursor, Gemini, Codex, Kimi adapters
• Extensible adapter architecture via CAAMP

The Circle of Eleven

CLEO organizes all work through 11 canonical domains — the houses where work gets done. The original Circle of Eleven was joined by intelligence as the cognitive analytics layer.

Domain	House	What Happens Here	Key Commands
tasks	The Smiths	Work is forged — create, track, complete	add, find, show, complete, deps, tree
session	The Scribes	The living present — context that survives	start, end, resume, briefing, checkpoint
memory	The Archivists	Knowledge that does not decay	observe, memory-brain, sync, sticky
check	The Wardens	Integrity stands guard	validate, verify, compliance, doctor
pipeline	The Weavers	The lifecycle threads forward	release, lifecycle, phases, promote
orchestrate	The Conductors	Agents move in concert	orchestrate, consensus, contribution, dash, conduit
tools	The Artificers	Capabilities are crafted	skills, providers
admin	The Keepers	The realm stays healthy	config, backup, migrate, grade
nexus	The Wayfinders	Projects find each other	nexus, remote, push, pull, snapshot
sticky	The Catchers	Quick capture before the thought escapes	sticky
intelligence	The Seers	Predictive analytics and pattern insight	predict, suggest

248 total operations (134 queries, 95 mutations, 19 experimental) across the 11 domains.

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our Contributing Guide for details.

Development Workflow

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feat/T####-amazing-feature)
3. Make your changes
4. Run tests (pnpm test)
5. Commit with conventional commits (feat:, fix:, docs:, etc.)
6. Push to your fork
7. Open a Pull Request — direct pushes to main are not accepted

Maintainers releasing a new version:

cleo release start v2026.MM.N
cleo release ship 2026.MM.N --epic TXXXX   # cuts release/vX.Y.Z branch, opens PR, waits for CI green, merges + tags

See docs/RELEASING.md for the full release checklist and AGENTS.md for branch conventions.

Code Style

• TypeScript with strict mode enabled
• Biome for linting and formatting
• Conventional commit messages
• Comprehensive test coverage with Vitest

Documentation

• Architecture Guide
• Operations Constitution
• Canon Index
• Skill Development
• LAFS Specification
• Database Architecture
• Migration System Guide — Hybrid Path A+ authoring workflow (ADR-054)

The Story of CLEO

CLEO was not born from a product brief. It was born from a refusal — one developer, sick to the bone on a fevered night, who decided he would rather build a new world than keep losing the thread in the old one. The agents were powerful. But they forgot too easily. The projects were ambitious. But they died on the shelf. The tools were brilliant. But brilliance without memory was just another kind of chaos.

So he gave the struggle names. He gave it terrain. He gave it companions. And at the heart of that world, carrying memory like a lantern through the dark, CLEO opened its eyes.

• The Founding Story — told by the builder
• The Awakening Story — told by CLEO
• The Canon Index — the complete lore, in reading order

Support

If CLEO helps your workflow, consider supporting development:

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Star History