Cabinet Ai Knowledge Base

# Cabinet AI Knowledge Base

> Skill by [ara.so](https://ara.so) — Daily 2026 Skills collection.

Cabinet is an AI-first startup OS and knowledge base where everything lives as markdown files on disk. No database, no vendor lock-in — self-hosted with AI agents that have memory, scheduled jobs, embedded HTML apps, git-backed history, and a full web terminal.

---

## Installation

### Quick Start (recommended)

```bash
npx create-cabinet@latest
cd cabinet
npm run dev:all
```

Open [http://localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000) — the onboarding wizard builds your AI team in 5 questions.

### Manual Clone

```bash
git clone https://github.com/hilash/cabinet.git
cd cabinet
npm install
cp .env.example .env.local
npm run dev:all
```

### Prerequisites

- Node.js 20+
- Claude Code CLI: `npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code`
- macOS or Linux (Windows via WSL)

---

## Environment Configuration

```bash
# .env.local
KB_PASSWORD=your_optional_password   # Leave empty for no auth
DOMAIN=localhost                     # Or your custom domain
```

---

## Key Commands

```bash
npm run dev          # Next.js dev server on port 3000
npm run dev:daemon   # WebSocket + job scheduler on port 3001
npm run dev:all      # Both servers together (use this for development)
npm run build        # Production build
npm run start        # Production mode (both servers)
```

---

## Architecture

```
cabinet/
  src/
    app/api/         → Next.js API routes
    components/      → React components (sidebar, editor, agents, jobs, terminal)
    stores/          → Zustand state management
    lib/             → Storage, markdown, git, agents, jobs
  server/
    cabinet-daemon.ts → WebSocket + job scheduler + agent executor
  data/
    .agents/.library/ → 20 pre-built agent templates
    getting-started/  → Default KB pages
```

**Tech stack:** Next.js 16, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui, Tiptap, Zustand, xterm.js, node-cron

---

## Project Structure (data directory)

Cabinet stores everything as markdown files under `data/`:

```
data/
  getting-started/
    index.md
  my-project/
    index.md
    research.md
    index.html        ← Embedded HTML app (auto-rendered as iframe)
  .agents/
    .library/
      ceo.md
      product-manager.md
      researcher.md
    active/
      my-ceo/
        index.md      ← Agent definition
        memory.md     ← Agent memory (auto-updated)
```

---

## Agent Definition Format

Agents are defined as markdown files with YAML frontmatter:

```markdown
---
name: Research Scout
role: researcher
schedule: "0 */6 * * *"   # Cron: every 6 hours
skills:
  - web-search
  - summarization
  - reddit-scout
goals:
  - Monitor competitor activity
  - Surface trending topics in AI tooling
  - File weekly summary reports
---

# Research Scout

You are a research agent for [Company Name]. Your job is to...

## Memory

<!-- Agent memory is auto-appended here by the daemon -->
```

---

## Creating a Custom Agent

### Via the UI

1. Navigate to the Agents panel in the sidebar
2. Click "New Agent" and select a template or start blank
3. Fill in role, goals, and schedule
4. Cabinet creates `data/.agents/active/<agent-name>/index.md`

### Programmatically

```typescript
// src/lib/agents.ts pattern — create an agent file directly
import fs from 'fs/promises'
import path from 'path'

const agentDir = path.join(process.cwd(), 'data', '.agents', 'active', 'my-agent')

await fs.mkdir(agentDir, { recursive: true })

await fs.writeFile(
  path.join(agentDir, 'index.md'),
  `---
name: My Custom Agent
role: analyst
schedule: "0