Installation

Requirements¶

Python 3.13+
uv (recommended)

Install the CLI (recommended for command-line use)¶

uv tool install rho-agent

uv tool install installs the rho-agent and rho-eval commands in an isolated tool environment and adds them to your PATH.

Convenience installer¶

curl -fsSL https://rho-agent.dev/install.sh | bash

The hosted installer is a convenience wrapper. It will use a GitHub Releases binary when available for your platform, and otherwise fall back to uv tool install.

You can also pin a versioned installer URL:

curl -fsSL https://rho-agent.dev/install/v0.1.0.sh | bash

Use as a Python library / SDK (project dependency)¶

Install inside your project directory so import rho_agent works in your app code:

uv add rho-agent

If you need optional features, add extras to the dependency:

uv add 'rho-agent[db]'
uv add 'rho-agent[daytona]'

Install from source (development)¶

git clone https://github.com/smith-nathanh/rho-agent.git
cd rho-agent
uv sync
uv tool install .

This makes rho-agent available as a global command. If you skip uv tool install, prefix commands with uv run.

To include development tools (pytest, linters):

uv sync --group dev

Verify the installation¶

rho-agent --help

Environment variables¶

Required¶

Variable	Description
`OPENAI_API_KEY`	API key for the model provider

Optional¶

Variable	Default	Description
`OPENAI_BASE_URL`	OpenAI default	API endpoint override (for compatible providers)
`OPENAI_MODEL`	`gpt-5-mini`	Default model
`RHO_AGENT_PROFILE`	`readonly`	Default permission profile
`RHO_AGENT_BACKEND`	`local`	Agent backend — `local` or `daytona`
`RHO_AGENT_SERVICE_TIER`	—	API service tier (e.g. `flex`)
`RHO_AGENT_REASONING_EFFORT`	—	Reasoning effort level (for o1/o3 models)

Database connections¶

Database tools are configured via a YAML config file, not environment variables. See Tools — Database tools for the config format.

Variable	Default	Description
`RHO_AGENT_DB_CONFIG`	`~/.config/rho-agent/databases.yaml`	Path to database config file

Daytona remote sandbox¶

Required for --backend daytona.

CLI install: uv tool install 'rho-agent[daytona]'
SDK/project install: uv add 'rho-agent[daytona]'

See the Daytona guide for configuration and environment variables.

Troubleshooting¶

If your .venv gets into a bad state (packages installed but imports fail), reset it:

deactivate 2>/dev/null || true
rm -rf .venv
uv venv .venv --python 3.13 --seed
uv sync --group dev --python .venv/bin/python

Use uv sync --python .venv/bin/python rather than uv sync --active to avoid targeting the wrong virtual environment when another venv is active in your shell.