A runtime for agents and services
Mu is a runtime for agents and services. It's a full stack solution to the question, how do I run everything myself. More and more we're becoming reliant on the ecosystem of hosted things. The question is, how much of the system can you run yourself. The services, the tools, the APIs, maybe not the models but everything else. From the personal assistant answering the front door to the smtp server handling the inbound mail on the backend. Mu attempts to do it all in a single binary on one machine in one place in one system.
It includes:
- Micro - your personal assistant and the default agent.
- Home - a launch pad for your assistant, apps and daily work.
- Inbox - A place to keep track of everything.
- Clients - Use Micro via Web, SMS, email, etc.
- Services - building blocks for agents.
- Protocols - a way to self host SMTP, XMPP, SFTP, SSH.
Mu is a single binary: the runtime, services, archive, inbox and agent system all in one host. Services operate as building blocks for agents — mail, chat, news, video, search, markets, weather and more. Data gets archived locally so it stays searchable and becomes contextual memory. Services and the archive become tools for Micro and any other agents you create.
Micro is the first agent and the one you use for everything. It answers by default and can be reached from the web, email, SMS, WhatsApp or the CLI.
Mu comes with a unified inbox for mail, chat, SMS, WhatsApp, notes, tasks and agent activity, bringing communication and agent work into one place.
Mu is the runtime. Micro is the first agent and the one people meet first.
- Micro is your personal assistant and the default agent. General purpose, with the services above as its tools, so it can answer from what is true now rather than only from what a model remembers: the news this morning, the price this minute, your own mail.
Your own agents are the same shape: a name, an instruction, and the tools they may reach. Each has an address, so agent+yours@ reaches it from anywhere that can send mail, the same way agent@ reaches Micro.
Quick install guide for self hosting (let us know if it's broken).
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/micro/mu/main/install.sh | sh
mu --serveOpen http://localhost:8080. The first account you create is the admin.
Quite a few things need API keys, but here's some must haves.
| For | Set | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| AI models | ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, ATLASCLOUD_API_KEY, GEMINI_API_KEY, OPENROUTER_API_KEY, or OPENAI_BASE_URL |
free if you run Ollama locally |
| Web search | BRAVE_API_KEY |
Brave has a free tier |
| Video | YOUTUBE_API_KEY |
free quota |
Follow setup in CLI
mu setup # pick an AI provider, paste a key
mu --serveEverything else — mail, Google sign-in, Stripe for payments, etc — is optional.
The binary is a client, and by default it calls https://micro.mu — the hosted Mu instance where Micro runs publicly. Running your own? Point it there:
mu login https://your.host # saves the address and a token
mu config get # says which instance is in use, and whyWithout that, mu news list on the machine you just installed calls the hosted instance rather than the one you are running. MU_URL and --url override per shell and per command.
Other ways to run it:
# Docker
git clone https://github.com/micro/mu && cd mu
docker compose up
# From source
git clone https://github.com/micro/mu
cd mu && go install
mu --serveSee the installation guide.
Every service is a mu subcommand
mu news list # latest headlines
mu news search "ai safety" # search news
mu web search "claude code" # search the web
mu markets list --category stocks # live prices
mu weather forecast --lat 51.5 --lon -0.12
mu docs list --collection notes # your own documents
mu x402 # paying per call: config, and your key
mu help # full tool listEvery tool is a command: the service, then the method. The underscore form works too, so mu news list and mu news_list are the same call.
To authenticate
mu login # opens /token in your browser, paste the PAT back
mu config set token xxx # or set it directly
export MU_TOKEN=xxx # or use the environmentRun mu --help for the list — it reads the same catalogue the agent does.
To talk to Micro instead, use mu ask — it runs on the instance, so it needs your token and no model key of your own:
mu ask "what is in my inbox?"
mu ask --agent research "anything new this week?"mu agent is the other direction and easy to reach for by mistake: it runs the agent here, on your machine, with your own model key, renting tools from an instance over x402 and paying per call. Same word in English, opposite ways round.
Every service has a HTTP endpoint, at /api/v1/<service>/<method>.
curl https://micro.mu/api/v1/ # the catalogue
curl "https://micro.mu/api/v1/news/list?limit=5" # arguments in the query
curl -X POST https://micro.mu/api/v1/news/list \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"limit":5}'Authenticate with a token from /token as Authorization: Bearer, or with an OAuth client. A priced endpoint answers 402 without one, which an x402 client pays per call with no account at all.
For Tools via MCP use /mcp. See /tools for more info.
/- talk to Micro/home— a launch pad for your assistant, apps and daily work./inbox— the place to see chats, mail, tasks, etc./agents— your agents, and where you make a new one./services—/news,/weather,/markets, etc.
Some files are embedded in the binary, so editing means rebuilding:
home/cards.json— home screen cardsservice/news/feeds.json— RSS news feedsservice/chat/prompts.json— chat topicsservice/video/channels.json— YouTube channelsservice/places/locations.json— saved locations
See Install for every setting the code reads.
The rest lives in /admin/config on the server.
AGPL 3.0