Ouroboros

Ouroboros is an open-source, general-purpose AI agent whose identity, durable memory, and history continue across tasks and restarts. It works on external projects, coordinates a live swarm of specialist agents, and can rewrite the implementation it runs on, including its code, architecture, prompts, tools, and dependencies. Reflection can also change how it understands itself without severing that continuity.

It runs as a native desktop app or through a headless CLI. The runtime keeps its repository, durable memory, history, and interface on your machine, while model inference can use remote APIs you configure or a local GGUF model.

Changing Ouroboros? Coding agents and people must read CONTRIBUTING.md before editing. It defines the required project context, verification, and separate-agent review flow.

Download Ouroboros

Just want to use Ouroboros? Click the download for your platform below. You do not need to clone this repository or install Python or uv.

• macOS 12+ on Apple silicon: Download for macOS (.dmg)
• Windows x64: Download for Windows (.zip)
• Debian, Ubuntu, or Astra Linux x86_64: Download the Debian package (.deb)
• Fedora or RHEL x86_64: Download the RPM package (.rpm)
• RED OS 8 x86_64: Download the RED OS package (.rpm)
• Other Linux x86_64: Download the portable AppImage or the tar.gz archive

Files named SHA256SUMS, release-evidence.json, release-smoke-*.json, and sbom-*.cdx.json are verification evidence, not additional installers.

macOS quick start

1. Click Download for macOS (.dmg). The current file is named Ouroboros-<version>.dmg.
2. Open the DMG and drag Ouroboros.app onto the Applications shortcut.
3. Open Ouroboros from Applications. If Gatekeeper asks, right-click the app and choose Open.

Windows quick start

1. Click Download for Windows (.zip).
2. Extract the ZIP.
3. Open the extracted Ouroboros folder and run Ouroboros.exe.

Linux quick start

• On Debian, Ubuntu, or Astra Linux, download the .deb above and run sudo apt install ./ouroboros_*_amd64.deb.
• On Fedora or RHEL, download the generic .rpm above and run sudo dnf install ./ouroboros-*.x86_64.rpm. RED OS 8 has its own red80 package.
• On another x86_64 distribution, download the AppImage, make it executable with chmod +x Ouroboros-*.AppImage, and run it. Git must already be installed.

To run tasks, configure at least one supported remote provider API key or a local GGUF model. The first-run wizard guides model access, review policy, and budget setup.

The desktop packages already contain an optional CLI installer. On macOS, after copying the app to Applications, double-click Install CLI.command in the mounted DMG. On Linux use ./Ouroboros/bin/install-ouroboros-cli; on Windows use Ouroboros\bin\install-ouroboros-cli.cmd. These installers create a user-local ouroboros command without sudo. You do not need Python or uv.

Ouroboros bundles Claudexor as its local execution layer for delegated coding and hosted-agent review. Ouroboros owns the task, memory, review, and final integration, while Claudexor runs the selected connected coding harness and returns durable execution evidence. Explore Claudexor.

The technical report, Ouroboros: A Self-Developing Frontier Coding Agent with Reviewed Core Evolution, describes the reviewed core-evolution system, the 161-day Hope deployment, and the benchmark campaigns summarized below. Paper page · Hugging Face

The charts below are self-reported results on Terminal-Bench 2.1, OSWorld-Verified, and CL-Bench, measured against Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, and Hermes — on the same model where a matched pair was run, and against the public leaderboard where it was not.

Ouroboros first booted on February 16, 2026. During the following 48 hours, the repository advanced from the v4.1 line to v6.2.0. The self-authored record preserved from that period counts 32 evolution cycles. That first generation ran in Google Colab through Telegram and remains preserved on the legacy-google-colab branch and its original project page; the current generation carries the same identity into a native desktop and headless runtime.

⭐ Star Ouroboros to follow its next evolution. A star also helps more people find the project, trace its history, and take part in what it becomes.

Reviewed skills, transport bridges, tools, and widgets are available through OuroborosHub.

What Ouroboros Can Do

• Modify its implementation. Its editable surface spans application code, architecture, prompts, tools, and dependencies, while reflection can also reshape its living self-understanding.
• Evolve autonomously. Evolution campaigns turn selected improvements into reviewed changes that remain part of its Git history.
• Continue across restarts. Identity, memory, dialogue, knowledge, reflections, and version history form one ongoing biography.
• Think between requests. Background consciousness supports reflection, initiative, and preparation outside the immediate request-response loop.
• Coordinate a live swarm. Specialist agents can investigate or act in parallel, share task-tree findings, and return work for integration.
• Work on external projects. A separate Git workspace can receive the full task loop while Ouroboros keeps its own repository and governance boundary distinct.
• Operate through desktop or CLI. The native app and gateway-backed command line expose the same managed tasks, progress, artifact