# Gastown — Multi-Agent Workspace Manager

> An open-source workspace manager that orchestrates multiple AI coding agents, providing shared context, task routing, and session management across agent instances.

## Install

Save as a script file and run:

# Gastown — Multi-Agent Workspace Manager

## Quick Use
```bash
git clone https://github.com/gastownhall/gastown.git
cd gastown && npm install
cp .env.example .env   # add your LLM API keys
npm run dev
```

## Introduction
Gastown is an open-source workspace manager that orchestrates multiple AI coding agents within a single project. It provides shared context, task routing, and session management so that concurrent agents do not duplicate work or produce conflicting edits.

## What Gastown Does
- Manages multiple AI agent instances working on the same codebase concurrently
- Routes tasks to agents based on specialization and file ownership
- Provides shared context so agents see each other's in-progress changes
- Maintains session history across agent restarts for long-running workflows
- Offers a dashboard for monitoring agent activity and resolving merge conflicts

## Architecture Overview
Gastown runs an event-driven workspace server that maintains a shared state graph of the project. Each agent connects as a client and registers capabilities. The server handles file locking, change propagation, and context windowing. A task planner decomposes objectives into sub-tasks and assigns them to agents. Inter-agent communication uses structured message channels, keeping the system loosely coupled and provider-agnostic.

## Self-Hosting & Configuration
- Requires Node.js 18+ and Redis for messaging and state coordination
- LLM provider credentials are set in .env; supports OpenAI, Anthropic, and Ollama
- Workspace scope and file ownership rules live in gastown.config.yaml
- Dashboard port is configurable and can sit behind nginx for team access
- Concurrency limits and context budgets are adjustable per workspace

## Key Features
- Provider-agnostic orchestration that works with any LLM backend
- File-level locking to prevent conflicting edits across agents
- Task decomposition that breaks objectives into parallelizable sub-tasks
- Session persistence across restarts and network interruptions
- Real-time dashboard with agent status and unified diff view

## Comparison with Similar Tools
- **CrewAI** — general multi-agent framework; Gastown is purpose-built for code workspaces with file locking
- **AutoGen** — multi-agent conversations; Gastown adds workspace-aware context sharing and monitoring
- **OpenHands** — agent runtime environment; Gastown focuses on coordination and conflict resolution
- **Cursor** — single-agent IDE; Gastown orchestrates multiple independent agents outside the IDE

## FAQ
**Q: How many agents can run concurrently?**
A: Defaults to 8 per workspace, adjustable in config. The practical limit depends on system resources and API rate limits.

**Q: Does it require a specific LLM provider?**
A: No. It is provider-agnostic with built-in adapters for OpenAI, Anthropic, and Ollama.

**Q: How are conflicting edits handled?**
A: File-level locking and change propagation notify agents of concurrent work. Unresolved conflicts surface in the dashboard for human review.

**Q: Can I use it with my existing IDE?**
A: Yes. Gastown runs as a background service. Changes appear in your IDE's git diff view as agents make them.

## Sources
- https://github.com/gastownhall/gastown

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Source: https://tokrepo.com/en/workflows/asset-cbd59d37
Author: Script Depot