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Answers to the most common questions about running and using Comis.

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General

Comis is an open-source AI agent platform that connects AI models to real-time chat channels like Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, iMessage, LINE, and IRC. It is not a chatbot builder — it is an autonomous agent framework where agents can schedule their own work, use tools, manage long-term memory, and operate independently across multiple platforms.
Yes, Comis is fully open source under the Apache-2.0 license and free to use. There is no license fee, no usage cap, and no paid tier.However, you will need API keys from AI providers (Anthropic, OpenAI, etc.) to power your agents. Those providers charge for API usage based on the number of tokens processed. Comis itself costs nothing.
Comis supports:
  • Anthropic (Claude models)
  • OpenAI (GPT-4 and newer)
  • Any OpenAI-compatible provider — this includes Ollama (for local models), Together AI, Groq, and many others
You can configure multiple providers and assign different models to different agents. See the Models page for details.
Yes, you need at least one AI provider API key. Agents need an AI model to think and respond — without an API key, there is no model to call.Most users start with an Anthropic API key for Claude or an OpenAI API key for GPT models. See the Configuration page for how to set up your API key.

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Cost and Resources

Comis itself is free. Your costs come from AI provider API usage:
  • Simple conversations typically cost a few cents per exchange
  • Complex agent executions (using tools, multiple LLM calls) typically cost $3-10 per execution
  • Cron jobs and heartbeats that involve LLM calls add incremental costs
Comis includes built-in budget controls to prevent unexpected spending. You can set per-agent token limits, cost caps, and circuit breakers that pause an agent if it exceeds your budget. See Agent Safety for details.
Comis is lightweight. Minimum requirements:
  • OS: Linux (production) or macOS (development)
  • CPU: Any modern processor (1+ cores)
  • RAM: 1 GB minimum, 2 GB recommended
  • Disk: 500 MB for the application, plus space for the database and logs
  • Node.js: Version 22 or newer
A $5/month VPS (like DigitalOcean, Hetzner, or Linode) is sufficient for personal use with a few agents. See the Requirements page for full details.
Yes. macOS and Linux are both supported for development and personal use. Install Node.js 22+, clone the repository, build, and start.For always-on operation (agents responding 24/7), use a server or VPS so the agents keep running when your laptop is closed. See the Installation guide to get started.

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Setup and Platforms

Comis supports 9 chat platforms:
  • Telegram — full support including groups, inline keyboards, and media
  • Discord — servers, DMs, threads, reactions, and embeds
  • Slack — workspaces with Socket Mode or HTTP mode
  • WhatsApp — via the WhatsApp Business API
  • Signal — via signal-cli (self-hosted)
  • iMessage — macOS only, via AppleScript integration
  • LINE — via the LINE Messaging API
  • IRC — any IRC network
  • Email — via IMAP/SMTP (any email provider)
See the Channels overview for a detailed comparison of features and limitations across platforms.
Yes. Comis connects to all your configured platforms simultaneously. You can have the same agent responding on Telegram, Discord, and Slack at the same time, or assign different agents to different platforms.Agent routing controls which agent responds on which channel. You can route by platform, channel, or even specific users.
Pull the latest code and rebuild:
git pull
pnpm install
pnpm build
Then restart the daemon:
pm2 restart comis
Or with systemd:
sudo systemctl restart comis
Your configuration and data are preserved across updates — only the application code changes.

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Security and Privacy

Yes. Comis runs entirely on your server. Conversations are stored locally in a SQLite database on your machine. The only external communication is with the AI provider API you configure (Anthropic, OpenAI, etc.) to process messages.There is no telemetry, no analytics, no usage tracking, and no data sharing with anyone. Your data never leaves your server except for the API calls you explicitly configure.
Only if you explicitly enable file tools in the tool policy. By default, agents have restricted file system access.When running as a systemd service, the Node.js --permission flags provide an additional sandbox layer that restricts file access to specific directories. See the Security documentation for details on all protection layers.When security.permission.enableNodePermissions is enabled, the Node.js permission model also disables fd-based fs APIs (fsync, fchmod, fchown) in the daemon process itself — credential file writes become best-effort durability and trace permissions are best-effort. This is Linux-only and off by default. See Node Permissions — Production fd-API Disablement for details.
Comis has multiple safety layers to prevent runaway agents:
  • Budget limits cap token usage and estimated cost per agent
  • Circuit breakers automatically pause agents that hit error thresholds
  • Tool policies restrict which tools each agent can use
  • Approval workflows require human approval for sensitive actions
If an agent exceeds its budget, it stops executing and logs a warning. You can configure all these limits in your config.yaml. See Agent Safety for details.

Troubleshooting

Solutions to common issues with exact error messages

Installation

Getting Comis installed and running

Channels

Connecting chat platforms

Agent Safety

Budget limits, circuit breakers, and cost controls