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External Assistants

Use RunAgents with external assistants (Codex / Claude Code) without relying on built-in RunAgents Copilot.

1. Set External Assistant Mode

runagents config set assistant-mode external

This keeps RunAgents as the control plane (validation, governance, deployment), while your external assistant handles reasoning.

2. Export Workspace Context

runagents context export -o json > context.json

This snapshot includes:

  • agents
  • tools
  • model providers
  • policies
  • approvals
  • deploy drafts

Use --strict if you want export to fail on any partial error:

runagents context export --strict -o json > context.json

3. Ask Assistant to Generate an Action Plan

Prompt your assistant with context.json and ask it to create plan.json using the Action Plan schema.

Then validate:

runagents action validate --file plan.json -o json

4. Apply Plan

runagents action apply --file plan.json -o json
  1. context export
  2. assistant generates/updates plan.json
  3. action validate
  4. action apply
  5. context export again for confirmation

Safety Guidelines

  • Always run validate before apply.
  • Keep a stable idempotency_key per action intent.
  • Use continue_on_error: false for production deploy sequences.
  • Store plan files in version control for auditability.