Knowledge Agent Template
Open source file-system and knowledge based agent template. Build AI agents that stay up to date with your knowledge base
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What is Knowledge Agent Template?
The Knowledge Agent Template is an open-source file-system and knowledge-based agent template that helps developers build AI agents that stay up to date with their knowledge base. Unlike traditional RAG systems, it uses file-based search with grep, find, and cat commands inside isolated sandboxes instead of embeddings or vector databases, making results deterministic, explainable, and instant with zero infrastructure overhead.
Key features include multi-platform bot support (web chat, GitHub Issues, Discord, with Slack and Linear coming soon), a built-in admin panel with usage stats, error logs, user management, and source configuration, an AI-powered admin agent that can answer operational questions using internal tools, a smart complexity router that automatically routes questions to appropriate models for cost optimization, real-time tool visualization showing what the agent is doing, shareable conversations with public read-only links, and a shared sandbox pool that connects to already-running sandboxes in under 100ms.
The template is ideal for development teams or individuals managing extensive documentation, codebases, or content who want to provide instant, accurate answers. It supports pluggable knowledge sources including GitHub repositories, YouTube transcripts, custom APIs, and can be deployed as a chat app, GitHub bot, Discord bot, or all at once from a single codebase powered by Vercel Chat SDK, AI SDK, Nuxt, and Vercel Workflows.
Knowledge Agent Template pricing
Pricing model: Freemium
The Knowledge Agent Template is free and open source under the MIT license. You can fork the repository, customize it, and deploy your own instance at no cost. The template runs on Vercel's infrastructure, so you may incur Vercel hosting costs depending on your usage plan. Vercel offers a free tier for hobby projects with limited bandwidth and serverless function execution. There are no paid plans from the template itself since it is open source, but you pay for the underlying infrastructure (Vercel hosting, AI model API calls, sandbox execution).
Knowledge Agent Template pros
- No vector database or embeddings needed
- Deterministic and explainable search results
- Instant search with zero infrastructure overhead
- Multi-platform support from one codebase
- Built-in admin panel with full controls
- AI-powered admin agent for operational questions
- Automatic cost optimization via complexity routing
- Real-time tool visualization in chat UI
- Shareable conversations with public links
- Shared sandbox pool for under 100ms startup
- Read-only sandboxes with blocked dangerous commands
- Supports GitHub repos, YouTube transcripts, custom APIs
- Open source with MIT license
- Easy customization with AI-assisted skills
- Production-ready with Vercel deployment
Knowledge Agent Template cons
- Requires Vercel account for hosting
- Setup requires JavaScript/TypeScript knowledge
- GitHub OAuth app configuration needed
- Limited to file-based search methods
- No embeddings means no semantic similarity search
- Slack and Linear adapters still in development
- Requires bun runtime for development
- Self-hosting requires manual environment setup
Frequently asked questions about Knowledge Agent Template
What is the Knowledge Agent Template?
The Knowledge Agent Template is an open-source file-system and knowledge-based agent template that lets you build AI agents that stay up to date with your knowledge base. It uses grep, find, and cat commands inside isolated sandboxes to search across sources like GitHub repos and YouTube transcripts without embeddings or vector databases.
Do I need a vector database to use this template?
No. The template uses file-based search with grep, find, and cat inside isolated Vercel Sandboxes instead of embeddings or vector databases. This makes results deterministic, explainable, and instant with zero infrastructure overhead.
What knowledge sources can I connect?
You can add GitHub repositories, YouTube channels/transcripts, and custom APIs as knowledge sources through the admin interface at /admin. Sources are synced to a snapshot repository via Vercel Workflow and searched using file-based commands.
Which platforms can I deploy the bot to?
The template supports web chat, GitHub Issues (via GitHub App), and Discord out of the box. Slack and Linear adapters are coming soon. Adding a new platform requires creating a single adapter file using the Chat SDK.
How does the complexity router work?
Every incoming question is classified by complexity (trivial to complex) and automatically routed to the right AI model. Simple questions go to fast, cheap models while hard questions go to powerful ones, optimizing costs automatically without manual rules.
What is the built-in admin panel used for?
The admin panel provides usage stats, error logs, user management, source configuration, and content sync controls. The AI-powered admin agent can answer operational questions like 'what errors happened in the last 24 hours' using tools like query_stats, query_errors, run_sql, and chart.
How fast does the sandbox start?
Sandboxes are pooled across users and conversations. When a chat starts, it connects to an already-running sandbox in under 100ms. If none is available, a pre-built snapshot spins one up in 1-3 seconds.
Is the template free to use?
Yes, the Knowledge Agent Template is free and open source under the MIT license. You can fork it, customize it, and deploy it at no cost. You only pay for underlying infrastructure like Vercel hosting and AI model API calls.
How do I customize the template for my project?
The template includes local AI skills in .agents/skills/ for add-tool, add-source, add-bot-adapter, and rename-project. You can delegate tasks to an AI agent following these skills, or manually rename your instance, add sources, customize prompts, theme the UI, and add bot adapters.
Can I self-host the template?
Yes. Clone the repository, install dependencies with bun, configure environment variables (BETTER_AUTH_SECRET, GITHUB_CLIENT_ID, GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET), and run bun run dev. See ENVIRONMENT.md for the full list of required environment variables.