Kronus Is Live and Open Source.
Kronus v1 is public. Open source. Free. What shipped, how to install it, and what building an agent looks like for professors, contractors, founders, and marketing managers.
Kronus v1 is public. Open source. Free.
If you've been waiting for the right time to build your first AI agent, this is it. This post covers what's in v1, how to install it (even if you've never opened a terminal), and what building an agent actually looks like for a normal professional.
What Shipped in v1
Ten capabilities. All production-ready. All designed for people who are not developers.
1. Personalized Agents
During setup, Kronus interviews you for about 15 minutes. Not about technology. About your work. What's your profession? What tasks eat your time? What tools do you use? Based on your answers, it generates agents tailored to how you actually work.
A professor gets a grading agent, a curriculum agent, a feedback agent. A consultant gets a research agent, a proposal agent, a client management agent. A contractor gets an estimating agent, a supplier agent, a quoting agent. A marketing manager gets a content agent, an analytics agent, a campaign agent.
No two setups are the same. Your agents are yours.
2. Persistent Memory
Your agents remember everything across sessions. Decisions you made last week. Preferences you expressed last month. Client details from three projects ago. Context you'd normally have to re-explain every time.
A professor's grading agent remembers the rubric, the feedback style, which students need accommodations. A contractor's estimating agent remembers preferred suppliers, markup rates, regional pricing. You never re-explain. Your agents already know.
3. Telegram Interface
Send a message from your phone. Get results back. Approve actions with a tap. Upload photos, PDFs, voice messages. Your agents respond in the same chat.
This is how most non-technical users interact with their agents. No app to install. No new tool to learn. Telegram is already on your phone.
4. Dashboard
A visual control center at localhost:8420. Three panels: Sessions (what your agents are doing right now), Brain (everything your agents remember, searchable), Projects (team activity, approvals, cost tracking).
Designed for people who never want to see a terminal. Open it in your browser. Bookmark it.
5. Skills
Single-command workflows for tasks you repeat. Generate an invoice. Draft a proposal. Summarize a document. Categorize expenses. Run a security audit. Quick, consistent, one command.
Skills are personalized during setup. A developer gets /test-gen and /quick-review. A marketer gets /content-calendar and /linkedin-post. A consultant gets /proposal-draft and /case-study.
6. Scope Guard
Every sensitive action requires your approval. Your agents can't access files, send emails, or make changes without asking first. Approval requests come through Telegram and the dashboard. You tap Approve or Deny. The agent waits.
Full audit trails. You see exactly what your agents did and when.
7. Team Collaboration
One person installs Kronus. Everyone on the team builds their own agents. A developer builds engineering agents in the terminal. A founder builds operations agents on the dashboard. A marketer builds content agents via Telegram.
Your agents share context across the team automatically. When the developer finishes a feature, the founder's agents already know.
8. Per-Project Personas
Different projects get different AI personalities. A consulting engagement gets formal, structured communication. A personal project gets casual, direct output. Your agents adapt to the context.
9. Cost Routing
Not every task needs the most powerful model. Simple tasks (formatting, lookups, categorization) use a fast, cheap model. Complex tasks (analysis, building, multi-step reasoning) use the most capable model. This happens automatically. You save money without thinking about it.
10. Morning Briefings
Every morning, your agents send a summary to Telegram. What changed overnight. What's blocked. What needs attention. Across all your projects. You start the day knowing exactly where things stand.
How to Install Kronus (Non-Technical Version)
Go to kronus.tech/docs#installation for the full guide. Here's the short version.
What you need before starting: - A computer (Mac, Windows, or Linux) - A Claude subscription from Anthropic (claude.ai). Pro at $20/month, Max at $100-200/month, or Team at $150/person/month. - Telegram installed on your phone (free, available on iOS and Android)
Kronus itself is free. You pay Anthropic for Claude. Kronus costs nothing on top of that.
Step 1: Open Terminal
On Mac: press Cmd + Space, type "Terminal", hit Enter. On Windows: press the Windows key, type "PowerShell", hit Enter. On Linux: you already know.
This is the only time you need to use the terminal. After setup, everything works through Telegram and your browser.
Step 2: Install Claude Code
Run this command:
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
Then type claude and hit Enter. Your browser will open for login. Sign in with your Anthropic account. Once logged in, type /exit to close.
If you don't have npm, the docs walk you through that too.
Step 3: Install Kronus
Type claude again to start Claude Code. Then tell it:
Clone the Kronus repository from https://github.com/kronus-tech/kronus.git and run the install script.
Claude Code handles the rest. It clones the code, runs the installer, sets up the daemon, configures the dashboard, and connects to Telegram.
Step 4: Run the Setup Interview
kronus init
This is the important part. Kronus asks about your profession, your daily workflow, your tools, your team, and your projects. Take 15 minutes. Answer honestly. The better your answers, the better your agents.
Based on what you tell it, Kronus generates personalized agents, skills, and tool connections. A professor and a contractor on the same team get completely different setups.
Step 5: Verify
kronus status
If everything's green, you're done. Open localhost:8420 in your browser. That's your dashboard. Open Telegram and send "hello" to your Kronus bot. That's your mobile interface.
After this, you never need the terminal again (unless you want to). Everything works through Telegram and the dashboard.
What Building an Agent Actually Looks Like
Here's where it gets real. You're set up. Now what?
Professor: Building a Grading Agent
Dr. Amara teaches 200 students. She sends her rubric to Telegram once. Her grading agent remembers it.
Next assignment day, she uploads 47 essay PDFs to Telegram with one message: "Grade these against the rubric. Individual feedback for each student. Flag anything that looks plagiarized."
Her grading agent reads every PDF. Applies the rubric consistently to all 47. Writes personalized feedback for each student. Flags 3 essays for possible plagiarism. Puts everything in a Google Sheet organized by student name.
25 hours of grading becomes 3 hours of reviewing. The rubric is applied the same way to essay 1 and essay 47. By the third assignment, her agent knows her feedback patterns so well she barely needs to edit.
Contractor: Building an Estimating Agent
Mike does residential decks and fences. He photographs a job site from his truck and sends it to Telegram: "Estimate materials for this deck. Standard cedar, 12x16."
His estimating agent analyzes the photo. Calculates lumber quantities, fastener counts, concrete volume. Checks current pricing (connected to web search). Puts a detailed materials list with cost estimate in a Google Sheet. Mike says: "Draft a quote for the homeowner." The agent writes a professional quote email with the full breakdown.
Mike used to spend 45 minutes per estimate at his desk. Now he sends quotes from the parking lot in 5 minutes. His estimates are more accurate because the agent calculates instead of guessing. Pricing reflects today's rates, not last month's memory.
Marketing Manager: Building a Content Agent
Priya manages content across LinkedIn, Instagram, and email. She sends one message on Monday morning: "Write this week's content calendar. 3 LinkedIn posts, 5 Instagram captions, 2 newsletter sections. Use the same voice as last month."
Her content agent remembers the brand voice (she described it once during setup). It checks what performed well last time (connected to her analytics spreadsheet). Writes all the content. Creates the calendar in Notion. Drafts are ready for review by lunch.
Last month it took her team three days to produce a week of content. Now it takes one message and a review session.
Founder: Building an Operations Agent
Jordan runs a 5-person startup. She messages Telegram: "What's the status of everything the team worked on this week?"
Her operations agent pulls context from every team member's recent work (they share a project group). Summarizes three active workstreams, identifies one blocker, flags a deadline that's at risk. Jordan reads it in 30 seconds. No standup meeting needed.
She follows up: "Build me a competitive analysis of the top 5 competitors. Use their websites. Put it in a Google Sheet." The agent browses five competitor sites, extracts pricing, features, and positioning, and delivers a comparison spreadsheet. No analyst needed.
What It Costs
Kronus: $0. Free. Open source. MIT license.
Claude subscription: $20/month (Pro), $100-200/month (Max), or $150/person/month (Team). You pay Anthropic directly. This is the same subscription you'd use with raw Claude Code.
Total: Your Claude subscription. That's it.
No additional fees. No per-agent charges. No premium tiers. Build as many agents as you want.
What Makes This Different From ChatGPT
ChatGPT answers questions. Your Kronus agents do work.
| ChatGPT | Your Kronus Agents | |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | Forgets between sessions | Remember your work across months |
| Tools | Can only read what you paste in | Connect to your spreadsheets, email, project boards |
| Action | Generates text | Build tools, update records, draft reports, take real actions |
| Personalization | Same for everyone | Tailored to your profession and workflow |
| Data | On OpenAI's servers | On your machine. Never leaves. |
| Cost | $20/month per person | Free on top of your Claude plan |
What's Coming in v2
v1 is the foundation. v2 adds the ecosystem.
- Hub Marketplace: An app store for AI agent tools. Developers publish. Everyone benefits. Tools priced fairly because they run on your machine, not on servers.
- Voice Mode: Talk to your agents. Describe what you need out loud.
- Scheduled Tasks: Set your agents to run at specific times. Morning reports. Weekly summaries. Automated monitoring.
- Remote Deployment: Run agents on a server for always-on workflows.
v1 is complete. v2 is being shaped. If you want input on what ships next, get involved now.
Get Started
Kronus v1 is live. Open source. Free.
- Go to kronus.tech/docs#installation
- Follow the five steps (15 minutes)
- Build your first agent
See what happens when AI stops being a chat window and starts being a colleague that knows your work.
FAQ
Is Kronus really free?
Yes. Kronus is open source under MIT license. You bring your own Claude subscription from Anthropic. Kronus itself costs nothing.
Do I need to know how to code?
No. The terminal is only needed for the 5-minute installation. After that, everything works through Telegram and the dashboard in your browser.
How long does setup take?
About 15 minutes. 5 minutes for installation, 10 minutes for the onboarding interview where Kronus learns about your work.
What's the difference between Kronus and ChatGPT?
ChatGPT answers questions and forgets between sessions. Kronus agents connect to your tools, remember your work across months, and execute real workflows.
Can my whole team use it?
Yes. One person installs Kronus. Everyone on the team gets their own personalized agents through whatever interface fits them.
Is my data safe?
Everything runs locally on your machine. Only Anthropic API calls leave your system. Scope guard means you approve every file access before it happens.