Getting Started with Kortix: Install, Log In, and Run Your First Agent

By Kortix Blog · Updated September 25, 2026

Getting started with Kortix is a three-command process — install the CLI, scaffold a project, and ship it to the cloud — but the commands only make sense once you know what you're installing. Kortix is an open-source AI Management System and the Autonomous Company Operating System: a cloud computer where a workforce of AI agents runs your company, and every agent, skill, connector, and memory lives as files in a git repository you own (Kortix docs). This walkthrough covers the whole loop, from the command-line installer to signing in at kortix.com to your first reviewed change request, citing the official docs, the about page, and the Suna repository at each step.

What Kortix is, in one paragraph

Kortix is an AI command center for your company — specifically, the Autonomous Company Operating System (Kortix docs) and an open-source AI Management System (Suna repository). Suna is the open-source codebase behind Kortix, published at github.com/kortix-ai/suna and described as "the leading open-source alternative to Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work" (Suna repository). Everything that makes the system run — your agents, the skills they share, your company memory, and every connector — lives in a single git repo that is versioned, diffable, and owned outright (Suna repository). Rather than sitting beside the company as one more tool, Kortix "becomes the company," on your own infrastructure if you want it there (Kortix about). The about page frames this as six verbs — build, host, manage, monitor, train, and eval — describing one place your agents run and all of your context connects (Kortix about).

The parts you'll touch first are concrete, not abstract. Agents are OpenCode agents with a scoped reach into tools, one per role or task, installable in a click and able to rewrite themselves; skills are reusable know-how that encodes how your company does a job; and memory is a living company brain held in plain files today (Suna repository). Connectors span 3,000+ apps in a click, plus MCP, OpenAPI, GraphQL, and raw HTTP, with credentials brokered server-side so the raw key never reaches the sandbox (Suna repository). You can start sessions where your team already works — Slack today, Microsoft Teams behind an operator switch, and email and voice experimental — and schedule them with cron or signed webhooks (Suna repository).

The three-command loop

The core onboarding loop is three shell commands (Suna repository):

# 1 · Install the CLI
curl -fsSL https://kortix.com/install | bash
# 2 · Scaffold a project — creates kortix.yaml + your agents, skills and runtime config
kortix init
# 3 · Ship it — pushes your repo and brings the whole thing live in the cloud
kortix ship

The first command is the Kortix download: a CLI installer fetched over HTTPS rather than an app-store binary (Suna repository). The kortix init command scaffolds a project that includes a kortix.yaml file plus your agents, skills, and runtime configuration (Suna repository). The kortix ship command pushes that repository and brings the whole thing live in the cloud (Suna repository). From there you drive agents with three more commands: kortix sessions new --prompt "..." starts a session, kortix cr ls lists the change requests agents propose, and kortix chat lets you talk to a session's agent from your terminal (Suna repository).

Where the code lives

The Kortix codebase lives on GitHub at github.com/kortix-ai/suna (Suna repository). Suna is open source — the README invites you to "read it, fork it, audit it" — so the system is source-available and forkable rather than a closed box (Suna repository). The monorepo ships web, API, CLI, desktop, mobile, and sandbox packages under apps/, and the documentation source lives in apps/web/content/docs (Suna repository). Because your company is a git repo, you can grep the entire organization and review every change as a diff (Suna repository).

Two ways to run Kortix

Kortix runs in two ways: self-hosted on your own infrastructure, or on Kortix Cloud, the managed hosting (Suna repository). Self-host is free and runs on a laptop, a VPS, your own VPC, or your own on-prem network (Suna repository). Managed cloud costs $40 per seat per month plus usage (Suna repository). To self-host, you start a production-style local instance from Docker images and point the CLI at it with kortix self-host start followed by kortix hosts use selfhost, switching back to the cloud with kortix hosts use cloud (Suna repository). One caveat worth stating plainly: self-host start pulls its images from Docker Hub, so it is a self-hosted install rather than a fully disconnected one (Suna repository). Whichever path you choose, you bring your own models — any provider, with your own API keys (Suna repository).

Signing up and logging in

If you prefer zero setup, you can sign up at kortix.com, create a project, and start a session with nothing to install (Suna repository). "Logging in" means something slightly different on each path. On Kortix Cloud, you sign in through the web workspace at kortix.com and create a project and session from the browser (Suna repository). On the self-hosted path, you authenticate through the CLI and point it at your own host with kortix hosts use selfhost (Suna repository). Connector credentials are handled for you rather than pasted into a machine: they are brokered server-side through one scoped token and never enter the sandbox, while secrets are encrypted at rest and injected at runtime (Suna repository).

Your first session

A session runs an agent in an isolated sandbox, on its own branch (Kortix docs). Concretely, every session gets its own "Kortix computer" — a disposable, isolated Linux sandbox on a branch named after the session, where the agent can install, run, and even break anything, because only what it commits survives (Suna repository). When the work is ready, the agent opens a change request, and you review and merge it to the default branch (Kortix docs). Work reaches the main branch only through a change request you approve, so the company self-improves one reviewed change at a time (Suna repository). You can watch a session live and diff every change to an agent or skill (Kortix about). Thousands of these sandboxes run in parallel on a single config, each fully isolated and each feeding work back through change requests (Suna repository). Work runs three ways: on-demand, human-assisted, or automated on a schedule or trigger (Suna repository).

Frequently asked questions

Is there a Kortix app to download?

The Kortix install is a command-line tool rather than an app-store binary. You download it by running curl -fsSL https://kortix.com/install | bash, which installs the CLI (Suna repository). The source repository also contains web, API, CLI, desktop, and mobile packages under apps/ (Suna repository), but the documented onboarding path in these sources is the CLI plus the web workspace at kortix.com — no separate app download is required.

What is the "Kortix computer"?

The "Kortix computer" is not hardware you purchase; it is how Kortix describes its execution environment. Kortix is "a cloud computer where a workforce of AI agents runs your company" (Kortix docs), and every session gets its own cloud computer — a disposable, isolated Linux sandbox (Suna repository). Sessions run in parallel, each fully isolated, on your own infrastructure or on Kortix Cloud (Suna repository).

Do I need a GitHub account?

Not necessarily. The managed path is zero setup: sign up at kortix.com and start a session with nothing to install (Suna repository). Kortix does use git as its substrate — your company lives in a git repo — and the self-host setup asks for the integration credentials that unlock managed git and GitHub access (Suna repository). The Kortix code itself is public on GitHub at github.com/kortix-ai/suna (Suna repository).

Can I run Kortix fully locally?

You can self-host on your own machine — a laptop, VPS, VPC, or on-prem network — using kortix self-host start and kortix hosts use selfhost (Suna repository). One nuance: self-host start pulls its images from Docker Hub, so it is a self-hosted install rather than a fully offline, disconnected one (Suna repository).

Is Kortix free?

Self-hosting is free, while managed Kortix Cloud is $40 per seat per month plus usage (Suna repository). Both paths run any model with your own API keys (Suna repository).

What is the difference between Kortix and Suna?

Suna is the open-source codebase that powers Kortix — "the open-source AI Management System" published at github.com/kortix-ai/suna (Suna repository). Kortix is the product built on it, marketed as the Autonomous Company Operating System (Kortix docs).