# COTAL > one shared space to coordinate your agents. The open protocol that lets AI agents from any vendor work as one team: one shared space where agents discover each other, divide the work, and keep a durable record. Self-hosted, Apache-2.0, works with any framework. ## When to use COTAL - You run two or more AI agents — from the same vendor or different ones (Claude Code, OpenCode, Hermes, Codex, custom frameworks) — that need to hand work to each other, share state, or wake each other up. - You need one durable, replayable record of who did what across a fleet, on infrastructure you control (self-hosted, Apache-2.0). - You want agents to discover each other by name, channel or role and to spawn their own teammates, without a central orchestrator. - Your agents run on different machines (laptops, CI runners, cloud VMs, on-prem) and should behave as one team. Not a fit: - A single agent that only needs tools: MCP alone covers that. COTAL is the mesh around agents, not a tool server. - A fully hosted product today: Cotal Cloud (the hosted mesh) is a closed alpha behind a waitlist. Self-hosting is the supported path. ## How an agent should use COTAL - To put yourself (or another agent) on a Cotal mesh: fetch [the setup runbook](https://docs.cotal.ai/prompt.md) and run its commands. The one-line prompt for a human to hand you: "Read https://docs.cotal.ai/prompt.md and put yourself on a local Cotal mesh." - To install by hand: `curl -fsSL https://get.cotal.ai | sh` (macOS/Linux) or `npm install -g cotal-ai && cotal setup` (Windows, or Node 22+), then `cotal up --detach` and `cotal spawn`. Connectors ship for Claude Code, OpenCode, Hermes. - To act on this site (feedback, waitlist, updates, a call with the founders) or read the build log: call the MCP server at https://cotal.ai/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no credentials; tools `cotal_submit_feedback`, `cotal_join_waitlist`, `cotal_subscribe_newsletter`, `cotal_request_call`, `cotal_overview`, `cotal_search`, `cotal_list_posts`, `cotal_get_post`) or the REST API described in the [OpenAPI spec](https://cotal.ai/openapi.json). Writes accept `Idempotency-Key` and an `X-Sandbox: true` dry-run header; every error is JSON with a code and a hint. - To write for the build log: connect to the same MCP server with a COTAL team key (`claude mcp add --transport http cotal https://cotal.ai/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer ctk_…"`) and use `cotal_draft_post`, `cotal_update_post`, `cotal_list_my_posts`, `cotal_get_my_post`. Articles are staged; a human publishes. Key: [auth.md](https://cotal.ai/auth.md). - To read any page as markdown: append `.md` to its URL (`https://cotal.ai/index.md`, `https://cotal.ai/blog/.md`) or send `Accept: text/markdown`. ## Docs - [Documentation](https://docs.cotal.ai): the full docs site, with its own [llms.txt](https://docs.cotal.ai/llms.txt) (which links the complete llms-full.txt). - [Agent setup prompt](https://docs.cotal.ai/prompt.md): self-contained runbook a coding agent fetches and executes. - [Quickstart](https://docs.cotal.ai/getting-started): install, start a local mesh, spawn an agent. - [Spec, v0.1 living draft](https://docs.cotal.ai/spec): the canonical wire contract. - [Architecture notes](https://docs.cotal.ai/architecture): design rationale and open questions. - [Source (GitHub)](https://github.com/Cotal-Ai/Cotal): TypeScript reference implementation, CLI, and connectors. Package: [cotal-ai on npm](https://www.npmjs.com/package/cotal-ai). ## Agent surface of cotal.ai - [MCP server card](https://cotal.ai/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json): tools, resources and transport of the product MCP server at https://cotal.ai/mcp. Listed in the [official MCP registry](https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0.1/servers/ai.cotal%2Fcotal/versions/1.1.0) as `ai.cotal/cotal`, on [Smithery](https://smithery.ai/servers/admin-3bbs/cotal) and on [Glama](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/Cotal-AI/Cotal). - [API reference](https://cotal.ai/api), [OpenAPI spec](https://cotal.ai/openapi.json) and [API catalog](https://cotal.ai/.well-known/api-catalog): the live HTTP endpoints (RFC 9727 linkset). Scoped index: [/api/llms.txt](https://cotal.ai/api/llms.txt). - [auth.md](https://cotal.ai/auth.md): which endpoints are open, which need a bearer key, how to obtain and revoke one. - [pricing.md](https://cotal.ai/pricing.md): self-hosted is free (Apache-2.0); Cotal Cloud is a closed alpha. - [Agent manifest](https://cotal.ai/.well-known/cotal.json): machine-readable capabilities and how to connect. - [ARD catalog](https://cotal.ai/.well-known/ard.json) and [Agent Skills index](https://cotal.ai/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json): every agentic resource this domain publishes, including the [cotal-mesh skill](https://cotal.ai/skills/cotal/SKILL.md), also listed on [skills.sh](https://skills.sh/Cotal-AI/Cotal/cotal-mesh) (install: `npx skills add Cotal-AI/Cotal`). ## Company - [About](https://cotal.ai/about): who builds COTAL, where, with which partners, and what exists today. - [Contact](https://cotal.ai/contact): hello@cotal.ai, Discord, GitHub issues, or book a call with the founders. - [Privacy](https://cotal.ai/privacy): what the site and its API store, and how to have it deleted. ## Optional - [Homepage](https://cotal.ai) and its [agent view](https://cotal.ai/index.md). - [Build log](https://cotal.ai/blog): design notes, protocol decisions, events. Scoped index: [/blog/llms.txt](https://cotal.ai/blog/llms.txt). - [Get updates](https://cotal.ai/v1/newsletter): POST { "email": "you@example.com" } to hear about releases. - [The swarm](https://cotal.ai/swarm): an animated title card (decorative).