Capabilities · Overview
Capabilities — the four subsystems
Four subsystems make Agentry work, and they are not all equal. Two are the mandatory substrate the run cannot function without; two are additive layers that make the work nicer to watch and steer. This page is the index into all four.
Each subsystem has its own concept page — follow a name below to read it in depth. What this hub frames is the line between them: which two are required, which two are convenience, and what still works when you turn the convenience off. The table is the contract.
| Subsystem | What it does | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | The durable fact/episode store — a local stdio MCP over node:sqlite with project + global roots. The moat: run #2 is warmer than run #1. | Required |
| Flow | The run-state engine — task lifecycle, append-only events, and review, recorded as plain files in .agentry/work/ that are the source of truth. | Required |
| Workbench | A per-project local Agent Center — read, edit, comment, approve, and watch a live graph of the run on :4317. | Optional · additive |
| Channels | Live human↔agent push over the file-watch loop — comments, threaded replies, a permission relay, and status steering. A research preview. | Optional · additive |
Mandatory substrate vs. additive layers
Memory and Flow are the mandatory substrate — the run does not function without them. Flow is where the run's state lives, as plain files; Memory is the always-on store that makes each run warmer than the last. Workbench and Channels are additive: they make a run nicer to watch and steer, but the run is complete without them. The reason the line holds is that the substrate is files, not a live connection.
What still works when you turn the layers off
- Channels off → everything still works via the async file-watch loop: the files are truth, the agent reads your edits on its next turn, and tool approvals fall back to the terminal dialog.
- Workbench off → terminal-only. You conduct the same run from the command line and nothing is lost; nothing in the substrate depends on the server being up.
- Only Memory + Flow are required. Strip both additive layers and the run is still complete — that is the line between substrate and convenience.
How a tool call gets approved across the terminal, the Workbench, and the channel relay is its own subject — see Permissions. Or start with Flow, the engine the other three are built on.