arcana-os 0.1.1

The OS that gives your agents a soul — the batteries-included install (core + CLI)

The OS that gives your agents a soul.

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Arcana OS is a multi-agent system where each AI agent is assigned a tarot card archetype that defines its personality, behaviour, and defaults. The card is not cosmetic — it generates the agent's system prompt and sets its temperature. Blend a primary card with modifier cards to tune the mix.

The project ships as two packages — a Python library you build agents with, and a CLI that wraps it for everyday use — plus arcana-os, a meta-package that installs both.

uv tool install arcana-os

arcana init
arcana providers add -p ollama -m hermes-3 -n local
arcana agent create --name researcher --card hermit --model local
arcana run "what are the tradeoffs between RAG and fine-tuning?" --agent researcher --stream

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The two packages

arcana-core — the Python library

The real product. Card-configured agents that run through a model gateway.

from arcana import Agent, Card
from arcana.models import ConnectionStore, ModelGateway

async with ModelGateway(ConnectionStore()) as gw:
    agent = Agent(
        name="researcher",
        card=Card.HERMIT,               # IX · The Hermit — Researcher / Deep Analyst
        modifier_cards=[Card.EMPRESS],  # blend in the Empress's warmth
        gateway=gw,
        model="ollama/hermes-3",
    )
    result = await agent.run("summarize recent advances in RAG")

It includes the card engine and all 22 Major Arcana, the model gateway with adapters for Ollama, Anthropic, and OpenAI-compatible providers, and agent + session persistence. See the arcana-core README for the full module map.

arcana-cli — the command line

A thin Typer wrapper around the library: init, status, providers, agent, run, and cards. Create and manage agents, connect models, and run prompts without writing Python. See the arcana-cli README for every command.

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The 22 Major Arcana

#	Card	Archetype	Temp
0	The Fool	Explorer / Autonomous Agent	0.95
I	The Magician	Executor / Tool Master	0.50
II	The High Priestess	Archivist / Pattern Reader	0.40
III	The Empress	Creator / Generative Agent	0.85
IV	The Emperor	Orchestrator / System Agent	0.30
V	The Hierophant	Advisor / Domain Expert	0.30
VI	The Lovers	Collaborator / Communication	0.70
VII	The Chariot	Driver / Goal Agent	0.40
VIII	Strength	Coach / Long-Game Agent	0.60
IX	The Hermit	Researcher / Deep Analyst	0.35
X	Wheel of Fortune	Scheduler / Probabilistic	0.65
XI	Justice	Auditor / Evaluation Agent	0.20
XII	The Hanged Man	Reframer / Perspective	0.80
XIII	Death	Transformer / Refactor Agent	0.40
XIV	Temperance	Integrator / Synthesis	0.55
XV	The Devil	Shadow / Constraint Breaker	0.75
XVI	The Tower	Disruptor / Breakthrough	0.85
XVII	The Star	Companion / Wellbeing Agent	0.70
XVIII	The Moon	Interpreter / Ambiguity	0.80
XIX	The Sun	Amplifier / Output Agent	0.75
XX	Judgement	Reviewer / Reflection	0.45
XXI	The World	Meta-Agent (reserved)	0.50

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Installation

The quickest way — no Python or uv required first (the installer bootstraps both):

curl -LsSf https://arcanaos.cloud/install.sh | sh

Already have uv? Install directly:

# As a CLI tool (installs core + CLI)
uv tool install arcana-os

# As a library
uv add arcana-core

Requirements: Python 3.11+ (the curl installer fetches a managed one for you). For local models, Ollama with your preferred model.

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Roadmap

This is the Phase 1a MVP — card-configured agents that run statelessly today. The next phase adds federated memory, a tool/MCP gateway, and The World, a meta-agent (card XXI) that routes work across agents; their type systems are already modelled in arcana-core, ready to be wired up.

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License

Apache License 2.0. Arcana OS is open source and will stay that way; the Apache license also lets us offer a hosted edition in the future.