maxs 0.20.0

minimalist ai agent

maxs

minimalist ai agent that learns from your conversations

quick start

pipx install maxs
maxs

setup your ai provider

option 1: local

curl -fsSL https://ollama.ai/install.sh | sh
ollama pull qwen3:4b
maxs

option 2: cloud providers

# anthropic
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="your-key"
MODEL_PROVIDER=anthropic maxs

# openai
export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-key" 
MODEL_PROVIDER=openai maxs

# other providers: bedrock, github, litellm, llamaapi, mistral

what makes maxs special

🧠 remembers everything

• sees your recent shell commands (bash/zsh history)
• remembers past conversations across sessions
• learns from your conversation patterns

🛠️ powerful built-in tools

• execute shell commands
• scrape websites and parse html
• run background tasks
• network communication
• nested ai workflows

🌐 team awareness (optional)

when configured with aws, multiple maxs instances can share context:

• local development + github actions + production servers
• team members see each other's work
• coordinated automation across environments

basic usage

# ask questions
maxs "what files are in this directory?"

# execute shell commands  
maxs "!ls -la"
maxs "!git status"

# analyze and process
maxs "analyze the log file and find errors"
maxs "format all python files in this project"

# web tasks
maxs "scrape news from hacker news"

# automation
maxs "monitor the system logs in background"

built-in tools

default tools (always available)

tool	what it does	example
bash	run shell commands safely	check disk space
environment	manage settings	show all environment variables
tcp	network communication	start a web server on port 8080
scraper	get data from websites	scrape product prices from amazon
use_agent	use different ai models for specific tasks	use gpt-4 to write documentation
tasks	run things in background	monitor logs continuously

optional tools (enable when needed)

tool	what it does	how to enable
dialog	create interactive forms	STRANDS_TOOLS="bash,environment,tcp,scraper,use_agent,tasks,dialog" maxs
event_bridge	share context with other maxs instances	STRANDS_TOOLS="bash,environment,tcp,scraper,use_agent,tasks,event_bridge" maxs

smart features

conversation memory

maxs automatically remembers:

# session 1
maxs "i'm working on user authentication"

# session 2 (later)
maxs "how's the auth work going?"
# maxs remembers the previous conversation

shell integration

# maxs sees your recent commands
$ git clone https://github.com/user/repo
$ cd repo
$ maxs "analyze this codebase"
# maxs knows you just cloned a repo and can analyze it

multi-model workflows

maxs "use claude for creative writing and gpt-4 for code review"
# automatically switches between models for different tasks

team collaboration (advanced)

first, enable team features:

# enable event_bridge tool
export STRANDS_TOOLS="bash,environment,tcp,scraper,use_agent,tasks,event_bridge"
maxs

when multiple people use maxs with shared aws setup:

# developer 1 (local)
maxs "implementing payment processing"

# developer 2 (sees context from dev 1)  
maxs "i see you're working on payments, let me test the api"

# ci/cd pipeline (sees both contexts)
maxs "payment feature tested successfully, deploying to staging"

how to enable team mode:

1. enable event_bridge tool (see above)
2. set up aws credentials (aws configure)
3. one person runs: maxs "setup event bridge for team collaboration"
4. team members use same aws account
5. everyone's maxs instances share context automatically

configuration

basic settings

# use different ai provider
MODEL_PROVIDER=anthropic maxs
MODEL_PROVIDER=openai maxs

# use specific model
STRANDS_MODEL_ID=claude-sonnet-4-20250514 maxs

# remember more/less history
MAXS_LAST_MESSAGE_COUNT=50 maxs  # default: 100

# enable all tools
STRANDS_TOOLS="ALL" maxs

# enable specific tools only
STRANDS_TOOLS="bash,scraper" maxs

team settings (advanced)

# first enable event_bridge
export STRANDS_TOOLS="bash,environment,tcp,scraper,use_agent,tasks,event_bridge"

# aws region for team features
AWS_REGION=us-west-2

# custom team event bus name  
MAXS_EVENT_TOPIC=my-team-maxs

# how many team messages to include
MAXS_DISTRIBUTED_EVENT_COUNT=25

custom tools

drop a python file in ./tools/ directory:

# ./tools/calculator.py
from strands import tool

@tool
def calculate_tip(bill: float, tip_percent: float = 18.0) -> dict:
    tip = bill * (tip_percent / 100)
    total = bill + tip
    return {
        "status": "success", 
        "content": [{"text": f"Bill: ${bill:.2f}\nTip: ${tip:.2f}\nTotal: ${total:.2f}"}]
    }

then use it:

maxs "calculate tip for a $50 bill"

examples

development workflow

maxs "!git status"                    # check repo status
maxs "analyze code quality issues"     # review code
maxs "!pytest -v"                     # run tests  
maxs "format all python files"        # clean up code
maxs "!git add . && git commit -m 'refactor'"  # commit changes

system administration

maxs "check system health"             # disk, memory, processes
maxs "monitor nginx logs for errors"   # background log monitoring
maxs "!systemctl restart nginx"       # restart services

content and research

maxs "scrape latest tech news"         # gather information
maxs "summarize the main trends"       # analyze content

automation

maxs "backup important files to cloud"     # file management
maxs "monitor website uptime every 5 minutes"  # background monitoring
maxs "send alert if disk usage > 90%"     # conditional actions

installation options

standard installation

pipx install maxs

development installation

git clone https://github.com/cagataycali/maxs
cd maxs
pip install -e .

binary distribution

pip install maxs[binary]
pyinstaller --onefile --name maxs -m maxs.main
# creates standalone ./dist/maxs binary

data and privacy

local storage

• conversations saved in /tmp/.maxs/
• shell history integration (read-only)
• no data sent to external services (except your chosen ai provider)

team mode (optional)

• uses aws eventbridge for team communication
• only shares conversation summaries, not full messages
• you control the aws account and data
• requires explicit enablement of event_bridge tool

troubleshooting

common issues

# ollama not responding
ollama serve
maxs

# tool permissions
BYPASS_TOOL_CONSENT=true maxs

# reset conversation history
rm -rf /tmp/.maxs/
maxs

# enable all tools if something is missing
STRANDS_TOOLS="ALL" maxs

getting help

maxs "show available tools"
maxs "help with configuration"  
maxs "explain how team mode works"

license

mit - use it however you want