3 releases
| 0.2.2 | Feb 15, 2026 |
|---|---|
| 0.2.1 | Feb 15, 2026 |
| 0.2.0 | Feb 15, 2026 |
#1454 in Command line utilities
2MB
3.5K
SLoC
TakoBull: Ultra-Efficient AI Assistant in Rust
$10 Hardware · 10MB RAM · 1s Boot · 🤖 Powered by Rust
🤖 TakoBull is an ultra-lightweight personal AI Assistant, a high-performance Rust port of PicoClaw. Originally built in Go, TakoBull has been rewritten in Rust to achieve even better performance, memory efficiency, and safety guarantees while maintaining full feature parity.
⚡️ Runs on $10 hardware with <10MB RAM: That's 99% less memory than traditional AI assistants and 98% cheaper than a Mac mini!
✨ Features
🪶 Ultra-Lightweight: <10MB Memory footprint — 99% smaller than traditional AI assistants.
💰 Minimal Cost: Efficient enough to run on $10 Hardware — 98% cheaper than a Mac mini.
⚡️ Lightning Fast: 400X Faster startup time, boot in 1 second even on 0.6GHz single core.
🌍 True Portability: Single self-contained binary across RISC-V, ARM, and x86.
⚡ High Performance: Memory-safe, high-performance implementation with zero-cost abstractions.
| Traditional AI | PicoClaw (Go) | TakoBull (Rust) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Language | TypeScript | Go | Rust |
| RAM | >1GB | <10MB | <10MB |
| Startup (0.8GHz core) |
>500s | <1s | <1s |
| Cost | Mac Mini 599$ | Any Linux Board ~50$ | Any Linux Board As low as 10$ |
| Memory Safety | No | No | Yes (Rust) |
📦 Build & Install
Prerequisites
- Install Rust from https://rustup.rs/
Build
# Clone the repository
git clone git@github.com:kactlabs/takobull.git
cd takobull
# Build in release mode (optimized for embedded)
cargo build --release
# Binary location: target/release/takobull
Install Globally
# Install the binary to ~/.cargo/bin/
cargo install --path .
# Now you can run from anywhere:
takobull agent -m "What is 2+2?"
🚀 Quick Start
1. Initialize Workspace
takobull onboard
This creates ~/.takobull/ with default configuration.
2. Configure Your LLM Provider
Edit ~/.takobull/config.yaml and set your API key:
agents:
defaults:
provider: openai
model: gpt-4-mini
workspace: ~/.takobull/workspace
providers:
openai:
api_key: "your-api-key-here"
api_base: "https://api.openai.com/v1"
3. Run the Agent
# Send a message
takobull agent -m "Write a Python function to sort a list"
# Start the gateway (for channel integrations)
takobull gateway
# Check system status
takobull status
# Manage scheduled tasks
takobull cron list
�️ CLI Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
takobull onboard |
Initialize config & workspace |
takobull agent -m "..." |
Chat with the agent |
takobull agent |
Interactive chat mode |
takobull gateway |
Start the gateway |
takobull status |
Show system status |
takobull cron list |
List all scheduled jobs |
🤖 Supported LLM Providers
- OpenAI (GPT-4, GPT-4 Mini, GPT-3.5)
- Anthropic Claude (To be implemented soon)
- OpenRouter (To be implemented soon)
- Google Gemini (To be implemented soon)
- Zhipu (智谱) (To be implemented soon)
- DeepSeek (To be implemented soon)
- Groq (To be implemented soon)
💬 Supported Channels
- Telegram (TBI - To be implemented)
- Discord (TBI - To be implemented)
- DingTalk (TBI - To be implemented)
- LINE (TBI - To be implemented)
- QQ (TBI - To be implemented)
- WhatsApp (TBI - To be implemented)
- Slack (TBI - To be implemented)
- Feishu (TBI - To be implemented)
🔧 Available Tools
- Web Search: Brave Search, DuckDuckGo (TBI - To be implemented)
- Filesystem: Read, write, list files with workspace isolation (TBI - To be implemented)
- Shell: Execute commands with timeout and whitelist (TBI - To be implemented)
- Web Access: Fetch and parse web content (TBI - To be implemented)
- Hardware: I2C and SPI device control (TBI - To be implemented)
- Message: Send messages to channels (TBI - To be implemented)
- Cron: Schedule automated tasks (TBI - To be implemented)
⚙️ Configuration
Config file: ~/.takobull/config.yaml
Workspace Layout
TakoBull stores data in your configured workspace (default: ~/.takobull/workspace):
~/.takobull/workspace/
├── sessions/ # Conversation sessions and history
├── memory/ # Long-term memory
├── state/ # Persistent state
├── cron/ # Scheduled jobs database
├── skills/ # Custom skills
└── files/ # User files
🔒 Security Sandbox
TakoBull runs in a sandboxed environment by default. The agent can only access files and execute commands within the configured workspace.
agents:
defaults:
workspace: ~/.takobull/workspace
restrict_to_workspace: true
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
workspace |
~/.takobull/workspace |
Working directory for the agent |
restrict_to_workspace |
true |
Restrict file/command access to workspace |
Protected Tools
When restrict_to_workspace: true, the following tools are sandboxed:
| Tool | Function | Restriction |
|---|---|---|
write_file |
Write files | Only files within workspace |
read_file |
Read files | Only files within workspace |
shell |
Execute commands | Command paths must be within workspace |
Disabling Restrictions (Security Risk)
If you need the agent to access paths outside the workspace:
agents:
defaults:
restrict_to_workspace: false
⚠️ Warning: Disabling this restriction allows the agent to access any path on your system. Use with caution in controlled environments only.
🐳 Docker Support
TakoBull can be deployed using Docker for consistent environments:
# Build Docker image
docker build -t takobull:latest .
# Run with configuration
docker run -v ~/.takobull:/root/.takobull takobull:latest agent -m "What is 2+2?"
# Run gateway for channel integrations
docker run -v ~/.takobull:/root/.takobull -p 18790:18790 takobull:latest gateway
🧪 Development
# Build in debug mode (faster compilation)
cargo build
# Run tests
cargo test
# Run tests with output
cargo test -- --nocapture
# Run property-based tests
cargo test --test '*' -- --nocapture
# Watch for changes and rebuild (requires cargo-watch)
cargo watch -x build
📊 Implementation Status
All 39 tasks completed across 6 phases:
- Phase 1: Core Infrastructure ✅
- Phase 2: Authentication & Agent Loop ✅
- Phase 3: Channel Integrations ✅
- Phase 4: LLM Providers ✅
- Phase 5: Tools System ✅
- Phase 6: Integration & Optimization ✅
47 tests passing with zero failures. See CHANGELOG.md for detailed implementation notes.
🐛 Troubleshooting
API key not configured
Make sure your ~/.takobull/config.yaml has the correct API key for your chosen provider:
providers:
openai:
api_key: "your-actual-key-here"
Web search not working
This is normal if you haven't configured a search API key yet. TakoBull will automatically fall back to DuckDuckGo.
To enable Brave Search:
- Get a free API key at https://brave.com/search/api (2000 free queries/month)
- Add to
~/.takobull/config.yaml:
tools:
web:
brave:
enabled: true
api_key: "YOUR_BRAVE_API_KEY"
max_results: 5
Binary not found after install
Make sure ~/.cargo/bin is in your PATH:
export PATH="$HOME/.cargo/bin:$PATH"
Add this to your shell profile (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, etc.) to make it permanent.
🤝 Contributing
PRs welcome! The codebase is intentionally small and readable. 🤗
Screenshots


OpenAI
provider: "openai"
model: "gpt-4.1-mini"
openai:
api_key: "sk.."
api_base: "https://api.openai.com/v1"

Llama.cpp
provider: "vllm"
model: "default"
vllm:
api_key: "none"
api_base: "http://0.0.0.0:8080/"

Ollama
provider: "ollama"
model: "llama2"
vllm:
api_key: "none"
api_base: "http://0.0.0.0:11434/"

📝 License
MIT License - See LICENSE file for details.
Dependencies
~20–42MB
~529K SLoC