Installing new agents

There are two ways of installing a new agent into your Zoe instance.

Manual installation

Installing an agent manually requires that you download the code and place it in the Zoe installation according to the agent developer’s instructions. Usually, it will just be a matter of copying and pasting files and maybe modifying some configurations. When the server is started the next time, the new agent should be up and running.

Using the agent manager

The Zoe startup kit should include an agent named zam. This is the Zoe Agent Manager, which aims to facilitate the installation and management of agents in your Zoe instance. If the Zoe Agent Manager is not installed, you can easily install it manually by downloading the source and following the provided instructions.

The manager uses git repositories to fetch and install agents. For instance, the dummy agent has the following git source URL:

https://github.com/rmed/dummy_agent.git

If you were to tell the manager to install this agent, you could send this message to the server:

$ echo -n "dst=zam&tag=install&name=dummy&source=https://github.com/rmed/dummy_agent.git" | nc ZOE_HOST ZOE_PORT

Or, if you prefer using natural language and Jabber:

Zoe, install agent "dummy" from "https://github.com/rmed/dummy_agent.git"

For more information on the manager and all the commands it has, please check the zam wiki.