Agent Runners

Bossanova starts coding-agent sessions through runner plugins. Each runner owns one CLI subprocess inside the session worktree, while bossd owns worktree creation, repo setup, PR polling, and plugin dispatch.

Bundled runners

Runner	Plugin	CLI	Status
Claude	bossd-plugin-claude	claude	Available
Codex	bossd-plugin-codex	codex	Available
OpenCode	bossd-plugin-opencode	opencode	Roadmap

Install the matching CLI

Install and authenticate the CLI for the runner you intend to use:

• Claude Code: install from claude.ai/download, then confirm claude works in a terminal.
• OpenAI Codex CLI: install from the OpenAI Codex CLI guide, then confirm codex works in a terminal.

Bossanova does not log in to provider accounts for you. The runner shells out to the local CLI, so any provider authentication, approvals mode, model choice, or account policy comes from that CLI's own configuration.

Pick the default runner

Unattended sessions:

{
  "default_agent": "codex"
}

Use claude to make Claude Code the default, or codex to make OpenAI Codex CLI the default. The daemon refuses to start sessions when no agent runner plugin is loaded.

Verify runners are loaded

Run:

boss repair doctor

If session start fails with no AgentRunner plugin loaded, confirm the runner binary sits next to bossd or in the Homebrew plugin directory:

which bossd
which bossd-plugin-claude
which bossd-plugin-codex

Then restart bossd and run the doctor again.