Cabinet AI Knowledge Base

Skill by ara.so — Daily 2026 Skills collection.

Cabinet is an AI-first startup OS and knowledge base where everything lives as markdown files on disk. No database, no vendor lock-in — self-hosted with AI agents that have memory, scheduled jobs, embedded HTML apps, git-backed history, and a full web terminal.

Installation

Quick Start (recommended)

npx create-cabinet@latest

cd cabinet

npm run dev:all

Open http://localhost:3000 — the onboarding wizard builds your AI team in 5 questions.

Manual Clone

git clone https://github.com/hilash/cabinet.git

cd cabinet

npm install

cp .env.example .env.local

npm run dev:all

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+

• Claude Code CLI: npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

• macOS or Linux (Windows via WSL)

Environment Configuration

# .env.local

KB_PASSWORD=your_optional_password   # Leave empty for no auth

DOMAIN=localhost                     # Or your custom domain

Key Commands

npm run dev          # Next.js dev server on port 3000

npm run dev:daemon   # WebSocket + job scheduler on port 3001

npm run dev:all      # Both servers together (use this for development)

npm run build        # Production build

npm run start        # Production mode (both servers)

Architecture

cabinet/

  src/

    app/api/         → Next.js API routes

    components/      → React components (sidebar, editor, agents, jobs, terminal)

    stores/          → Zustand state management

    lib/             → Storage, markdown, git, agents, jobs

  server/

    cabinet-daemon.ts → WebSocket + job scheduler + agent executor

  data/

    .agents/.library/ → 20 pre-built agent templates

    getting-started/  → Default KB pages

Tech stack: Next.js 16, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui, Tiptap, Zustand, xterm.js, node-cron

Project Structure (data directory)

Cabinet stores everything as markdown files under data/:

data/

  getting-started/

    index.md

  my-project/

    index.md

    research.md

    index.html        ← Embedded HTML app (auto-rendered as iframe)

  .agents/

    .library/

      ceo.md

      product-manager.md

      researcher.md

    active/

      my-ceo/

        index.md      ← Agent definition

        memory.md     ← Agent memory (auto-updated)

Agent Definition Format

Agents are defined as markdown files with YAML frontmatter:

---

name: Research Scout

role: researcher

schedule: "0 */6 * * *"   # Cron: every 6 hours

skills:

  - web-search

  - summarization

  - reddit-scout

goals:

  - Monitor competitor activity

  - Surface trending topics in AI tooling

  - File weekly summary reports

---

# Research Scout

You are a research agent for [Company Name]. Your job is to...

## Memory

<!-- Agent memory is auto-appended here by the daemon -->

Creating a Custom Agent

Via the UI

• Navigate to the Agents panel in the sidebar

• Click "New Agent" and select a template or start blank

• Fill in role, goals, and schedule

• Cabinet creates data/.agents/active/<agent-name>/index.md

Programmatically

// src/lib/agents.ts pattern — create an agent file directly

import fs from 'fs/promises'

import path from 'path'

const agentDir = path.join(process.cwd(), 'data', '.agents', 'active', 'my-agent')

await fs.mkdir(agentDir, { recursive: true })

await fs.writeFile(

  path.join(agentDir, 'index.md'),

  `---

name: My Custom Agent

role: analyst

schedule: "0 9 * * 1"

goals:

  - Analyze weekly metrics

  - Post summary to #reports channel

---

# My Custom Agent

You are a data analyst agent. Every Monday at 9am you will...

`

)

Scheduled Jobs (Cron)

Agents use standard cron syntax in their frontmatter schedule field:

# Common schedule patterns

schedule: "0 */6 * * *"    # Every 6 hours

schedule: "0 9 * * 1"      # Every Monday at 9am

schedule: "0 8 * * *"      # Every day at 8am

schedule: "*/30 * * * *"   # Every 30 minutes

schedule: "0 0 * * 0"      # Weekly on Sunday midnight

The Cabinet daemon (server/cabinet-daemon.ts) reads agent files and registers jobs via node-cron. Jobs run agent prompts through Claude Code and write results back to the agent's memory file.

Embedded HTML Apps

Drop an index.html in any folder under data/ — Cabinet automatically renders it as an embedded iframe with a full-screen toggle:

data/

  my-dashboard/

    index.html    ← Cabinet renders this as an embedded app

    data.json

    style.css

Example data/my-dashboard/index.html:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<head>

  <title>Metrics Dashboard</title>

  <style>

    body { font-family: sans-serif; padding: 20px; background: #1a1a1a; color: #eee; }

    .metric { font-size: 2rem; font-weight: bold; color: #55c938; }

  </style>

</head>

<body>

  <h1>Weekly Metrics</h1>

  <div class="metric" id="count">Loading...</div>

  <script>

    fetch('./data.json')

      .then(r => r.json())

      .then(d => document.getElementById('count').textContent = d.value)

  </script>

</body>

</html>

No build step required. Version controlled via git automatically.

Git-Backed History

Every save auto-commits. Cabinet wraps git operations in src/lib/git.ts:

// Auto-commit on every page save (Cabinet handles this internally)

// To access history via the UI:

// 1. Open any page

// 2. Click the history icon in the toolbar

// 3. Browse diffs and restore any version

// To inspect from the shell:

cd data

git log --oneline

git diff HEAD~1 HEAD -- my-project/research.md

git checkout HEAD~5 -- my-project/research.md  # Restore older version

Markdown Page Format

Cabinet pages are standard markdown files with optional frontmatter:

---

title: Competitor Analysis

tags: [research, competitors, q2-2026]

created: 2026-04-07

agent: research-scout

---

# Competitor Analysis

## Summary

...

## Last Updated by Agent

<!-- Agent appends updates here -->

API Routes

Cabinet exposes Next.js API routes under src/app/api/:

// Read a page

GET /api/pages?path=my-project/research

// Save a page

POST /api/pages

Body: { path: "my-project/research", content: "# Research\n..." }

// List directory

GET /api/files?dir=my-project

// Run an agent manually

POST /api/agents/run

Body: { agentId: "research-scout" }

// Get agent status

GET /api/agents/status?id=research-scout

// Search all pages

GET /api/search?q=competitor+analysis

Example: Calling the API from TypeScript

// Read a knowledge base page

const response = await fetch('/api/pages?path=my-project/research')

const { content, path } = await response.json()

// Save a page

await fetch('/api/pages', {

  method: 'POST',

  headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },

  body: JSON.stringify({

    path: 'my-project/research',

    content: '# Research\n\nUpdated content...'

  })

})

// Trigger an agent run

await fetch('/api/agents/run', {

  method: 'POST',

  headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },

  body: JSON.stringify({ agentId: 'research-scout' })

})

Zustand State Management

Cabinet uses Zustand stores in src/stores/. Key patterns:

// Access the page store in a component

import { usePageStore } from '@/stores/pageStore'

function MyComponent() {

  const { currentPage, savePage, pages } = usePageStore()

  const handleSave = async (content: string) => {

    await savePage({ path: currentPage.path, content })

  }

  return <div>{currentPage?.title}</div>

}

// Access agent store

import { useAgentStore } from '@/stores/agentStore'

function AgentPanel() {

  const { agents, runAgent, agentStatus } = useAgentStore()

  return (

    <ul>

      {agents.map(agent => (

        <li key={agent.id}>

          {agent.name} — {agentStatus[agent.id]}

          <button onClick={() => runAgent(agent.id)}>Run</button>

        </li>

      ))}

    </ul>

  )

}

Pre-Built Agent Templates

Located in data/.agents/.library/. Available roles:

Department

Agents

Leadership

CEO, COO, CFO, CTO

Product

Product Manager, UX Designer

Marketing

Content Marketer, SEO Specialist, Social Media, Growth Marketer, Copywriter

Engineering

Editor, QA Agent, DevOps Engineer

Sales & Support

Sales Agent, Customer Success

Analytics

Data Analyst

Operations

People Ops, Legal Advisor, Researcher

To activate a template:

# Copy a template to active agents

cp data/.agents/.library/researcher.md data/.agents/active/my-researcher/index.md

# Then edit goals and schedule in the copied file

Adding a New Agent Template

<!-- data/.agents/.library/custom-scout.md -->

---

name: Custom Scout

role: researcher

schedule: "0 8 * * *"

skills:

  - web-search

  - summarization

goals:

  - Monitor industry news daily

  - Summarize top 5 findings

  - Append to data/research/daily-digest.md

---

# Custom Scout

You are a research agent. Each morning you will search for recent developments

in [TOPIC] and append a dated summary to the daily digest.

## Instructions

1. Search for "[TOPIC] news" from the last 24 hours

2. Select the 5 most relevant items

3. Write a 2-3 sentence summary per item

4. Append to `data/research/daily-digest.md` with today's date as a heading

## Memory

<!-- Populated automatically -->

Common Patterns

Pattern 1: Knowledge Base with Agent Automation

data/

  company/

    overview.md          ← Human-maintained

    competitors/

      analysis.md        ← Agent-updated weekly

      index.html         ← Auto-generated dashboard

  agents/

    competitor-scout/

      index.md           ← Runs every Monday

      memory.md          ← Tracks what it found last week

Pattern 2: Research Pipeline

1. Researcher agent scouts Reddit/HN every 6h → writes to data/inbox/

2. Analyst agent summarizes inbox daily → writes to data/research/weekly.md

3. CEO agent reads weekly.md every Monday → writes strategic notes

Pattern 3: Using the Web Terminal

The web terminal (xterm.js + node-pty) gives full shell access inside the browser:

• Press Ctrl+ or click the terminal icon in the sidebar

• Run Claude Code directly: claude "analyze the data in research/competitors.md"

• Full shell: edit files, run scripts, commit to git

Troubleshooting

Daemon not starting

# Check if port 3001 is in use

lsof -i :3001

# Kill if needed

kill -9 $(lsof -t -i:3001)

# Restart

npm run dev:all

Claude Code not found

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

# Verify

claude --version

Agent jobs not running

# Check daemon logs

npm run dev:daemon

# Verify cron syntax at https://crontab.guru

# Check agent frontmatter has valid schedule field

Git history not working

cd data

git status

# If not initialized:

git init

git add .

git commit -m "initial"

Port conflicts

# Next.js uses 3000, daemon uses 3001

# Override in package.json scripts or set PORT env var

PORT=3002 npm run dev

Embedded HTML app not rendering

• File must be named exactly index.html

• Must be inside a folder under data/

• Check browser console for CSP/iframe errors

• Try accessing directly: http://localhost:3000/apps/my-folder

Self-Hosting in Production

npm run build

npm run start   # Runs both Next.js and daemon in production mode

# With PM2

pm2 start npm --name "cabinet" -- run start

pm2 save

pm2 startup

# Nginx reverse proxy

server {

  listen 80;

  server_name yourdomain.com;

  location / {

    proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;

    proxy_http_version 1.1;

    proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;

    proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';

    proxy_set_header Host $host;

  }

  location /ws {

    proxy_pass http://localhost:3001;

    proxy_http_version 1.1;

    proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;

    proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';

  }

}

Resources

• Website: runcabinet.com

• Discord: discord.gg/rxd8BYnN

• Cloud Waitlist: runcabinet.com/waitlist

• GitHub: github.com/hilash/cabinet

• Author: @HilaShmuel

• Changelog: CHANGELOG.md in the repo root