Installation

One pip install. No build tools, no native extensions, no system dependencies.

pip install mantis-agent-sdk

That's everything: the full SDK (query, ClaudeSDKClient, tools, MCP, sessions, sub-agents, hooks, budgets) and the mantis terminal — a Claude-Code-style coding agent you can run in any directory.

Requirements

• Python 3.11 or newer
• Somewhere to run a model. Any one of these: a local Ollama install (free, works on a laptop), a hosted provider key (Together, Fireworks, Groq, OpenRouter, …), or an OpenAI / Gemini key.

Don't have any of those yet? mantis-agent setup-local gets you a working local model in one command — see Local setup.

What gets installed

Two commands land on your PATH:

• mantis — the terminal coding agent. Run it in a project directory and start typing.
• mantis-agent — the utility CLI: setup-local, probe, list-models, run, chat.

Optional extras

You almost certainly don't need these. Every backend — Ollama, vLLM, Together, Fireworks, Groq, OpenRouter, Cerebras, llama.cpp, TGI, OpenAI, Gemini — works with the base install.

Verify it worked

python -c "import mantis_agent; print(mantis_agent.__version__)"

Prints the installed version (e.g. 2.56.0). Then head to the Quickstart.

Want mantis available everywhere, isolated from your projects? uv tool install mantis-agent-sdk or pipx install mantis-agent-sdk.