Skip to content

Hector Studio (Desktop)

The native desktop GUI for Hector. Design agents visually, manage workspaces, and monitor execution in real-time.

Hector Studio

Download Hector Studio for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Overview

Hector Studio is a comprehensive IDE for AI agents. It effectively turns your local machine into a powerful development environment ("Docker Desktop for Agents") while also serving as an interface for remote Hector instances.

Key Features

  • Visual Flow Builder: Design agent architectures using a drag-and-drop canvas. Bi-directional sync updates your config.yaml automatically.
  • Resource Management: Configure LLMs, Vector Stores, Databases, and Guardrails via a dedicated sidebar UI—no manual YAML editing required.
  • Workspace Isolation: Switch instantly between different projects (folders). Each workspace gets its own isolated Hector server instance.
  • Integrated Chat: Test agents immediately within the studio. Supports streaming responses, tool execution visualization, and markdown rendering.
  • Real-time Observability: Built-in "Log Drawer" provides live streaming logs from the Hector background process for debugging.
  • One-Click Setup: Automatically detects or downloads the correct hector binary version for your OS.

Visual Config Builder

The Visual Builder is the heart of Hector Studio. It provides two views:

  1. Canvas View: A node-based editor for defining Agents and their relationships.

    • Add Agents: Click "Add Agent" to drop a new agent node.
    • Edit Properties: Select a node to configure its Role, Instruction, and Model.
    • Auto-Layout: Nodes are automatically arranged for clarity.

  2. Infrastructure Sidebar: A managed inventory of your shared resources.

    • LLMs: Define provider configs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama).
    • Tools: Enable and configure tools (Search, FileSystem, Database).
    • Guardrails: Set up input/output validation rules.
    • Memory: Configure Vector Stores (e.g., Chromem) and Embedders.

[!TIP] Changes made in the Visual Builder are immediately written to your config.yaml file. Conversely, editing the file manually updates the UI in real-time.

Workspaces & Environment

Hector Studio manages Workspaces, which map to local directories containing a config.yaml.

  • Local Mode: Point Studio to a folder. It spins up a managed hector serve process in the background.
  • Remote Mode: Connect to a running production server (e.g., https://agents.company.com). Studio acts as a remote client.

Connecting to Remote Servers

Studio can manage remote Hector instances, strictly separating configuration (read-only for security) from observation.

Option 1: No Authentication (Development)

For internal dev servers:

  1. Start server: hector serve --host 0.0.0.0 --studio
  2. In Studio: Click Server Selector -> Add Remote Server.
  3. Enter URL: http://<server-ip>:8080.

Option 2: Authenticated (Production)

For secure production environments:

Server Setup: 

hector serve --config config.yaml \
  --studio \
  --studio-roles admin,operator \
  --auth-required \
  --auth-jwks-url https://auth.company.com/.well-known/jwks.json \
  --auth-issuer https://auth.company.com/ \
  --auth-audience hector-api

Studio Connection: 1. Add Remote Server with your production URL. 2. Studio will prompt for authentication via your Identity Provider. 3. Once authenticated, you gain access based on your role (e.g., operator can view logs/chat, admin might have more privileges).