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Cloud Setup

Using the open-source version of Rowboat requires more technical skill to set up and navigate. For the smoothest experience, we recommend using our hosted version

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Local Setup

Pre-requisite: Ensure Docker is installed on your machine. You’ll also need an OpenAI account and API key to use the Copilot and agents.
1

Set your OpenAI key

Export your OpenAI API key in your terminal:
export OPENAI_API_KEY=your-openai-api-key
2

Set up Composio for tools and triggers (optional)

To use external tools and triggers, export your Composio API key:
export COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your-composio-api-key
export COMPOSIO_TRIGGERS_WEBHOOK_SECRET=your-webhook-secret
For more detailed setup instructions, see the Triggers page.
3

Clone the repository and start Rowboat Docker

Clone the Rowboat repository and start the app using Docker:
git clone git@github.com:rowboatlabs/rowboat.git
cd rowboat
docker-compose up --build
4

Access the app

Once Docker is running, open your browser and go to:http://localhost:3000
See the Using custom LLM providers section below for using custom providers like OpenRouter and LiteLLM.

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Demo

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Create a multi-agent assistant with MCP tools by chatting with Rowboat

Screenshot 2025-04-23 at 00 25 31

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Integrate with Rowboat agents

There are 2 ways to integrate with the agents you create in Rowboat

Using the API

Guide on using the HTTP API

Using the SDK

Guide on using the Python SDK

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Using custom LLM providers

By default, Rowboat uses OpenAI LLMs (gpt-4o, gpt-4.1, etc.) for both agents and copilot, when you export your OPENAI_API_KEY. However, you can also configure custom LLM providers (e.g. LiteLLM, OpenRouter) to use any of the hundreds of available LLMs beyond OpenAI, such as Claude, DeepSeek, Ollama LLMs and so on. Check out our page on customising

Customise

Learn more about customising your Rowboat experience here