OpenHands (Agent Canvas) is a leading agent runtime in the 2026 AI agent engineering landscape (79.1k★).
When to use this skill
- Self-hosted developer control center (Agent Canvas) for coding agents and automations
- Runs OpenHands agent out-of-the-box; also drives Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, or any ACP-compatible agent
- Multiple agent backends: local, Docker, VMs, company infra, OpenHands Cloud/Enterprise
- Automations: scheduled/webhook workflows integrating Slack, GitHub, Linear, Notion
- Agent/Server SDK split: OpenHands/software-agent-sdk hosts the agent + agent server source
- Bring-your-own-model via LLM profiles
- Ecosystem overlap: Complements agent-manager (tmux lifecycle) with a product-grade control center; ACP angle complements a2a-protocol/mcp-server-design
Installation
npm install -g @openhands/agent-canvas
Usage
npm install -g @openhands/agent-canvas
agent-canvas # local, no sandbox (agent has full FS access!)
# hardened: run backend on a VM/Docker per self-hosting guide, connect canvas to it
agent-canvas --frontend-only / --backend-only for split deployments
Instructions
Step 1: Initialize the environment
Verify you have Python installed and set up properly. Use the correct package manager (pip, npm, pnpm, uv) as specified in the installation section.
Step 2: Establish the agent flow
Architecture pattern: Frontend control plane (agent-canvas) + agent server backends; agent implementations connected over Agent-Client Protocol (ACP); OpenHands agent itself from software-agent-sdk
Step 3: Implement tool integrations and policies
Integrate necessary tools, environment keys, and safety gates according to your architectural needs. Position in the ecosystem: The self-hosted control center lane: one UI + automations over many coding agents; alternatives: hosted dashboards (Devin), per-agent UIs; SWE-bench heritage gives it the strongest OSS dev-agent pedigree
Examples
Example 1: Minimal Agent Run
npm install -g @openhands/agent-canvas
agent-canvas # local, no sandbox (agent has full FS access!)
# hardened: run backend on a VM/Docker per self-hosting guide, connect canvas to it
agent-canvas --frontend-only / --backend-only for split deployments
Best practices
- Follow the primary installation commands for OpenHands (Agent Canvas) to ensure dependencies are resolved correctly.
- Configure model providers and API keys securely before starting the runtime.
- Use appropriate sandboxing or permission isolation if executing AI-generated code.