Agent IO

agent.ioManaging IO with SSHConfigure IO's built-in ssh server.

Notes on configuring IO for SSH agent.io/io/ssh/

agent.iogRPConf26: A Lightweight gRPC-Compatible Implementation for SidecarsHere's what I said about Sidecar at the the annual gRPC conference.

4 Sept

This week we took our gRPC-compatible networking library to the annual gRPC conference. agent.io/posts/grpcon...

agent.ioSandbox with Podman and IOControl and monitor all of your application's network traffic.

6 Aug

If you run your app with Podman, you can easily require all of its network traffic to go through an IO where you can control and review it. agent.io/posts/sandbox/

agent.ioRun IO with PodmanKeep your IOs running with Podman Quadlets

6 Aug

Here's how I use Podman Quadlets to keep an IO running on every Ubuntu system that I use. agent.io/posts/podman/

agent.ioEmbrace PodmanPrefer Podman as an alternative to Docker, Nomad, and Kubernetes.

6 Aug

After spending some time evaluating Podman, I've decided to embrace it and move on from Docker, Nomad, and Kubernetes (which I'd already personally deprecated) agent.io/decisions/po...

agent.ioA Route Guide for SidecarImplementing the gRPC Route Guide example with Sidecar

14 July

Every official gRPC implementation has a demonstration API called "Route Guide". Here we've implemented it with Sidecar: agent.io/posts/routeg...

agent.ioReplace SQLite with BoltUse Bolt for IO internal storage and general data persistence.

10 July

This week we replaced SQLite with Bolt and IO's data storage got a lot simpler. agent.io/decisions/bo...

agent.ioRelease IO binariesBuild and distribute IO binaries.

25 June

Is there a lexicon for release binaries? We want one, and sketched a draft here: agent.io/decisions/re...

agent.ioDistribute MacOS builds with HomebrewDistribute IO builds for MacOS using Homebrew.

24 June

MacOS builds of IO (currently ARM-only) are available from a Homebrew Custom Tap. agent.io/decisions/ho...

agent.ioLightweight gRPC on the Go Standard LibrarySidecar is a tiny Go package that can be used to make clients and servers that use the gRPC wire protocol.

19 June

Last year I replaced grpc-go and connect-go with a thin layer of code that I use to write gRPC clients and servers on the Go standard library. Details are here: agent.io/posts/sidecar

agent.ioDrop HugoReplace Hugo with a custom site builder.

13 June

Hugo was a great way to get started building web sites, but now it's time for something different. agent.io/decisions/dr...

agent.ioBuilding an ACME ClientRFC8555 is revolutionary, but it has some rough edges.

14 May

I went native and built ACME support directly into IO. Here are some things that I learned: agent.io/posts/acme/

a-decade-of-envoy.netlify.appA decade of EnvoyA decade of Envoy: from Lyft's debugging nightmare to the AI infrastructure era.

9 May

"You've already used Envoy today. You probably didn't know it." From this beautiful overview by Erica Hughberg: a-decade-of-envoy.netlify.app

5 May

Recently I added support for proxying "raw" TCP ports so that IO could proxy SSH and other non-HTTP services. Here's an updated start screen that describes all of IO's modes.

Agent IO reposted

Tim Burks (inactive)

@timburks.me

1 May

Today I added local service discovery to IO and OMG it's so nice... I didn't realize how good it would feel to write zero-configuration API clients like this example that calls the Google Cloud Translate API...

agent.ioAgency over AgentsA lot of people are trying to sell you agents. What you really want is agency.

27 Apr

Is it an agent that you want, or just agency? agent.io/posts/agency/

Agent IO reposted

Tim Burks (inactive)

@timburks.me

9 Apr

"By leveraging Envoy as an agent gateway, organizations can decouple security and policy enforcement from agent development code." Google (partially) gets @agent.io -- they understand the potential but, as usual, miss the importance of simplicity! cloud.google.com/blog/product...

cloud.google.comcloud.google.com

cloud.google.comThe case for Envoy networking in the agentic AI era | Google Cloud BlogIn the world of AI agents, the Envoy networking proxy consistently enforces governance and security across all agentic paths, and at scale.

9 Apr

People at Google really like Envoy (so do we) cloud.google.com/blog/product...

github.comGitHub - agentio/slink at v0.2.0A tool for calling XRPC APIs, automatically generated from Lexicon. - agentio/slink

4 Apr

The slink CLI and code generator is now MIT-licensed. github.com/agentio/slin...

4 Apr

Slink is infrastructure code that generates infrastructure code. To facilitate usage, it's now available under the most permissive OSS license.

agent.ioSoftware Licenses and Workers' RightsThe open source ladder is leaning on the wrong wall.

2 Apr

Software Licenses and Workers' Rights agent.io/posts/softwa...

agent.ioBuild an ATProto PDSBuild an AT Protocol PDS the hard way (from scratch).

2 Apr

On the decision to write a PDS agent.io/decisions/pds/

agent.ioManaging a Beta with BlueskyHow I use Bluesky to easily and securely preview a software product to users.

27 Mar

Managing a Beta with Bluesky agent.io/posts/managi...

agent.ioBuilding a PDS the Hard WayCommits that could get me committed.

19 Mar

Building a PDS the Hard Way agent.io/posts/buildi...

agent.ioIO Configuration ReferenceHere’s how you can configure IO using its HCL-based configuration language.

18 Mar

New in IO: Direct TCP port configuration agent.io/io/config/#t...

18 Mar

I've been building a new service that, like IO, uses an SSH port to take commands and display a TUI. When I deployed it to one of my Nomad-based servers, I realized that I needed a way to proxy the SSH port from my internal Nomad port to a public port on my server. Thus the new "tcp_port" config.

agent.ioRisks of DID:PLCIt’s the cornerstone of identity on Bluesky. What could possibly go wrong?

10 Mar

Are you worried about DID:PLC? There are reasons to be, but they can be fixed agent.io/posts/risks-...

agent.ioBetter Go clients for ATProtoEasily call XRPC APIs from your Go code and the command line.

9 Mar

Finally! The treatise about slink that no one was asking for but everyone needed agent.io/posts/slink

github.comGitHub - agentio/slink: A tool for calling XRPC APIs, automatically generated from Lexicon.A tool for calling XRPC APIs, automatically generated from Lexicon. - agentio/slink

Here's a little CLI that generates itself from Lexicon and calls XRPC APIs. github.com/agentio/slink

Slink also generates a Go client library that powers the CLI. We can use that in other Go programs like this tool that sends chat messages like the one above. github.com/agentio/chat...

github.comGitHub - agentio/chatter: A command-line tool that sends messages using the Bluesky Chat API.A command-line tool that sends messages using the Bluesky Chat API. - agentio/chatter

github.comGitHub - agentio/statusphere: The ATProtocol Statusphere demo application on IO.The ATProtocol Statusphere demo application on IO. - agentio/statusphere

Finally (for now), here's our Statusphere app updated to use Slink. github.com/agentio/stat...

github.comGitHub - agentio/slink: A tool for calling XRPC APIs, automatically generated from Lexicon.A tool for calling XRPC APIs, automatically generated from Lexicon. - agentio/slink

Here's a little CLI that generates itself from Lexicon and calls XRPC APIs. github.com/agentio/slink

Among many other things, you can use it to send Bluesky chat messages.

9 Jan

Auth scopes are great but they don't always restrict access as much as we want. Here's an IO configuration that *only* allows a couple of authorized API key users to call a few named methods of the Digital Ocean DNS API using a token that it gets from Hashicorp Vault.

9 Jan

Another thing that auth scopes don't provide is visibility into how auth tokens are used. So IO allows traffic histories to be exported as HAR files that show us all the approved and blocked requests.

6 Jan

Here's IO running on MacOS agent.io/decisions/ma...

agent.ioConform to the XDG Base Directory SpecificationStore IO state and temporary files in a standard location.

6 Jan

Are you familiar with the XDG Base Directory Specification? Here's how we used it to improve IO: agent.io/decisions/xdg/

agent.ioBuild Envoy and IO containers directlyUse gcr.io/distroless and self-built Envoys to have more control and to reduce dependencies, vulnerabilites, and image size.

3 Dec 2025

Recently we started building our own Envoy binaries and IO container images. agent.io/decisions/co...

agent.ioUse CGO, libc, and pure SQLite.Since Envoy will always depend on libc, it seems reasonable for IO to also.

10 Nov 2025

Envoy requires libc, so it doesn't make sense for IO to make performance sacrifices to avoid depending on libc itself. That lets us build IO with CGO and use the native SQLite library, which has big performance benefits. agent.io/decisions/cgo/

agent.ioIO Configuration ReferenceHere’s how you can configure IO using its HCL-based configuration language.

31 Oct 2025

This week IO's configuration language got a revamp and a reference agent.io/io/config/

agent.ioHold on Alpine LinuxI love the ideas behind this lightweight distribution, but it’s challenging in practice.

20 Oct 2025

Tempted by Alpine Linux: agent.io/decisions/al...

agent.ioBuild and Use SidecarReplace Connect with a new, simple, transparent Go gRPC library.

3 Oct 2025

In September we created Sidecar, a new Go gRPC implementation that focuses on clarity, simplicity, and security for apps that run with sidecars. It's now how IO does gRPC. Here's a discussion of our decision to switch. agent.io/decisions/si...

agent.ioOut-of-Process SDKsDo you really want to put that vendor code in your app?

3 Oct 2025

Is it an SDK... or a monster infesting your app? agent.io/posts/sdks/

Agent IO reposted

Tim Burks (inactive)

@timburks.me

24 Sept 2025

If you use Go, gRPC, and sidecar proxies, I wrote this for you github.com/agentio/sidecar

github.comGitHub - agentio/sidecar: Baggage-free gRPC for Go.Baggage-free gRPC for Go. . Contribute to agentio/sidecar development by creating an account on GitHub.

agent.ioWhat can we learn with a simple gRPC service?Exploring gRPC and connectrpc with a simple echo service.

9 Sept 2025

Echo is a simple gRPC service that we wrote to test and experiment with gRPC and ConnectRPC agent.io/posts/echo/

agent.ioHow IO runs on gRPCIO doesn’t just manage gRPC APIs, gRPC makes IO go.

25 Aug 2025

How IO uses gRPC: agent.io/posts/grpc/

agent.ioDrop Service InfrastructureRemove integration with Google’s Service Infrastructure APIs.

20 Aug 2025

IO was created to work with a set of API management APIs from Google called Service Infrastructure, but now we think we've outgrown it. agent.io/decisions/dr...

agent.ioThese are my Memos on IOHere’s how I self-host a gRPC-based web application with IO.

7 Aug 2025

What's it like to run an application with Nomad and IO? Here's an example with bonus info about gRPC: agent.io/posts/memos/

1 Aug 2025

Here's a practical benefit of our exploration of @hashicorp.com's Nomad and Vault: all of the configuration for this Nomad-hosted ATProto PDS is now read from secrets in Vault.

agent.ioNomad+Vault to GoHow I set up my Ubuntu laptops to run Nomad and Vault.

31 July 2025

I'm getting more and more hooked on Nomad. With the raw_exec driver, I can run pretty much anything on my Nomad-running laptop. Here's how I use it to automatically unseal Vault. agent.io/posts/laptop...