FAQ

Frequently asked questions and answers.

Basics

1. What is Agent Network? How does it differ from LangChain / CrewAI?

Agent Network is a multi-agent communication infrastructure, not an agent framework. It doesn't care how your agent "thinks" -- it's solely responsible for enabling multiple agents to communicate, dispatch tasks, and track results.

Comparison	Agent Network	LangChain / CrewAI
Positioning	Communication infrastructure	Agent framework
Protocol	MCP standard protocol	Custom
Models	Any model mix	Typically single model
Deployment	Distributed (multi-machine)	Typically single process
Management	CLI + Dashboard	Code-defined

2. Do I need a server?

Development / personal use: anet hub start starts on your local machine -- no extra server needed.

Team use: We recommend deploying CommHub Server on a dedicated server, with team members each connecting remotely. Minimum config: 1 core, 1GB RAM.

3. Is it free?

• 14-day free trial: Full-featured, no limits
• After trial expires: Read-only mode (queries only, no task dispatch)
• Activate a license: anet activate <license-key> to restore full functionality
• Dev mode: Without COMMHUB_AUTH_TOKEN set, licensing is not checked

4. Which AI models are supported?

Any model that supports the Anthropic Messages API can be integrated via the claude-agent-sdk runtime. Currently verified:

• Claude Sonnet 4 / Opus 4 (native SDK)
• GPT-5.5 (Codex SDK)
• MiniMax M2.7 (Anthropic-compatible API)
• InternLM Intern-S1-Pro (Anthropic-compatible API)
• DeepSeek (Anthropic-compatible API)

5. How many agents can a single network support?

There is no hard technical limit. In our testing:

• 10 agents: Completely smooth
• 50 agents: Normal operation
• 100 agents: Slight SSE push delay (< 1s)

SQLite WAL mode supports high-concurrency reads and writes. The bottleneck is typically the AI model's response time.

Installation and Configuration

6. Permission error during install (EACCES)

# Option 1: Use nvm to manage Node.js (recommended)
nvm install 20
nvm use 20
npm install -g @sleep2agi/agent-network@preview

# Option 2: Change npm global directory
mkdir ~/.npm-global
npm config set prefix '~/.npm-global'
echo 'export PATH=~/.npm-global/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
npm install -g @sleep2agi/agent-network@preview

7. bun command not found

# Install Bun
curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash

# Refresh PATH
source ~/.bashrc
# or
export PATH="$HOME/.bun/bin:$PATH"

# Verify
bun --version

8. anet hub start reports port in use

# Check what's using the port
lsof -i :9200
# or
ss -tlnp | grep 9200

# Use a different port
anet hub start --port 9201

# Or stop the process using it
kill <PID>

9. Where are the config files?

File	Path	Contents
Global config	~/.anet/config.json	Hub address, token
Project config	{project}/.anet/config.json	Alias, type
Node config	.anet/nodes/<id>/config.json	Runtime, model, tools
Database	~/.commhub/commhub.db	SQLite data

Agent Issues

10. Agent stays offline after starting

Possible causes:

1. Network unreachable: Check if the agent can access the CommHub Server

curl http://YOUR_IP:9200/health

2. Invalid token: Check if the token is valid

anet whoami

3. Firewall: Ensure port 9200 is open

ufw allow 9200

4. Heartbeat timeout: If the agent ran normally then crashed, wait 10 minutes for timeout or manually restart

11. Agent processes a task but result isn't returned

Check the agent's message type handling logic:

• task type -> AI processes and replies (correct)
• message type -> No processing (correct, prevents loops)

If using Claude Code mode, check that CLAUDE.md contains the correct reply rules.

12. Two agents sending messages back and forth in an infinite loop

This is a message type design issue. Ensure:

• Use send_task for tasks (type=task) -> triggers AI processing
• Use send_reply for results (type=reply) -> does NOT trigger AI processing
• Use send_message for chat (type=message) -> does NOT trigger AI processing

If looping persists, verify that agent-node only responds to new_task and broadcast events.

13. MiniMax Agent reports API errors

# Check if the API key is correct
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $MINIMAX_API_KEY" \
  https://api.minimaxi.com/anthropic/v1/messages \
  -d '{"model":"MiniMax-M2.7","max_tokens":100,"messages":[{"role":"user","content":"hi"}]}'

Note:

• ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL must be https://api.minimaxi.com/anthropic (note the /anthropic suffix)
• Use ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN or ANTHROPIC_API_KEY for the key

14. How do I view detailed agent logs?

# Agent started via anet
anet logs coder-1

# Agent started via npx: check terminal output directly

# Agent in Docker
docker compose logs -f worker-1

# CommHub Server logs
docker compose logs -f server

Network and Permissions

15. What's the difference between utok_ and ntok_? When should I use which?

Token	Purpose	Can Do	Cannot Do
utok_	CLI / Dashboard login	REST reads, management	MCP write operations
ntok_	Agent connection	All operations within network	Cross-network

Quick rule: Humans use utok_, agents use ntok_.

16. How do I add an agent to another network?

# Option 1: Invite code
anet network invite other-network --role member
# Share the invite code with the recipient
# Recipient runs: anet network join inv_xxx

# Option 2: Create a network token
anet token create other-agent --network net_other
# Provide the token to the agent

17. How do I view/manage network members?

# View members
curl http://localhost:9200/api/networks/net_xxx/members \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer utok_xxx"

# Manage via the Dashboard Settings page

Deployment Issues

18. Workers can't connect to Server in Docker Compose

Ensure:

1. Server health check passes before starting workers

depends_on:
  server:
    condition: service_healthy

2. Use Docker's internal network name (server:9200 not localhost:9200)

3. Seed container successfully exported ntok_

docker compose logs seed

19. Dashboard deployment to Vercel fails

You must use prebuilt deployment:

cd agent-network-dashboard
npm run build
vercel deploy --prebuilt --prod

Don't build on Vercel, as environment variables may be missing.

20. What about PostgreSQL support?

Starting from v1.0.0-preview.25, PostgreSQL is supported:

DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:pass@host:5432/commhub anet hub start

SQLite remains the default and is suitable for single-machine deployments. PostgreSQL is appropriate for production environments requiring high availability.

Performance Issues

21. Slow task response

Check:

1. AI model latency: Different models have different response times
   • GPT-5.5: 3-15 seconds
   • Claude: 5-30 seconds
   • MiniMax: 1-5 seconds
2. Network latency: Latency between agent and server
3. Server load: Run anet doctor to check server status
4. Database size: Large amounts of historical data may affect query speed

22. SSE connections frequently dropping

Possible causes:

• Unstable network
• Reverse proxy timeout set too short
• Firewall closing long connections

Nginx configuration recommendation:

location /events/ {
    proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:9200;
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Connection "";
    proxy_read_timeout 86400;   # 24 hours
    proxy_buffering off;
    proxy_cache off;
}