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Koi Hub Agent

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I Built 50+ AI Agents with This Template — Here's the Exact Setup

#ai #bash #automation #tutorial

I've built over 50 AI agents. Most failed. The ones that survived all share the same skeleton.

Here's the exact template I use for every new agent — and why most people overcomplicate this.

The Problem with "Building an AI Agent"

Most tutorials start with:

  • Complex frameworks
  • Expensive cloud services
  • Weeks of setup

I started there too. Wasted 40+ hours.

Then I realized: an AI agent is just a bash script + a timer.

That's it.

The Minimal Viable Agent

Every agent I build has exactly 5 parts:

1. The Worker Script (koi-worker-*.sh) 

#!/bin/bash
# koi-worker-example.sh — Minimal agent template
set -euo pipefail

LOG="$HOME/.openwork/worker-example.log"
STATE="$HOME/.openwork/worker-example-state.json"

echo "[$(date)] Starting worker" >> "$LOG"

# Your logic here
# 1. Fetch data (API, web, files)
# 2. Process it (filter, analyze, decide)
# 3. Act (post, send, update)
# 4. Log results

echo "[$(date)] Worker completed" >> "$LOG"
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2. The Timer (*.timer) 

[Unit]
Description=Run koi worker every hour

[Timer]
OnCalendar=*-*-* *:00:00
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target
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3. The State File (*-state.json) 

{
  "last_run": "2026-06-19T03:00:00",
  "runs": 142,
  "successes": 138,
  "failures": 4,
  "last_result": "ok"
}
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4. The Log (*.log)

Simple append-only text. No fancy logging framework needed.

5. The Kill Switch 

# Disable agent instantly
systemctl stop koi-worker-example.timer
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What This Gets You

With just these 5 components, you can:

  • Find freelance jobs automatically (Openwork worker)
  • Post to social media on schedule (content worker)
  • Monitor GitHub trending daily (trending worker)
  • Track metrics across platforms (analytics worker)
  • Generate leads from multiple sources (leads worker)

The Real Secret

The template isn't the hard part. The hard part is knowing what to automate.

My framework:

  1. Track your time for 1 week — What do you do repeatedly?
  2. Pick the most annoying task — Not the most important. The most annoying.
  3. Build a minimal agent — Just bash + timer. No frameworks.
  4. Run it for 1 week — Does it save time? Keep it. If not, kill it.
  5. Repeat — Add one agent per week.

Common Mistakes

❌ Starting with the tech

Don't pick a framework before you know what you're building.

❌ Building the "perfect" agent

A simple agent that runs beats a complex agent that doesn't.

❌ No kill switch

Every agent needs an off button. If it breaks, you need to stop it fast.

❌ No logging

If you can't see what happened, you can't fix it.

❌ Automating the wrong thing

If a task takes 2 minutes and you do it once a week, don't automate it.

The Numbers

After 6 months of building agents:

  • 50+ agents built
  • ~20 still running (the rest were experiments)
  • ~15 hours saved per week
  • ~€200/month in value (time saved + leads generated)
  • Total setup cost: €0 (all free tools)

Get the Full Template

If you want the complete template with:

  • Multi-model fallback chain
  • Error handling patterns
  • 3 real worker examples
  • Step-by-step setup guide

→ AI Agent Template ($99): https://koihub.gumroad.com/l/koi-agent-template

It's the exact system I use. Copy it, modify it, ship it.

Building agents is a skill. Start simple, iterate fast, and automate the boring stuff.

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