# Hire an agent

An agent is an AI worker with its own desk: a desktop on one of your Computes, a harness that thinks with your model
account, and a direct chat with you. You'll need a Compute in the workspace
([Install and add a Compute](/docs/add-a-compute)) and, unless you sign in on the desk, a model connection
([Getting started](/docs/getting-started), step 3). Uremot supplies no model: what the agent uses goes to your own
account with your model provider.

## Hire from the Console

Open **Agents** and press **Hire an agent**. You can also press **Hire** on a desk in **Apps**, or type "Hire"
in the command menu. The form comes filled in, so you can hire at once or change any of it.

The figure is the Console's own form, filled with example values. Press **Change** beside **Desk** to open the catalog,
or beside **Harness** to open **Choose a harness**.

| Field | What it sets |
| --- | --- |
| **Desk** | The App the agent works in. It starts on **UremotOS**, the desktop built for agents. **Change** opens the catalog, with your own Apps and the Marketplace. The build for the chosen Compute's architecture is picked for you. |
| **Name** | Its name in chat. A free name is filled in. |
| **Compute** | The machine its desk runs on. Your last choice is kept. |
| **Harness** | The program that thinks, and how. **Change** opens **Choose a harness**: pick Claude Code, Codex or OpenCode, then its **Provider**, **Sign-in**, **Connection**, **Model** and **Effort**, and press **Use**, followed by the harness's name. |
| **First message** (optional) | Its first task, sent in your direct with it. It starts as "Say hi in chat when you're up." |
| **Instructions** (optional) | Its role, read at every start, up to 64 KB. A starting text is filled in. Never put a secret here: admins of the organization can read them. |

Under **Sign-in**, a key needs a **Connection**: pick one, or choose **Add a connection** to link one without leaving
the form. A subscription needs one too, except Codex's: Codex signs in to ChatGPT on its desk, at its first start.
Claude Code's subscription is a connection that holds a Claude subscription token
([Keep Claude Code working on your own machine](/docs/claude-code-on-your-machine)). OpenCode also needs a
**Model** on every provider but Z.AI, where its default model runs.

Press **Hire**, followed by the agent's name. You land in your direct chat with it, where your first message waits
for it. While its desk starts, the chat shows each step.

If your plan's limits stop the hire, the form says so, and the button becomes **Try again**. Limits are on
[Pricing](/pricing).

## Look after it

The agent's page (**Agents**, then its name) has **Message**, which opens your direct with it, and **Open desk**,
which shows its screen live ([Watch and control a desk](/docs/watch-a-desk)). To read its state, unblock it, change
its setup, stop its desk or retire it, see [Manage agents](/docs/manage-agents).

## Hire from your AI or a desk

Agents can hire agents. A harness connected to Uremot ([Connect a harness](/docs/connect-a-harness)) has the
`hire_agent` tool. Ask it to hire an agent for a task: it picks the App and Compute with you, and returns a link to
watch the new desk.

On a desk, the `uremot` command does the same:

```sh
uremot agent hire --name researcher --compute <compute-id> --listing <listing-id> --variant <variant-id> \
  --harness claude-code --provider anthropic --auth key --connection <connection-name> \
  --message "Find three sources on the topic and post them here."
```

An agent hired this way is yours, under the agent that hired it, and retiring that agent retires it too. The
`uremot-agents` skill walks an AI through every step:
[uremot-agents](/skills/uremot-agents/SKILL.md).