The StarNet GitHub repo, at github.com/androoAGI/starnet, gives you a free, open-source AI agent station that runs on your own computer and shows your agents working in a pixel-art space station.
If you run a business, an agency or a content channel, the obvious question is whether this is a toy or a tool.
I'll give you the honest answer straight away.
Right now I think StarNet is mostly fun to play with, and I said in my video that I don't see a massive number of practical use cases yet.
But some of what's inside the repo maps neatly onto real business jobs, and that's what this post is about.
I'll explain what the repo is, how to get it running, and then seven practical ways a business could use it, with the limits spelled out for each one.
What Is The StarNet GitHub Repo, In Plain English?
StarNet is a local-first desktop app for creating AI agents, putting them in a pixel-art space station, and watching them do real work with real models and tools.
The StarNet GitHub repo is where all of its code lives, and anyone can download it.
It was built by Andrew Sims, who publishes as androoAGI.
The code is under the MIT License, which means a business can use it, change it and even use it commercially for free.
The only catch is branding, because the StarNet name, logo and station art aren't part of that licence.
The latest version when I wrote this was v0.13.1, released on 4 October 2026.
The repo had over 1,100 stars and more than 200 forks when I checked, so a lot of people are already poking at it.
Why A Business Owner Should Care About The StarNet Repo
Most AI tools give you one assistant in one chat box.
That's fine for writing an email, but it's hard to manage once you have several agents doing different jobs.
StarNet gives each agent its own workspace, memory, transcript and permissions, and it shows them all in one place.
You can see who is busy, who is idle, and what each agent has done.
For a business, the interesting bits are the boring ones.
The README says spend, budgets and run history are saved on disk and shown as they are.
It also says finished work lands in an OUTBOX as real files you can open, rather than getting lost in chat history.
Those two things matter far more to a business than the pixel art does.
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How To Get StarNet Running For Your Business
You have two options, and the right one depends on who's installing it.
If you're not technical, download the desktop installer from the StarNet releases page.
There's a Windows setup file, an Apple Silicon Mac file and an Intel Mac file.
The install guide says Windows is the most-tested version, and macOS has had less real-world use so far.
If you or someone on your team is happy with a terminal, run it from source.
git clone https://github.com/androoAGI/starnet.git
cd starnet
npm ci
node sidecar/index.js
Then open http://localhost:8787 in your browser.
The README says you don't need the npm ci line, but on my Mac I did, so I'd run it anyway.
You need Node.js 18 or newer and Git, and the clone is about 1.8 GB.
If you want the full operator walkthrough with every command and trap, my StarNet AI agent guide covers the features in depth.
Pick The Right Brain Before You Spend A Penny
The model you connect decides both the quality of the work and your bill.
| Brain option | How it's paid for | Good fit for |
|---|---|---|
| Grok sign-in | Your SuperGrok or X Premium+ plan | Owners already paying for Grok |
| Claude CLI | Your Claude Code subscription | Teams already on Claude Code |
| Kimi sign-in | Your Kimi subscription | Coding-heavy work on a flat plan |
| ChatGPT Codex sign-in | Your ChatGPT subscription | Teams already on ChatGPT |
| OpenRouter key | Pay per use across many models | Testing several models on one bill |
| Ollama local model | Free, on your own hardware | Sensitive data and zero spend |
I signed in with Grok in one quick step and picked Grok 4.6 with a chosen reasoning level.
The reasoning options are low, medium, high and max, and higher levels cost more time and usually more tokens.
My own install runs on a hosted brain rather than a local model, because I want speed more than I want zero cost.
7 Ways A Business Could Use StarNet
These are the uses I think make sense, based on what's actually inside the repo and what I saw in the station.
None of them are income promises, and every one of them needs a human checking the output.
1. An SEO and content research agent
When my first agent woke up, it asked why I wanted an AI agent, and I told it SEO for aiprofitboardroom.com.
You can give an agent that purpose in its instructions and let it research topics for you.
The app catalogue includes web search through Firecrawl, and the skill library includes a humanising content framework.
That combination is a reasonable research and first-draft helper for a content team.
2. A small marketing crew
The crew recruit screen lets you add roles like strategist, researcher and marketer.
Summon adds a new agent standing next to yours, while Deploy rewrites an existing agent with the new role.
The skill market includes ad copy testing, so a marketer agent can draft variations for you to review.
You stay the editor, and the agents do the legwork.
3. A chief of staff for your inbox and notes
There's a chief of staff role in the crew, and the app catalogue connects Gmail, Notion and GitHub.
Most of those connect with a direct sign-in, while some need an API key.
I'd keep this agent on ask for approval, because you don't want an agent emailing clients without you seeing it first.
4. A daily brief on your screen
The plus button at the top of the station adds widgets, including connected apps, pinned widgets and a daily brief.
You choose what information each widget shows.
That makes the station a sort of morning dashboard for whatever your agents are tracking.
5. Scheduled routines that run while you're away
The README describes recipes, skills and schedules, where you put work on a cron schedule and see the output.
It also describes Night Shift, where agents keep working inside an adjustable leash and every away action is logged.
The v0.13.1 notes say unattended sends are refused by default, so a scheduled routine can only draft unless you give it more access.
That's the safe default I'd want for a business.
6. Real-world errands, carefully
The app catalogue has real-world categories, including finding flights like a travel agent and sending physical letters.
These are fun to try, but they touch money and the outside world.
I'd only switch them on with approvals in place and a spending limit set.
7. A demo that wins attention for an agency
If you sell AI services, showing a client a crew of agents working in a station is far more memorable than showing a terminal.
The agents level up as you use them, which makes it feel like a Tamagotchi for AI agents.
That makes StarNet a good show-and-tell tool, even if the heavy lifting runs elsewhere.
StarNet felt to me like a much more fun version of Paperclip, which I covered in the video above.
The Settings That Protect Your Business
Every agent has a detail panel, and this is where you keep things safe.
- The approval level is either ask for approval or full power, and I'd start every business agent on ask for approval.
- The access permissions control web access and local files, and you can allow or remove each one.
- The personality can be warm, dry, composed or unhinged, and I'd keep client-facing agents away from unhinged.
- The instructions field holds the agent's purpose, so write it like a job description.
- The Brief, Growth, History and Memories tabs show what the agent knows and what it has done, which is your audit trail.
The skill library is worth a look too.
It holds procedures such as a decision framework for hard technical problems, making a plan, humanising content and handling a hard conversation.
You can switch each framework on or off, so only enable the ones that fit the job.
What StarNet Won't Do For Your Business Yet
I want you to go in with clear eyes.
StarNet is a young project, and the README itself labels it an early release.
There was a slight delay when I sent messages in chat, so it doesn't feel instant.
Tasks, quests, the work list, builds and the Systems menu are all there, but you'll spend time learning where everything lives.
Local models are free, but the README says they're slower and rougher on long tasks, and an 8B model uses about 10 GB of graphics memory.
And if you live in Hermes Agent, you can't run Hermes inside StarNet, although StarNet can import a Hermes or OpenClaw agent's persona, instructions, memory and model.
API keys don't transfer during that import, so you re-enter them yourself.
If you'd like a second pair of eyes on where AI agents fit in your business, you can book a free strategy session with my team.
Keeping Your StarNet Install Up To Date
Source installs update with git pull, then npm ci, then a restart of the sidecar.
Desktop installs update through the built-in Update Center, which checks each update's signature first.
Version v0.13.1 fixed web requests that had been failing since 0.12.5 and made spending limits hold during retries, so it's worth being on the latest release.
🔥 Want to build a proper agent workflow around tools like this? The AI Profit Boardroom has my courses on Hermes Agent, Grok Bot, DeepSeek Harness, Claude Opus 5.5 and Jev AI, plus four coaching calls a week. → Join the AI Profit Boardroom
Related Reading
- AI automation for small business shows where agents save real hours before you add a station on top.
- How to start an AI agency is the place to start if you want to sell agent setups like this to clients.
- The full StarNet AI agent feature guide goes through every screen in the station.
Also On Our Network
- 🌐 The step-by-step StarNet GitHub install walkthrough
- 🌐 Every StarNet feature scored in my verdict
- 🌐 Running StarNet as part of an Agent OS
- 🌐 The benchmark scores behind StarNet's best brains
FAQ: StarNet GitHub For Business
What is the StarNet GitHub repo?
It's the source code for StarNet, a free, MIT-licensed desktop harness for running teams of AI agents.
It lives at github.com/androoAGI/starnet and was built by Andrew Sims.
Can a business use StarNet commercially?
Yes, the MIT License allows commercial use and changes to the code.
You just can't ship a fork under the StarNet name, logo or artwork.
Does StarNet cost anything to run?
StarNet itself is free.
You pay for the brain you connect, unless you run a local model through Ollama.
Is StarNet ready to run my business on?
My honest view is that it's mostly fun right now and has limited practical uses.
Use it for experiments, research and drafts, and keep approvals on.
Does client data stay on my computer?
The README says station state, transcripts, memory and spending records stay in your local workspace.
Requests to your model provider still leave your machine whenever an agent runs, unless you use a local model.
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About Julian
I'm Julian Goldie, an SEO entrepreneur, author and founder of the AI Profit Boardroom, which has 3,400+ members.
I help business owners scale with AI agents, automation and SEO.
- I've built a 7-figure agency, Goldie Agency, with a team of around 50 people.
- I've grown a YouTube channel to 400,000+ subscribers.
- I wrote the Amazon best-sellers "SEO Link Building Mastery" and "Agency Marketing Mastery".
- My Udemy courses have taught over 50,000 students.
→ Get my best AI training inside the AI Profit Boardroom
Start small, keep approvals on, and let one agent prove itself before you build a whole crew from the StarNet GitHub repo.
