Pair Programming — CellCog on Your Machine#

Co-work turns any machine into CellCog's workspace. CellCog Desktop acts as a bridge: CellCog's cloud agents coordinate with the desktop app to run commands, read files, and write code directly on the user's machine.

All commands are auto-approved for SDK/agent users — fully autonomous, no manual approval needed.

Prerequisites#

This skill requires the cellcog skill for SDK setup and API calls.

bash

# Claude Code, Cursor, Codex + 70 more agents
npx skills add cellcog/skills --skill cellcog

# OpenClaw
openclaw skills install @cellcog/cellcog

How to Use#

For your first CellCog task in a session, read the cellcog skill for the full SDK reference — file handling, chat modes, timeouts, and more.

OpenClaw (fire-and-forget):

python

result = client.create_chat(
    prompt="[your task prompt]",
    notify_session_key="agent:main:main",
    task_label="my-task",
    chat_mode="agent",
    chat_tier="max",
    enable_cowork=True,
    cowork_working_directory="/path/to/project",
)

All agents except OpenClaw (blocks until done):

python

from cellcog import CellCogClient
client = CellCogClient(agent_provider="openclaw|cursor|claude-code|codex|...")
result = client.create_chat(
    prompt="[your task prompt]",
    task_label="my-task",
    chat_mode="agent",
    chat_tier="max",
    enable_cowork=True,
    cowork_working_directory="/path/to/project",
)
print(result["message"])

---

Why Co-work?#

Your Machine as a Data Source#

Your data lives on the user's machine — project files, databases, logs, configs. Instead of uploading everything, enable co-work with a working directory and CellCog agents explore, read, and reason about the data directly. No file size limits, no upload hassle.

CellCog as Your Coding Powerhouse#

CellCog agents are among the most capable coding agents available — deep reasoning paired with real execution. Enable co-work and delegate complex coding tasks: build websites, APIs, fix bugs, refactor codebases, set up infrastructure.

CellCog itself is built using this exact co-work capability.

Think of it as a Claude Code or Cursor alternative, backed by CellCog's multi-agent depth and any-to-any engine.

---

Quick Start#

python

from cellcog import CellCogClient

client = CellCogClient(agent_provider="openclaw")

# 1. Check if desktop app is connected
status = client.get_desktop_status()

# 2. If not connected, get install instructions
if not status["connected"]:
    info = client.get_desktop_download_urls()
    # info contains per-platform URLs + install commands
    # Run the install commands for the user's OS, then:
    # cellcog-desktop --set-api-key <CELLCOG_API_KEY>
    # cellcog-desktop --start

# 3. Create a co-work chat

# OpenClaw agents (fire-and-forget):
result = client.create_chat(
    prompt="Refactor the auth module to use JWT tokens",
    notify_session_key="agent:main:main",  # OpenClaw only
    chat_mode="agent",
    chat_tier="max",
    enable_cowork=True,
    cowork_working_directory="/Users/me/project",
    task_label="refactor-auth",
)

# All other agents (blocks until done):
result = client.create_chat(
    prompt="Refactor the auth module to use JWT tokens",
    chat_mode="agent",
    chat_tier="max",
    enable_cowork=True,
    cowork_working_directory="/Users/me/project",
    task_label="refactor-auth",
)

---

Desktop App Setup#

Call client.get_desktop_download_urls() — returns download URLs and platform-specific install commands for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

After installation:

bash

cellcog-desktop --set-api-key <CELLCOG_API_KEY>
cellcog-desktop --start

The agent can do all of this programmatically — no human interaction needed beyond providing the API key.

Alternatively, ask your human to download CellCog Desktop from cellcog.ai/cowork, open it, and enter their API key.

---

Desktop CLI Reference#

All commands output JSON for easy agent parsing:

CommandWhat it doescellcog-desktop --set-api-key <key>Authenticate with API keycellcog-desktop --statusCheck connection + app statecellcog-desktop --start / --stopApp lifecyclecellcog-desktop --logsDebug logs

---

Choosing Mode & Tier#

Use chat_mode="agent", chat_tier="max" for all coding work — code needs the deepest reasoning tier. The SDK applies "max" automatically whenever enable_cowork=True, so co-work sessions get it even without an explicit tier.

"agent core" is a legacy name that still works forever (the server maps it to Agent max), but new code should pass chat_mode="agent", chat_tier="max".

Agent Team ( chat_mode="team") is reserved for deep research — use it only when the task IS research that happens to involve code.

Browse rides Co-work: create_chat(enable_browse=True, browser_profile_id=...) lets the agent drive the user's real Chrome alongside the terminal (profiles discoverable via client.get_browser_status(); enabling Browse auto-enables Co-work server-side).

---

Error Recovery#

If the desktop app disconnects, CellCog auto-fails pending commands with a clear message.

To recover:

bash

cellcog-desktop --stop && cellcog-desktop --start

Then send continue to the chat:

python

client.send_message(chat_id="abc123", message="continue")

---

Security#

Even with auto-approve, these protections are always active:

• Blocked paths: ~/.ssh, ~/.aws, credential files are inaccessible
• Output redaction: Sensitive data is automatically redacted from command output
• Per-chat scoping: Each chat session is scoped to its working directory

---

What You Can Build#

Co-work enables the full spectrum of development tasks:

• Web development — Build React apps, APIs, landing pages
• Bug fixing — Debug stack traces, fix test failures
• Refactoring — Modernize codebases, improve architecture
• DevOps — Set up CI/CD, Docker configs, infrastructure
• Data pipelines — ETL scripts, database migrations
• Documentation — Generate docs from code, README files

For the best coding experience, also install coding-agent-cellcog:

bash

# Claude Code, Cursor, Codex + 70 more agents
npx skills add cellcog/skills --skill coding-agent-cellcog

# OpenClaw
openclaw skills install @cellcog/coding-agent-cellcog