Create an agent
Build and configure an agent in the dashboard — from name to first task.
An agent is the basic unit of work: a name, a system prompt that shapes its behaviour, a model, and an optional set of skills, connectors, and MCP servers. Chat with it directly, wire it to Telegram, or put it on a schedule.
You need the stack running (nodal-agents up) and at least one provider key set in LLM
Providers first — see Connect a model.
Build it
Open the Agents board → Create New Agent
Go to http://localhost:3000, open the Agents board in the sidebar rail, and click Create New Agent.
The modal asks how to start:
- Customize a new agent — an empty form, you pick everything.
- Pre-filled agent profiles — a profile family (Development and others) pre-fills the name, the role, the model and the skills that fit the job you have in mind, and suggests connectors. Every field stays editable.
Nothing exists in the database until you create the agent, so a profile you looked at and abandoned leaves no trace, and a suggested connector is a suggestion — never something attached behind your back.
Name it and write its persona
The name is how you and other agents address it. The personality / system prompt is the Markdown injected at the top of every job — tell it what it is, what it knows, how it should respond, and what not to do.
Pick a role
| Role | Delegates? | Use when |
|---|---|---|
| Worker | No | the agent does the work itself |
| Router | to one sub-agent | you need specialist routing |
| Planner | to many, in parallel | you need fan-out + synthesis |
Router and Planner are orchestrators — pick the sub-agents they may delegate to.
Choose a model
Select a provider key and a model (the list is pulled from the provider's live endpoint). Optionally set a fallback chain — ordered (provider, model) pairs the runner tries if the primary fails.
You can also make the agent be a coding CLI here: picking Claude Code or Codex as its model hands the whole turn to that CLI, with Nodal keeping the perimeter. See Coding with an agent.
Save, then assign tools
On the agent's edit page, use the tabs:
- Overview — name, persona, role and model, all editable afterwards.
- Channels — Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp.
- Skills — reusable capabilities that inject guidance and unlock tools (reference).
- Tools — the built-in tools this agent holds.
- Connectors — Gmail, Drive, Notion, Airtable… plus MCP servers (concepts).
- Runs — what it has done.
- Approvals — per-tool rule: Run without asking, Ask for approval, or Block.
- Settings — workspaces, budgets, team permissions, delete.
Talk to it
The dashboard chat talks to your workspace's ROOT agent — the first orchestrator you created — which routes work to the right specialist. Open the Work board and type into the empty conversation, or pick an existing thread under Channels → Nodal chats.
Follow progress under Logs → Activity, and open any run for its own page.
Good to know
- A worker with no skills still has the built-in memory and workspace tools. - The first orchestrator you create becomes this workspace's ROOT agent automatically. - Deleting an agent also deletes its jobs, schedules, and memory.