AUI Usage Guide

AUI Usage Guide

A complete walkthrough for using AUI (Agent UI) -- the visual desktop application for designing, managing, and deploying Claude Code agent teams.

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Table of Contents

• Getting Started
• Building Your First Team
• Working with Skills
• AI-Powered Features
• Deploying a Team
• Variables
• Cron Scheduling
• The Catalog (Menu)
• Settings
• Keyboard Shortcuts
• Tips and Best Practices

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Getting Started

First Launch

When you open AUI for the first time, you will see an interactive canvas with a single **Human/root node** displayed in gold. This is your organization root -- it represents you, the team owner. A welcome overlay appears with the message "Double-click to create your first team or use + in the toolbar."

The root node is always present and cannot be deleted. It serves as the top of your agent hierarchy, and everything you build -- teams, agents, skills -- branches out from it.

Setting Up Your API Key

Before using any AI-powered features, you need to configure a Claude API key:

1. Click the Menu button in the top-right toolbar area.
2. In the Catalog panel that opens, click the Settings button in the utility row.
3. Under the Claude API section, paste your Anthropic API key (starts with sk-ant-...).
4. Click Save Settings.

The key is stored locally in `.aui/settings.json` within your home directory. It never leaves your machine except when making direct calls to the Anthropic API.

Understanding the Canvas

The canvas is powered by React Flow and supports standard interactive controls:

• Pan: Click and drag on the empty canvas background to move around.
• Zoom: Scroll up to zoom in, scroll down to zoom out. The zoom range is 0.3x to 2x.
• Select a node: Click on any node to select it. The Inspector panel on the right opens automatically, showing that node's details.
• Deselect: Click on empty canvas space to clear the selection.
• MiniMap: A small overview map in the bottom-right corner shows your full tree structure. Use it to orient yourself in large organizations.
• Controls: Zoom and fit-to-view buttons appear in the bottom-left corner.

Nodes are color-coded by type:

Node Type	Color	Border Style
Human	Gold	Solid
Team	Blue	Dashed
Agent	Orange	Dashed
Skill	Green	Solid
Context	Purple	Solid

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Building Your First Team

Step 1: Create a Team Node

There are several ways to create a new node:

• Click the + button in the top-right toolbar.
• Press Ctrl+N to open the create dialog.
• Double-click on empty canvas space.
• Right-click on the canvas and