toq protocol

toq is a secure agent-to-agent communication protocol. Each agent is an endpoint identified by a toq address like toq://hostname/agent-name on port 9009.

Setup

Guide the user conversationally. Do not dump all steps at once.

Before anything else: "toq is in alpha. Great for experimenting with agent-to-agent communication, but avoid sending personal or sensitive data through it for now."

Step 1: Install toq

Check if installed:

which toq > /dev/null 2>&1 && toq --version

If not found, install:

curl -sSf https://toq.dev/install.sh | sh && export PATH="$HOME/.toq/bin:$PATH"

Or with Homebrew:

brew install toqprotocol/toq/toq

If toq is installed but not in PATH:

export PATH="$HOME/.toq/bin:$PATH"

Step 2: Configure

Ask for agent name (lowercase, hyphens allowed). Detect host IP:

PUBLIC_IP=$(curl -4 -s ifconfig.me) && LOCAL_IP=$(hostname -I 2>/dev/null | awk '{print $1}' || ipconfig getifaddr en0 2>/dev/null) && echo "Public: $PUBLIC_IP Local: $LOCAL_IP"

Run setup:

toq setup --non-interactive --agent-name=<name> --connection-mode=approval --adapter=http --host=<ip>

Step 3: Start

toq up && toq doctor

Step 4: Security check

Present the walkthrough from references/security.md. Do not skip.

Step 5: What's next

Show status with toq status and present options:

• "Send a test message"
• "Set up a message handler"
• "Configure my allowlist"
• "Set up DNS"

Sending messages

The agent name in the address is validated during connection. Sending to toq://host/wrong-name will fail with a clear error if no agent with that name exists on that endpoint.

toq send toq://hostname/agent-name "message text"
toq send toq://hostname/agent-name "reply" --thread-id <id>
toq send toq://hostname/agent-name "goodbye" --thread-id <id> --close-thread

For agents on non-default ports, include the port in the address:

toq send toq://hostname:9010/agent-name "message text"

Approvals and permissions

Approval is bidirectional. Both sides must approve each other before messages flow. When alice sends to charlie, charlie must approve alice. When charlie replies, alice must approve charlie.

"When a new agent tries to talk to you, they go into a waiting list. You decide who gets in."

toq approvals                              # list pending
toq approve <key>                          # approve by key
toq approve --from "toq://host/*"          # approve by pattern
toq deny <key>                             # deny
toq block --from "toq://host/agent"        # block
toq unblock --from "toq://host/agent"      # unblock
toq permissions                            # list all rules

Wildcards: toq://* (all), toq://host/* (all on host), toq://*/name (name on any host).

Message handlers

Handlers auto-process incoming messages. See references/handlers.md for shell patterns and references/conversational.md for LLM handlers.

Save handler scripts to ~/handlers/. Consider testing scripts manually before registering:

mkdir -p ~/handlers
# Test with mock env vars:
TOQ_FROM="toq://test/agent" TOQ_TEXT="test message" TOQ_THREAD_ID="test-123" python3 ~/handlers/my-handler.py

After registering, check handler logs with toq handler logs <name> to verify behavior.

When the user wants custom behavior for incoming messages (auto-replies, forwarding, logging, task processing, notifications), suggest setting up a handler. Handlers are the primary way to automate responses and build agent workflows.

After creating handlers or any automated setup, always give the user a brief breakdown: what was created, where files live, and how it works. Keep it concise.

When multiple agents need to exchange structured messages (acks, status updates, task results), agree on a message format convention upfront. Agents set up independently may use different formats, causing parsing mismatches.

Register a shell handler:

toq handler add <name> --command "bash ~/handlers/my-handler.sh" [--from "toq://*/alice"]

Handlers can run any executable: bash, python, node, or any binary. The command is passed to sh -c, so pipes and redirects work.

toq handler add <name> --command "python3 ~/handlers/handler.py"
toq handler add <name> --command "node ~/handlers/handler.js"

Register an LLM handler:

toq handler add <name> --provider <provider> --model <model> --prompt "..." [--auto-close]

Manage handlers:

toq handler list
toq handler enable|disable <name>
toq handler remove <name>
toq handler logs <name>

Handler environment variables (set by the daemon, use these exact names):

• TOQ_FROM - sender address
• TOQ_TEXT - message text
• TOQ_THREAD_ID - thread ID for replies
• TOQ_ID - message ID
• TOQ_TYPE - message type
• TOQ_HANDLER - handler name
• TOQ_URL - daemon API URL

Full message JSON is also piped to stdin.

When a handler needs LLM reasoning, default to openclaw agent --local --message "..." which uses the configured model provider. Users can also call any model API directly if they prefer (e.g., curl to OpenAI, Ollama, or any other provider).

When forwarding messages between agents in a pipeline, embed the original sender address and thread ID in the message body so downstream agents can route responses back to the originator.

Multiple agents on one machine

Run multiple agents by using separate workspaces and ports:

# First agent (default workspace, port 9009)
toq setup --non-interactive --agent-name=alice --connection-mode=approval --host=<ip>
toq up

# Second agent (custom workspace, port 9010)
toq setup --non-interactive --agent-name=bob --connection-mode=approval --host=<ip> --config-dir ~/.toq-bob
toq config set port 9010 --config-dir ~/.toq-bob
toq up --config-dir ~/.toq-bob

All commands for the second agent need --config-dir ~/.toq-bob. The address includes the port: toq://hostname:9010/bob.

Common tasks

See references/commands.md for the full CLI reference.

• "What's my toq address?" -> toq whoami
• "Is toq running?" -> toq status
• "Run diagnostics" -> toq doctor
• "Show peers" -> toq peers
• "Check received messages" -> toq messages
• "Discover agents at a domain" -> toq discover <domain>
• "Change connection mode" -> toq config set connection_mode <mode> then toq down && toq up
• "Shut down toq" -> toq down

Emergency shutdown

toq down

If that fails:

pkill -f "toq up" && rm -f ~/.toq/toq.pid

Key management

Export and import require a TTY. Tell the user to run these manually:

• Export: toq export <path>
• Import: toq import <path>
• Rotate keys: toq rotate-keys