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1 change: 1 addition & 0 deletions docs.json
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -298,6 +298,7 @@
{
"group": "Agent Features",
"pages": [
"sdk/guides/agent-acp",
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✅ Placement looks correct - alphabetically ordered within "Agent Features" group.

"sdk/guides/agent-interactive-terminal",
"sdk/guides/agent-browser-use",
"sdk/guides/agent-custom",
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154 changes: 154 additions & 0 deletions sdk/guides/agent-acp.mdx
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---
title: ACP Agent
description: Delegate to an ACP-compatible server (Claude Code, Gemini CLI, etc.) instead of calling an LLM directly.
---

import RunExampleCode from "/sdk/shared-snippets/how-to-run-example.mdx";

> A ready-to-run example is available [here](#ready-to-run-example)!

`ACPAgent` lets you use any [Agent Client Protocol](https://agentclientprotocol.com/protocol/overview) server as the backend for an OpenHands conversation. Instead of calling an LLM directly, the agent spawns an ACP server subprocess and communicates with it over JSON-RPC. The server manages its own LLM, tools, and execution — your code just sends messages and collects responses.

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Did you really mean 'subprocess'?

## Basic Usage
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🟠 Important: Verify wrap and focus attributes are valid Mintlify syntax. The SDK guidelines mention highlight for code blocks. If these are custom attributes, they may not render correctly.

Check the Mintlify docs or test in preview. Prefer highlight={5-7} if that's the intended effect.


```python icon="python" highlight={5-7}
from openhands.sdk.agent import ACPAgent
from openhands.sdk.conversation import Conversation

# Point at any ACP-compatible server
agent = ACPAgent(acp_command=["npx", "-y", "claude-code-acp"])

conversation = Conversation(agent=agent, workspace="./my-project")
conversation.send_message("Explain the architecture of this project.")
conversation.run()

agent.close()
```

The `acp_command` is the shell command used to spawn the server process. The SDK communicates with it over stdin/stdout JSON-RPC.

<Note>
**Key difference from standard agents:** With `ACPAgent`, you don't need an `LLM_API_KEY` in your code. The ACP server handles its own LLM authentication and API calls. This is *delegation* — your code sends messages to the ACP server, which manages all LLM interactions internally.
</Note>

### What ACPAgent Does Not Support

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Did you really mean 'ACPAgent'?

Because the ACP server manages its own tools and context, these `AgentBase` features are not available on `ACPAgent`:

- `tools` / `include_default_tools` — the server has its own tools
- `mcp_config` — configure MCP on the server side
- `condenser` — the server manages its own context window
- `critic` — the server manages its own evaluation
- `agent_context` — configure the server directly

Passing any of these raises `NotImplementedError` at initialization.

## How It Works

1. `ACPAgent` spawns the ACP server as a subprocess

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Did you really mean 'subprocess'?
2. The SDK initializes the ACP protocol and creates a session
3. When you call `conversation.send_message(...)`, the message is forwarded to the ACP server via `conn.prompt()`
4. The server processes the request using its own LLM and tools, streaming session updates (text chunks, thought chunks, tool calls) back to the SDK
5. The SDK accumulates the response and emits it as a `MessageEvent`
6. Permission requests from the server are auto-approved — this means the SDK automatically grants any tool execution or file access the server requests, so ensure you trust the ACP server you're running
7. Token usage and cost metrics from the ACP server are captured into the agent's `LLM.metrics`

## Configuration

### Server Command and Arguments

```python icon="python"
agent = ACPAgent(
acp_command=["npx", "-y", "claude-code-acp"],
acp_args=["--profile", "my-profile"], # extra CLI args
acp_env={"CLAUDE_API_KEY": "sk-..."}, # extra env vars
)
```

| Parameter | Description |
|-----------|-------------|
| `acp_command` | Command to start the ACP server (required) |
| `acp_args` | Additional arguments appended to the command |
| `acp_env` | Additional environment variables for the server process |

## Metrics

Token usage and cost data are automatically captured from the ACP server's responses. You can inspect them through the standard `LLM.metrics` interface:

```python icon="python"
metrics = agent.llm.metrics
print(f"Total cost: ${metrics.accumulated_cost:.6f}")

for usage in metrics.token_usages:
print(f" prompt={usage.prompt_tokens} completion={usage.completion_tokens}")
```

Usage data comes from two ACP protocol sources:
- **`PromptResponse.usage`** — per-turn token counts (input, output, cached, reasoning tokens)
- **`UsageUpdate` notifications** — cumulative session cost and context window size

## Cleanup

Always call `agent.close()` when you are done to terminate the ACP server subprocess. A `try/finally` block is recommended:

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Did you really mean 'subprocess'?

```python icon="python"
agent = ACPAgent(acp_command=["npx", "-y", "claude-code-acp"])
try:
conversation = Conversation(agent=agent, workspace=".")
conversation.send_message("Hello!")
conversation.run()
finally:
agent.close()
```

## Ready-to-run Example

<Note>
This example is available on GitHub: [examples/01_standalone_sdk/40_acp_agent_example.py](https://github.com/OpenHands/software-agent-sdk/blob/main/examples/01_standalone_sdk/40_acp_agent_example.py)
</Note>

```python icon="python" expandable examples/01_standalone_sdk/40_acp_agent_example.py
"""Example: Using ACPAgent with Claude Code ACP server.

This example shows how to use an ACP-compatible server (claude-code-acp)
as the agent backend instead of direct LLM calls.

Prerequisites:
- Node.js / npx available
- Claude Code CLI authenticated (or CLAUDE_API_KEY set)

Usage:
uv run python examples/01_standalone_sdk/40_acp_agent_example.py
"""

import os

from openhands.sdk.agent import ACPAgent
from openhands.sdk.conversation import Conversation


agent = ACPAgent(acp_command=["npx", "-y", "claude-code-acp"])

try:
cwd = os.getcwd()
conversation = Conversation(agent=agent, workspace=cwd)

conversation.send_message(
"List the Python source files under openhands-sdk/openhands/sdk/agent/, "
"then read the __init__.py and summarize what agent classes are exported."
)
conversation.run()
finally:
# Clean up the ACP server subprocess
agent.close()

print("Done!")
```

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🟠 Important: This is the key differentiator of ACPAgent and it's buried at the end. Most developers scanning this doc will miss it.

Add a callout near the top (after "Basic Usage") explaining:

  • ACP server manages its own LLM authentication
  • No LLM_API_KEY needed in your code
  • This is delegation, not direct LLM calls

This example does not use an LLM API key directly — the ACP server (Claude Code) handles authentication on its own.

## Next Steps

- **[Creating Custom Agents](/sdk/guides/agent-custom)** — Build specialized agents with custom tool sets and system prompts
- **[Agent Delegation](/sdk/guides/agent-delegation)** — Compose multiple agents for complex workflows
- **[LLM Metrics](/sdk/guides/metrics)** — Track token usage and costs across models