Machtiani is an experimental harness designed to let users interact with their computers through email. By using existing email addresses (such as Gmail) and services like AgentMail, OpenMail, or Sendmux, users can send tasks, attachments, and group conversations to their machine. The system is designed to handle long-running sessions without compaction by utilizing a memory model based on git.
Machtiani: An experimental harness for managing long-running agent sessions via email
The architecture employs an iterative planner—referred to as an instructor—that dispatches ReAct workers to perform tasks. This hierarchical flow allows the instructor to manage accumulated context while the workers run in isolated continuations, preventing the shell commands or tool calls of one worker from burdening the instructor. Each agent can use independent models and configurations, and users can utilize existing tools like Claude Code, Codex CLI, or OMP.
For local management, the system requires building from source. Users can monitor progress via the terminal using the command machtiani run --attach. The project currently consists of three submodules: the Dear Machine client, the Machtiani harness, and an installer. While the project is primarily written in Go, it also utilizes TypeScript for the installer and TLA+ for specifications to check guest authorization.
Sources
- Dear User, email is here to stay （Hacker News Frontpage, 2026-09-30）