Your AI workflow gets better after every task.
ACE turns one-off prompts into evolving playbooks. It captures what worked, what failed, and what to improve so your assistant becomes more reliable with real use.
Hosted Agent · Dashboard · Docs · Self-Host Guide · Support ACE Open-Source
ACE is the open-source platform for self-improving AI agents.
Instead of treating prompts like disposable text, ACE treats instructions as living playbooks:
- Create structured playbooks for coding, research, writing, analysis, and operations
- Connect those playbooks to MCP-compatible tools like Claude Code, Codex, and custom clients
- Record outcomes from real work so useful patterns are not lost
- Automatically evolve playbooks into better versions over time
The result is simple: less prompt drift, fewer repeated mistakes, and better first-pass output.
- Capture wins permanently: turn a good run into reusable guidance instead of hoping the next session goes the same way
- Learn from failure: record misses, edge cases, and postmortems directly into the system that guides future work
- Improve with real usage: evolve playbooks from actual execution history rather than abstract best-practice docs
- Stay tool-agnostic: use ACE anywhere MCP fits into your workflow
ACE is also available as a hosted agent at aceagent.io, with the dashboard at app.aceagent.io and documentation at docs.aceagent.io.
If you want to use ACE right away, the fastest path is the hosted service:
- Create an account at app.aceagent.io.
- Generate an API key with the scopes you need.
- Connect ACE to your agent over MCP.
Example for Claude Code:
claude mcp add --transport http ace https://aceagent.io/mcp \
--header "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"Legacy SSE compatibility remains available at https://aceagent.io/mcp/sse through May 22, 2026.
Helpful links:
You can run ACE on your own infrastructure with Docker Compose or a hybrid local-dev setup.
git clone https://github.com/DannyMac180/ace-platform.git
cd ace-platform
cp .env.example .env
# Set at minimum:
# OPENAI_API_KEY=...
# JWT_SECRET_KEY=...
docker compose --profile full up -d
curl http://localhost:8000/healthThat starts PostgreSQL, Redis, migrations, the FastAPI API, the MCP server, Celery workers, and the scheduler.
git clone https://github.com/DannyMac180/ace-platform.git
cd ace-platform
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"
cp .env.example .env
docker compose up -d postgres redis
alembic upgrade head
uvicorn ace_platform.api.main:app --reload
python -m ace_platform.mcp.server
celery -A ace_platform.workers.celery_app worker -l infoFor the frontend:
lsof -ti :3000 | xargs kill -9 2>/dev/null
cd web
npm ci
npm run dev -- --port 3000More deployment detail:
These are the minimum settings most self-hosted installations need:
| Variable | Required | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
DATABASE_URL |
Yes | PostgreSQL connection string for workers and sync operations |
REDIS_URL |
Yes | Redis connection for Celery and rate limiting |
OPENAI_API_KEY |
Yes | Model access for playbook evolution and related LLM features |
JWT_SECRET_KEY |
Yes | Signing key for authentication tokens |
DATABASE_URL_ASYNC |
No | Async DB URL for API/MCP; auto-derived if omitted |
CORS_ORIGINS |
Recommended | Allowed browser origins for your frontend |
FRONTEND_URL |
Recommended | Public frontend URL for redirects and app links |
OAUTH_REDIRECT_BASE_URL |
Recommended | Base URL for OAuth callback handling |
SESSION_SECRET_KEY |
Recommended | Separate secret for OAuth/session cookies |
Common optional integrations:
| Variable | When you need it |
|---|---|
GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID / GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET |
Google login |
GITHUB_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID / GITHUB_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET |
GitHub login |
BILLING_ENABLED, STRIPE_SECRET_KEY, STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET |
Stripe billing |
SENTRY_DSN |
Error monitoring |
RESEND_API_KEY |
Transactional email |
Start from .env.example for the full list.
| Path | Purpose |
|---|---|
ace_core/ |
Core ACE logic and adaptation primitives |
ace_platform/ |
Hosted platform backend, API, MCP server, workers, and DB layer |
web/ |
React/Vite dashboard frontend |
docs-site/ |
Documentation website source |
playbooks/ |
Starter playbook templates |
tests/ |
Backend and platform test suite |
Contributions are welcome. If you want to improve ACE, the best path is a focused PR with a clear test plan.
- Create a feature branch instead of working on
main. - Add tests for new behavior.
- Run the local quality gates before opening a PR:
source venv/bin/activate && ruff check ace_platform/ tests/
source venv/bin/activate && ruff format ace_platform/ tests/
source venv/bin/activate && pytest tests/ -vIf you touch the frontend, also run:
cd web
npm ci
npm run lint
npx vitest runFor larger changes, start with a small draft PR so we can align early.
ACE Platform is built and maintained by Dan McAteer.
Dan is focused on making AI systems more durable, compounding, and useful in real workflows, not just impressive in a single demo. If you want to contribute, collaborate, or help push ACE forward, opening a PR is the best place to start.