whatisgithub

What is agent?

skevy/agent — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-07-17 · repo last pushed 2016-08-09

GoAudience · ops devopsComplexity · 3/5DormantSetup · moderate

In one sentence

Buildkite Agent is a lightweight worker program that runs CI/CD build jobs on your own machines instead of the cloud.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Runs build jobs
      Polls for work
      Reports results
    Tech stack
      Go
      Buildkite
      Docker
    Use cases
      Self-hosted CI runners
      Test on special hardware
      Keep code on-premise
    Audience
      DevOps teams
      Startups to enterprises
    Setup
      Install binary
      Auth token
      Start command

Code map

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filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Run CI builds and tests on your own hardware instead of a hosted cloud runner.

USE CASE 2

Deploy a fleet of agents across many machines to handle thousands of builds daily.

USE CASE 3

Test builds on specialized hardware or networks that hosted CI can't provide.

USE CASE 4

Keep code from ever leaving your own infrastructure for security or compliance reasons.

What is it built with?

GoDocker

How does it compare?

skevy/agentaasheeshlikepanner/vasealexzielenski/controller-runtime
Stars—0—
LanguageGoGoGo
Last pushed2016-08-09—2022-04-20
MaintenanceDormant—Dormant
Setup difficultymoderatemoderatehard
Complexity3/54/54/5
Audienceops devopsdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Requires a Buildkite account and agent token before it can pick up jobs.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Show me how to install and start the Buildkite Agent on Linux.
Prompt 2
How do I configure a Buildkite Agent token so it connects to my Buildkite account?
Prompt 3
Help me set up multiple Buildkite Agents across a fleet of machines for parallel builds.
Prompt 4
What's the difference between running Buildkite Agent via Docker versus a native install?

Frequently asked questions

What is agent?

Buildkite Agent is a lightweight worker program that runs CI/CD build jobs on your own machines instead of the cloud.

What language is agent written in?

Mainly Go. The stack also includes Go, Docker.

Is agent actively maintained?

Dormant — no commits in 2+ years (last push 2016-08-09).

How hard is agent to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is agent for?

Mainly ops devops.

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