GUI

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Prerequisites

• OpenHands is running

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Overview

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Initial Setup

1. Upon first launch, you’ll see a settings popup.
2. Select an LLM Provider and LLM Model from the dropdown menus. If the required model does not exist in the list, select see advanced settings. Then toggle Advanced options and enter it with the correct prefix in the Custom Model text box.
3. Enter the corresponding API Key for your chosen provider.
4. Click Save Changes to apply the settings.

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Settings

You can use the Settings page at any time to:

• Setup the LLM provider and model for OpenHands.
• Setup the search engine.
• Configure MCP servers.
• Connect to GitHub and connect to GitLab
• Set application settings like your preferred language, notifications and other preferences.
• Manage custom secrets.

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GitHub Setup

OpenHands automatically exports a GITHUB_TOKEN to the shell environment if provided:

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GitLab Setup

OpenHands automatically exports a GITLAB_TOKEN to the shell environment if provided:

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BitBucket Setup (Coming soon …)

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Secrets Management

OpenHands provides a secrets manager that allows you to securely store and manage sensitive information that can be accessed by the agent during runtime, such as API keys. These secrets are automatically exported as environment variables in the agent’s runtime environment.

1. Accessing the Secrets Manager:

   • In the Settings page, navigate to the Secrets tab.
   • You’ll see a list of all your existing custom secrets (if any).

2. Adding a New Secret:

   • Click the Add New Secret button.
   • Fill in the following fields:
     • Name: A unique identifier for your secret (e.g., AWS_ACCESS_KEY). This will be the environment variable name.
     • Value: The sensitive information you want to store.
     • Description (optional): A brief description of what the secret is used for, which is also provided to the agent.
   • Click Add Secret to save.

3. Editing a Secret:

   • Click the Edit button next to the secret you want to modify.
   • You can update the name and description of the secret.
   • Note: For security reasons, you cannot view or edit the value of an existing secret. If you need to change the value, delete the secret and create a new one.

4. Deleting a Secret:

   • Click the Delete button next to the secret you want to remove.
   • Confirm the deletion when prompted.

5. Using Secrets in the Agent:

   • All custom secrets are automatically exported as environment variables in the agent’s runtime environment.
   • You can access them in your code using standard environment variable access methods (e.g., os.environ['SECRET_NAME'] in Python).
   • Example: If you create a secret named OPENAI_API_KEY, you can access it in your code as process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY in JavaScript or os.environ['OPENAI_API_KEY'] in Python.

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Advanced Settings

The Advanced settings allows configuration of additional LLM settings. Inside the Settings page, under the LLM tab, toggle Advanced options to access additional settings.

• Custom Model: Use the Custom Model text box to manually enter a model. Make sure to use the correct prefix based on litellm docs.
• Base URL: Specify a Base URL if required by your LLM provider.
• Memory Condensation: The memory condenser manages the LLM’s context by ensuring only the most important and relevant information is presented.
• Confirmation Mode: Enabling this mode will cause OpenHands to confirm an action with the user before performing it.

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Key Features

For an overview of the key features available inside a conversation, please refer to the Key Features section of the documentation.

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Status Indicator

The status indicator located in the bottom left of the screen will cycle through a number of states as a new conversation is loaded. Typically these include:

• Disconnected : The frontend is not connected to any conversation
• Connecting : The frontend is connecting a websocket to a conversation.
• Building Runtime... : The server is building a runtime. This is typically in development mode only while building a docker image.
• Starting Runtime... : The server is starting a new runtime instance - probably a new docker container or remote runtime.
• Initializing Agent... : The server is starting the agent loop. (This step does not appear at present with Nested runtimes)
• Setting up workspace... : Usually this means a git clone ... operation.
• Setting up git hooks : Setting up the git pre commit hooks for the workspace.
• Agent is awaiting user input... : Ready to go!

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Tips for Effective Use

• Be specific in your requests to get the most accurate and helpful responses, as described in the prompting best practices.
• Use one of the recommended models, as described in the LLMs section.

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Other Ways to Run Openhands

• Run OpenHands in a scriptable headless mode.
• Run OpenHands with a friendly CLI.
• Run OpenHands on GitHub issues with a GitHub action.