open-swe/INSTALLATION.md

Installation Guide

This guide walks you through setting up Open SWE end-to-end: local development, GitHub App creation, LangSmith configuration, webhooks, and production deployment.

The steps are ordered to avoid forward references. Each step only depends on things you've already completed.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11 – 3.13 (3.14 is not yet supported due to dependency constraints)
• uv package manager
• LangGraph CLI
• ngrok (for local development — exposes webhook endpoints to the internet)

1. Clone and install

git clone https://github.com/langchain-ai/open-swe.git
cd open-swe
uv venv
source .venv/bin/activate
uv sync --all-extras

2. Start ngrok

You'll need the ngrok URL in subsequent steps when configuring webhooks, so start it first.

ngrok http 2024 --url https://some-url-you-configure.ngrok.dev

You don't need to pass the --url flag, however doing so will use the same subdomain each time you startup the server. Without this, you'll need to update the webhook URL in GitHub, Slack and Linear every time you restart your server for local development.

Copy the HTTPS URL you set, or if you didn't pass --url, the one ngrok gives you. You'll paste this into the webhook settings in steps 3 and 5.

Keep this terminal open — ngrok needs to stay running during local development. Use a second terminal for the rest of the steps.

3. Create a GitHub App

Open SWE authenticates as a GitHub App to clone repos, push branches, and open PRs.

3a. Choose your OAuth provider ID

Before creating the app you need to decide on an OAuth provider ID — this is a short string you'll use in both GitHub and LangSmith to link the two. Pick something memorable, for example:

your-org-github-oauth

Write this down. You'll use it in the callback URL below and again in step 4 when configuring LangSmith.

3b. Create the app

1. Go to GitHub Settings → Developer settings → GitHub Apps → New GitHub App
2. Fill in:
   • App name: open-swe (or your preferred name)
   • Homepage URL: This can be any valid URL — it's only shown on the GitHub Marketplace page (which you won't be using). Use something like https://github.com/langchain-ai/open-swe
   • Callback URL: https://smith.langchain.com/host-oauth-callback/<your-provider-id> — replace <your-provider-id> with the ID you chose in step 3a (e.g. https://smith.langchain.com/host-oauth-callback/your-org-github-oauth)
   • Request user authorization (OAuth) during installation: ✅ Enable this
   • Webhook URL: https://<your-ngrok-url>/webhooks/github — use the ngrok URL from step 2
   • Webhook secret: generate one and save it — you'll need it later as GITHUB_WEBHOOK_SECRET:

     openssl rand -hex 32
     

3. Set permissions:
   • Repository permissions:
     • Contents: Read & write
     • Pull requests: Read & write
     • Issues: Read & write
     • Metadata: Read-only
   • Organization permissions (required only if you plan to set ALLOWED_GITHUB_ORGS — see step 5 / Security):
     • Members: Read-only — used to verify org membership for the dashboard-login gate via GET /orgs/{org}/memberships/{username}. Without this permission that call returns 403, the check fails closed, and every dashboard login is rejected.
4. Under Subscribe to events, enable:
   • Issue comment
   • Pull request review
   • Pull request review comment
5. Click Create GitHub App

3c. Collect credentials

After creating the app:

1. App ID — shown at the top of the app's settings page. Save this as GITHUB_APP_ID.
2. Private key — scroll down to Private keys → click Generate a private key. A .pem file will download. Save its contents as GITHUB_APP_PRIVATE_KEY.

3d. Install the app on your repositories

1. From your app's settings page, click Install App in the sidebar
2. Select your org or personal account
3. Choose which repositories Open SWE should have access to
4. Click Install
5. After installation, look at the URL in your browser — it will look like:

   https://github.com/settings/installations/12345678
   

   or for an org:

   https://github.com/organizations/YOUR-ORG/settings/installations/12345678
   

   The number at the end (12345678) is your Installation ID. Save this as GITHUB_APP_INSTALLATION_ID.

Note

: The installation page may prompt you to authenticate with LangSmith. If you haven't set up LangSmith yet (step 4), that's fine — you can still grab the Installation ID from the URL and complete the OAuth setup later.

4. Set up LangSmith

Open SWE uses LangSmith for:

• Tracing: all agent runs are logged for debugging and observability
• Sandboxes: each task runs in an isolated LangSmith cloud sandbox

4a. Get your API key, project and tenant IDs

1. Create a LangSmith account if you don't have one
2. Go to Settings → API Keys → Create API Key
3. Save it as LANGSMITH_API_KEY_PROD
4. Get your Tenant ID: Visit LangSmith, login, then copy the UUID in the URL. Example: if your URL is https://smith.langchain.com/o/72184268-01ea-4d29-98cc-6cfcf0f2abb0/agents/chat -> the tenant ID would be 72184268-01ea-4d29-98cc-6cfcf0f2abb0. Save it as LANGSMITH_TENANT_ID_PROD.
5. Get your Project ID: open your tracing project in LangSmith, then click on the ID button in the top left, directly next to the project name. Save it as LANGSMITH_TRACING_PROJECT_ID_PROD

4b. Configure GitHub OAuth (optional but recommended)

This lets each user authenticate with their own GitHub account. Without it, all operations use the GitHub App's installation token (a shared bot identity).

What this affects:

• With per-user OAuth: PRs and commits show the triggering user's identity; each user's GitHub permissions are respected
• Without it (bot-token-only mode): all PRs and commits appear as the GitHub App bot; the app's installation-level permissions are used for everything

To set up per-user OAuth:

1. In LangSmith, go to Settings → OAuth Providers → Add Provider
2. Set the Provider ID to the same string you chose in step 3a (e.g. your-org-github-oauth)
3. Enter the Client ID and Client Secret from your GitHub App (found on the GitHub App settings page under OAuth credentials)
4. Enter the Authorization URL as https://github.com/login/oauth/authorize and the Token URL as https://github.com/login/oauth/access_token.
5. Leave "Enable PKCE" unchecked.
6. Save. You'll reference this Provider ID as GITHUB_OAUTH_PROVIDER_ID in your environment variables.

4c. Sandbox snapshots

LangSmith sandboxes provide the isolated execution environment for each agent run. Open SWE boots each sandbox from a pre-built snapshot — you build the snapshot once (from a Docker image) and then reference it by UUID.

(Optional) Build and Push a custom Docker Image to Docker hub First build and push the sandbox Docker image to a registry LangSmith can pull from. On Apple Silicon, force linux/amd64

docker buildx build \
  --platform linux/amd64 \
  -t <your-docker-hub>/<name-of-your-image> \
  --push .

For a multi-arch tag that also runs locally on Apple Silicon:

docker buildx build \
  --platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64 \
  -t <your-docker-hub>/<name-of-your-image> \
  --push .

Then build a snapshot in the LangSmith UI (Sandboxes → Snapshots → New), or via the SDK:

from langsmith.sandbox import SandboxClient

client = SandboxClient(api_key="<your key>")
snapshot = client.create_snapshot(
    name="open-swe",
    docker_image="johanneslangchain/open-swe-sandbox:gh-cli-amd64",  # built from ./Dockerfile
    fs_capacity_bytes=32 * 1024**3,
)
print(snapshot.id)

You can also use the helper script:

uv run python scripts/create_sandbox_snapshot.py \
  --name open-swe-gh-cli-amd64 \
  --image johanneslangchain/open-swe-sandbox:gh-cli-amd64

Then set the resulting UUID in your environment:

DEFAULT_SANDBOX_SNAPSHOT_ID="<snapshot-uuid>"
# Optional; overrides the snapshot's root FS size at sandbox boot. Default is 32 GiB.
DEFAULT_SANDBOX_SNAPSHOT_FS_CAPACITY_BYTES="34359738368"
# Optional; number of vCPUs per sandbox. Default is 4.
DEFAULT_SANDBOX_VCPUS="4"
# Optional; memory in bytes per sandbox. Default is 15 GiB.
DEFAULT_SANDBOX_MEM_BYTES="16106127360"
# Optional; auto-stop a sandbox after this many seconds of inactivity. Default is 600 (10 min). 0 disables.
DEFAULT_SANDBOX_IDLE_TTL_SECONDS="600"
# Optional; delete a stopped sandbox after this many seconds. Default is 86400 (24 hours). 0 disables.
DEFAULT_SANDBOX_DELETE_AFTER_STOP_SECONDS="86400"

DEFAULT_SANDBOX_SNAPSHOT_ID is required when SANDBOX_TYPE=langsmith. The server validates this at startup and refuses to boot if it's missing. The snapshot should include the GitHub CLI from the project Dockerfile; Open SWE authenticates git and gh through the LangSmith sandbox proxy using runtime-minted GitHub App installation tokens, not deployment-stored GitHub access tokens.

5. Set up triggers

Open SWE can be triggered from GitHub, Linear, and/or Slack. Configure whichever surfaces your team uses — you don't need all of them.

GitHub

GitHub triggering works automatically once your GitHub App is set up (step 3). Users can:

• Tag @openswe in issue titles or bodies to start a task
• Tag @openswe in issue comments for follow-up instructions
• Tag @openswe in PR review comments to have it address review feedback

To control which GitHub users can trigger the agent, add them to the GITHUB_USER_EMAIL_MAP in agent/utils/github_user_email_map.py:

GITHUB_USER_EMAIL_MAP = {
    "their-github-username": "their-email@example.com",
}

You should also configure which GitHub organizations and/or repositories the agent is allowed to operate on. You can specify allowed orgs, specific owner/repo pairs, or both:

# Allow all repos in these orgs
ALLOWED_GITHUB_ORGS="langchain-ai,anthropics"

# Allow specific repos (owner/repo format)
ALLOWED_GITHUB_REPOS="some-user/their-repo,another-org/specific-repo"

A GitHub or Linear webhook is accepted if the resolved repo's org is in ALLOWED_GITHUB_ORGS or the owner/repo is in ALLOWED_GITHUB_REPOS. If both are empty, all repos are allowed. Slack mentions are not rejected from regex-inferred repository text; repository access is bounded by the GitHub App installation permissions.

ALLOWED_GITHUB_ORGS also gates dashboard login: when set, only GitHub accounts that are active members of one of the listed organizations can complete the OAuth login and receive a session. Membership is verified server-side with the GitHub App installation token (so private memberships are visible and no extra OAuth scope is required), and the check fails closed on any API error. When ALLOWED_GITHUB_ORGS is empty, dashboard login is open to any GitHub account (the prior behavior).

Required GitHub App permission: the membership check calls GET /orgs/{org}/memberships/{username}, which requires the GitHub App's Organization → Members: Read-only permission (see step 3b). If you set ALLOWED_GITHUB_ORGS without granting that permission, the call returns 403, the check fails closed, and every dashboard login is rejected. After changing an installed app's permissions, GitHub requires you to approve the new permission on each installation before it takes effect.

Linear (optional)

Open SWE listens for Linear comments that mention @openswe.

Create a webhook:

1. In Linear, go to Settings → API → Webhooks → New webhook
2. Fill in:
   • Label: open-swe
   • URL: https://<your-ngrok-url>/webhooks/linear — use the ngrok URL from step 2
   • Secret: generate with openssl rand -hex 32 — save this as LINEAR_WEBHOOK_SECRET
3. Under Data change events, enable Comments → Create only
4. Click Create webhook

Get your API key:

1. Go to Settings → API → Personal API keys → New API key
2. Name it open-swe, select All access, and copy the key
3. Save it as LINEAR_API_KEY

Configure team-to-repo mapping:

Open SWE routes Linear issues to GitHub repos based on the Linear team and project. Edit the mapping in agent/utils/linear_team_repo_map.py:

LINEAR_TEAM_TO_REPO = {
    "My Team": {"owner": "my-org", "name": "my-repo"},
    "Engineering": {
        "projects": {
            "backend": {"owner": "my-org", "name": "backend"},
            "frontend": {"owner": "my-org", "name": "frontend"},
        },
        "default": {"owner": "my-org", "name": "monorepo"},
    },
}

Users can also override the team/project mapping per-comment by including repo:owner/name (or a GitHub URL) in their @openswe comment. The mapping is used as a fallback when no repo is specified in the comment text.

Slack (optional)

Create a Slack App:

1. Go to api.slack.com/apps → Create New App → From a manifest
2. Copy the manifest below, replacing the two placeholder URLs:
   • Replace <your-provider-id> with the OAuth provider ID from step 3a
   • Replace <your-ngrok-url> with the ngrok URL from step 2

Slack App Manifest

{
    "display_information": {
        "name": "Open SWE",
        "description": "Enables Open SWE to interact with your workspace",
        "background_color": "#000000"
    },
    "features": {
        "app_home": {
            "home_tab_enabled": false,
            "messages_tab_enabled": true,
            "messages_tab_read_only_enabled": false
        },
        "bot_user": {
            "display_name": "Open SWE",
            "always_online": true
        }
    },
    "oauth_config": {
        "redirect_urls": [
            "https://smith.langchain.com/host-oauth-callback/<your-provider-id>"
        ],
        "scopes": {
            "bot": [
                "reactions:write",
                "app_mentions:read",
                "channels:history",
                "channels:read",
                "chat:write",
                "groups:history",
                "groups:read",
                "im:history",
                "im:read",
                "im:write",
                "mpim:history",
                "mpim:read",
                "team:read",
                "users:read",
                "users:read.email"
            ]
        }
    },
    "settings": {
        "event_subscriptions": {
            "request_url": "https://<your-ngrok-url>/webhooks/slack",
            "bot_events": [
                "app_mention",
                "message.im",
                "message.mpim"
            ]
        },
        "org_deploy_enabled": false,
        "socket_mode_enabled": false,
        "token_rotation_enabled": false
    }
}

3. Install the app to your workspace and copy the Bot User OAuth Token (xoxb-...)

Credentials you'll need:

• SLACK_BOT_TOKEN: the Bot User OAuth Token (xoxb-...)
• SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET: found under Basic Information → App Credentials
• SLACK_BOT_USER_ID: the bot's user ID (find it in Slack by clicking the bot's profile)
• SLACK_BOT_USERNAME: the bot's display name (e.g. open-swe)

Default repo:

Slack messages are routed to the default repo (DEFAULT_REPO_OWNER/DEFAULT_REPO_NAME — see step 6) unless the user specifies one with repo:owner/name in their message.

6. Environment variables

Create a .env file in the project root. Below is the full list — only fill in the sections relevant to the triggers you configured.

# === LangSmith ===
LANGSMITH_API_KEY_PROD=""              # From step 4a
LANGCHAIN_TRACING_V2="true"
LANGCHAIN_PROJECT=""                   # LangSmith project name for traces
LANGSMITH_TENANT_ID_PROD=""           
LANGSMITH_TRACING_PROJECT_ID_PROD=""  
LANGSMITH_URL_PROD="https://smith.langchain.com"                 

# === LLM ===
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=""                   # Anthropic API key
OPENAI_API_KEY=""                      # OpenAI API key (when using openai: models)
GOOGLE_API_KEY=""                      # Google AI API key (when using google_genai: models)

# === GitHub App (required) ===
GITHUB_APP_ID=""                       # From step 3c
GITHUB_APP_PRIVATE_KEY="-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
...
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
"
GITHUB_APP_INSTALLATION_ID=""          # From step 3d

# === GitHub Webhook (required) ===
GITHUB_WEBHOOK_SECRET=""               # The secret you generated in step 3b

# === GitHub OAuth via LangSmith (optional) ===
# Without these, all operations use the GitHub App's bot token.
# With these, each user authenticates with their own GitHub account.
GITHUB_OAUTH_PROVIDER_ID=""            # The provider ID from steps 3a / 4b

# === Repo Allowlist (optional) ===
# Comma-separated list of GitHub orgs the agent is allowed to operate on.
# Also gates dashboard login to members of these orgs (requires the GitHub App's
# Organization -> Members: Read-only permission; without it, all dashboard logins are rejected).
# Leave empty to allow all orgs.
ALLOWED_GITHUB_ORGS=""                 # e.g. "my-org,my-other-org"
# Comma-separated list of specific owner/repo pairs the agent is allowed to operate on.
# For GitHub/Linear webhooks, a repo is allowed if its org is in ALLOWED_GITHUB_ORGS OR its owner/repo is in ALLOWED_GITHUB_REPOS.
# Slack mentions are not rejected from regex-inferred repository text; repository access is bounded by GitHub App installation permissions.
# Leave both empty to allow all repos.
ALLOWED_GITHUB_REPOS=""                # e.g. "some-user/their-repo,another-org/specific-repo"

# === Default Repository ===
# Used across all triggers when no repo is specified.
DEFAULT_REPO_OWNER=""                  # Default GitHub org (e.g. "my-org")
DEFAULT_REPO_NAME=""                   # Default GitHub repo (e.g. "my-repo")

# === Linear (if using Linear trigger) ===
LINEAR_API_KEY=""                      # From step 5
LINEAR_WEBHOOK_SECRET=""               # From step 5

# === Slack (if using Slack trigger) ===
SLACK_BOT_TOKEN=""                     # From step 5
SLACK_BOT_USER_ID=""
SLACK_BOT_USERNAME=""
SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET=""

# === Exa (optional — enables web search tool) ===
EXA_API_KEY=""                         # From https://dashboard.exa.ai

# === Sandbox (optional) ===
DEFAULT_SANDBOX_SNAPSHOT_ID=""         # Required when SANDBOX_TYPE=langsmith (see step 4c)
DEFAULT_SANDBOX_SNAPSHOT_FS_CAPACITY_BYTES=""  # Root FS size in bytes (default: 32 GiB)
DEFAULT_SANDBOX_VCPUS=""               # vCPUs per sandbox (default: 4)
DEFAULT_SANDBOX_MEM_BYTES=""           # Memory in bytes per sandbox (default: 15 GiB)
DEFAULT_SANDBOX_IDLE_TTL_SECONDS=""    # Auto-stop after N seconds idle (default: 600; 0 disables)
DEFAULT_SANDBOX_DELETE_AFTER_STOP_SECONDS=""  # Delete N seconds after stop (default: 86400; 0 disables)

# === Token Encryption ===
TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY=""                # Generate with: openssl rand -base64 32
                                       # Supports key rotation: see "Rotating TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY" below

Rotating TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY

TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY accepts either a single Fernet key or a comma- or newline-separated ordered list of keys, most-recent-first. New writes always encrypt under the first key; reads try every key in order. To rotate without invalidating already-stored GitHub tokens:

1. Generate a new key: openssl rand -base64 32.
2. Prepend it to TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY, keeping the old key second:

   TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY="<new_key>,<old_key>"
   

   Restart the server. New encryptions use <new_key>; existing ciphertexts still decrypt against <old_key>.
3. Let active threads cycle (each fresh OAuth flow re-encrypts under the new key). After every active thread has re-authed, drop the old key:

   TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY="<new_key>"
   

   Any thread still holding ciphertext under <old_key> will fail to decrypt and the user will be re-prompted to authenticate — same UX as if the thread had never authed.

7. Start the server

Make sure ngrok is still running from step 2, then start the LangGraph server in a second terminal:

uv run langgraph dev --no-browser

The server runs on http://localhost:2024 with these endpoints:

Endpoint	Purpose
POST /webhooks/github	GitHub issue/PR/comment webhooks
POST /webhooks/linear	Linear comment webhooks
GET /webhooks/linear	Linear webhook verification
POST /webhooks/slack	Slack event webhooks
GET /webhooks/slack	Slack webhook verification
GET /health	Health check

8. Verify it works

GitHub

1. Go to any issue in a repository where the app is installed
2. Create or comment on an issue with: @openswe what files are in this repo?
3. You should see:
   • A 👀 reaction on your comment within a few seconds
   • A new run in your LangSmith project
   • The agent replies with a comment on the issue

Linear

1. Go to any Linear issue in a team you configured in LINEAR_TEAM_TO_REPO
2. Add a comment: @openswe what files are in this repo?
3. You should see:
   • A 👀 reaction on your comment within a few seconds
   • A new run in your LangSmith project
   • The agent replies with a comment on the issue

Slack

1. In any channel where the bot is invited, start a thread
2. Mention the bot: @open-swe what's in the repo?
3. You should see a reply in the thread with the agent's response.

9. Production deployment

For production, deploy the agent on LangGraph Cloud instead of running locally:

1. Push your code to a GitHub repository
2. Connect the repo to LangGraph Cloud
3. Set all environment variables from step 6 in the deployment config
4. Update your webhook URLs (Linear, Slack, GitHub App) to point to your production URL (replace the ngrok URL)

The langgraph.json at the project root already defines the graph entry point and HTTP app:

{
  "graphs": {
    "agent": "agent.server:get_agent"
  },
  "http": {
    "app": "agent.webapp:app"
  }
}

Troubleshooting

Webhook not receiving events

• Verify ngrok is running and the URL matches what's configured in GitHub/Linear/Slack
• Check the ngrok web inspector at http://localhost:4040 for incoming requests
• Ensure you enabled the correct event types (Comments → Create for Linear, app_mention for Slack, Issues + Issue comment for GitHub)
• Webhook secrets are required — if GITHUB_WEBHOOK_SECRET, LINEAR_WEBHOOK_SECRET, or SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET is not set, all requests to that endpoint will be rejected with 401

GitHub authentication errors

• Verify GITHUB_APP_ID, GITHUB_APP_PRIVATE_KEY, and GITHUB_APP_INSTALLATION_ID are set correctly
• Ensure the GitHub App is installed on the target repositories
• Check that the private key includes the full -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY----- and -----END RSA PRIVATE KEY----- lines

Sandbox creation failures

• Verify LANGSMITH_API_KEY_PROD is set and valid
• Check LangSmith sandbox quotas in your workspace settings
• If the server refuses to start with DEFAULT_SANDBOX_SNAPSHOT_ID must be set, build a snapshot (see step 4c) and export its UUID
• If you see Failed to create sandbox from snapshot '<id>', confirm the snapshot exists in your workspace and has status ready
• If you get a 403 Forbidden error on the sandbox endpoints, your LangSmith workspace may not have sandbox access enabled — contact LangSmith support

Agent not responding to comments

• For GitHub: ensure the comment or issue contains @openswe (case-insensitive), and the commenter's GitHub username is in GITHUB_USER_EMAIL_MAP
• For Linear: ensure the comment contains @openswe (case-insensitive)
• For Slack: ensure the bot is invited to the channel and the message is an @mention
• Check server logs for webhook processing errors

Token encryption errors

• Ensure TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY is set (generate with openssl rand -base64 32)
• The key must be a valid 32-byte Fernet-compatible base64 string
• For key rotation, TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY may be a comma- or newline-separated list of keys (most-recent-first). See "Rotating TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY" above.