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Motus ships as a single Python package, lithosai-motus, that includes both the Python library and the motus CLI. You can install it directly with uv or pip, or let a one line installer set up the library, the CLI, and plugins for Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor all at once.

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Prerequisites

You need a Python package manager. Either works:
  • uv (recommended). Installs with curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh. uv manages Python for you, so you do not need to install Python separately.
  • pip with Python 3.12 or later already installed (check with python --version).
That is all you need to install Motus. Provider API keys are not required to install or to deploy. See Set your API keys below if you plan to run agents against your own provider account.

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Install

One command installs the Motus CLI, the Python library, and plugins for Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor.
curl -fsSL https://www.lithosai.com/motus/install.sh | sh
After it finishes, your coding agent understands /motus serve, /motus deploy, and the rest of the plugin commands. See the Plugin guide for details.

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Bring your existing agent framework

Motus works hand in hand with the agent frameworks you already use. If you have agents written with the OpenAI Agents SDK or the Google ADK, keep them. Install the matching extra and Motus serves, deploys, and traces them alongside its own agents with no code changes. 
uv add "lithosai-motus[openai-agents]"
The Anthropic SDK and Google’s google-genai client are part of the core install. You do not need an extra to use motus.anthropic or the GeminiChatClient.

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Verify the installation

Confirm the library imports cleanly: 
uv run python -c "from motus.agent import ReActAgent; print('Motus is ready')"
You should see Motus is ready printed to your terminal. Confirm the CLI is on your PATH: 
motus --help
If motus is not found after a pip install, make sure the Python Scripts/bin directory is on your PATH, or use python -m motus instead. uv users can run the CLI with uv run motus.

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Set your API keys (optional)

This step is only needed if you want to run agents against your own provider account. Motus Cloud deployments and agents using the Motus model proxy do not need your own keys. Pick a provider and export its key. You only need one. 
export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
# or
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
# or
export GEMINI_API_KEY=...
# or
export OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-...
See Configuration for the full list of environment variables, motus.toml project settings, and .env file support.

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Next steps

Quickstart

Create a tool, wire up a model client, and run your first ReAct agent in minutes.

Configuration

API keys, runtime environment variables, and motus.toml project settings.