This is a collection of tools and prompts to use gptel “agentically” with any LLM, to autonomously perform tasks.

It has access to

• the web (via basic web search, URL fetching and YouTube video metadata),
• local files (read/write/edit),
• the state of Emacs (documentation and Elisp evaluation),
• and Bash, if you are in a POSIX-y environment.

By default, all actions except for web search, fetching URLs and reading local files require confirmation. You can change this, add more tools and MCP servers etc as in regular gptel usage.

gptel-agent can also delegate tasks to specialized “sub-agents” which don’t share context with the main session. In this demo, gptel-agent delegates a research task to two different sub-agents, who perform it in parallel and generate reports that gptel-agent uses to answer the question:

gptel-agent is on MELPA, so you can run M-x package-install ⏎ gptel-agent in Emacs.

(use-package gptel-agent
  :vc ( :url "https://github.com/karthink/gptel-agent"
        :rev :newest)
  :config (gptel-agent-update))         ;Read files from agents directories

(straight-use-package 'gptel-agent)

(elpaca gptel-agent)

(use-package gptel-agent
  :straight t ;use :ensure t for Elpaca
  :config (gptel-agent-update))         ;Read files from agents directories

• Important: ensure that gptel is up to date, and not just the latest stable release!
• Set gptel-model and gptel-backend to use your preferred LLM. See gptel’s README for details.

There are two ways to use gptel-agent:

• Run M-x gptel-agent. This will open a gptel buffer in the current project with the agent preset loaded. Run with a prefix arg for more options.
• Use gptel as usual, calling gptel-send etc.
• If you change the system prompt, tools or other settings in this buffer, you can reset the agent configuration by (re)applying the “gptel-agent” preset from gptel’s menu.
• You can switch between an agent preset (gptel-agent) and a planning preset (gptel-plan) by applying them from gptel’s menu, or clicking on the backend name in the header line.

  The difference between them is just in the tools available to the model – the planning preset has read-only access to the filesystem and is instructed to create a systematic plan of action.

Place (gptel-agent-update) in your config.

As with gptel, you can use gptel-agent in any buffer, including read-only buffers and the minibuffer.

• Apply the “gptel-agent” preset in the buffer from gptel’s menu.
• OR include @gptel-agent in a prompt to send only that prompt with the agent capabilities.

Please note: gptel-agent uses significantly more tokens than the average gptel LLM interaction.

“Agent” is the (now common) parlance used to refer to a bundle of configuration, consisting of

• a system prompt (instructions),
• tools (functions the LLM can call)
• and the harness used to run or call the LLM.

gptel uses the term “preset” for such configurations. A preset can specify the above and any other behavior, such as the model used, API call parameters and so on.

gptel-agent is implemented as a preset for gptel and can be modified/extended easily.

gptel-agent can delegate tasks to “sub-agents”. Sub-agents can be specified in Markdown or Org files in a directory. To see how to specify agents, examine the “agents” directory in this package (or see below). You can add your directory of agents to gptel-agent-dirs, which see.

Right now gptel-agent includes three sub-agents:

• executor is a copy of the main LLM, directed to work autonomously and noninteractively, returning a final response.
• researcher is read-only and can search the web or through local files for information.
• introspector can examine the state of Emacs, and access or search documentation from your live Emacs session.

The LLM should automatically delegate tasks to them as required, but you can also explicitly request delegation: ”Use the researcher to find out if…” or ”Use my-custom-agent to…”.

---
name: arxiv-explorer
description: Searches ArXiv and parses results
tools: [mcp-arxiv, WebSearch]
pre: (lambda () (gptel-mcp-connect '(arxiv) 'sync))
---

You are a specialized research agent with access to ArXiv.  Your purpose is to
search for and gather information efficiently.

<core_responsibilites> ...  </core_responsibilities>

...

:properties:
:name: arxiv-explorer
:description: Searches ArXiv and parses results
:tools: mcp-arxiv WebSearch
:pre: (lambda () (gptel-mcp-connect '(arxiv) 'sync))
:end:

You are a specialized research agent with access to ArXiv.  Your purpose is to
search for and gather information efficiently.

<core_responsibilites>
...
</core_responsibilities>

...