Aries AI

Aries AI is a Next.js application for weekly social content automation. It pairs a public marketing site with an authenticated operator shell: connect your social platforms, generate a week of content, review and approve it, and publish on a schedule. Long-running generation is handed off to an execution service (Hermes) so the web app stays responsive and runtime state stays on the server.

License: Apache-2.0. The Aries AI and Sugar & Leather names and logos are trademarks — see TRADEMARKS.md.

What's in this repository

• Public marketing pages — homepage, features, documentation, API docs.
• Authenticated operator shell — dashboard, platforms, posts, calendar, settings.
• Workflow UIs — onboarding, weekly social content creation/review, OAuth connection flows.
• API routes (app/api/*) — request validation, auth and tenant-context resolution, frontend-safe responses.
• Backend services (backend/*) — onboarding, social content jobs, integrations, execution handoff, runtime state.
• Regression tests (tests/*) — route rendering, API contracts, tenant isolation, OAuth wiring.

What's not in this repository

Aries AI hands long-running execution to Hermes, a separate execution service that owns model/provider auth (including media generation). Hermes is not part of this open-source repository, but it is itself open-source at NousResearch/hermes-agent. Self-hosting Aries AI end-to-end requires a Hermes endpoint — run your own from NousResearch/hermes-agent; see docs/ARCHITECTURE.md for the execution boundary.

How it works

The default workflow is Hermes-native weekly social content:

1. A client submits POST /api/social-content/jobs.
2. Aries validates tenant and request data, then submits the run to Hermes.
3. Hermes posts authenticated callbacks to /api/internal/hermes/runs.
4. Aries updates runtime state and the read-model status for the job.
5. The operator reviews the week of content and approves publish/video steps.

For weekly social content media generation, Hermes owns ChatGPT/OpenAI auth and provider execution — Aries sends abstract media requests and receives authenticated callbacks. Text-only weekly planning can run when media generation is disabled. The legacy /api/marketing/jobs routes remain only as a thin legacy compatibility shim and are not the supported path.

Tech stack

• Framework: Next.js App Router (next 16.x)
• UI: React 18, Tailwind CSS v4
• Auth: next-auth v5
• Data: PostgreSQL (pg) + generated runtime files under DATA_ROOT
• Execution: Hermes run submission + authenticated /api/internal/hermes/runs callbacks
• Language/tooling: TypeScript, tsx

Quickstart (local)

Prerequisites: Node.js 18+, npm, PostgreSQL 16, and a Hermes endpoint for live execution.

# 1. Install dependencies (force dev mode so devDependencies install)
NODE_ENV=development npm ci

# 2. Create your environment file from the template
cp .env.example .env
#    Fill in DB_*, HERMES_*, INTERNAL_API_SECRET, NEXTAUTH_SECRET, etc.

# 3. Initialize the database
npm run db:init

# 4. Start the dev server (Turbopack is required for Tailwind v4)
npm run dev

The app runs at http://localhost:3000. Full setup detail, including every environment variable and a demo-friendly mode, is in docs/SELF_HOSTING.md.

Quickstart (Docker)

cp .env.example .env          # fill in DB_* and HERMES_* values
docker network create docker-stack || true
docker compose --env-file .env -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.local.yml up --build -d aries-app

Compose expects an external PostgreSQL database and an external Hermes service: it does not provision PostgreSQL or pgAdmin. Point the external DB_* values in .env at a database the container can reach. See docs/DEPLOYMENT.md for production deployment.

Documentation

Doc	What it covers
docs/ARCHITECTURE.md	System architecture and the Hermes execution boundary
docs/SELF_HOSTING.md	Running Aries AI locally, environment variables
docs/DEPLOYMENT.md	Production deployment with Docker
docs/OAUTH_SCOPES.md	OAuth providers and required scopes
docs/SECURITY_MODEL.md	Auth, tenant isolation, callback trust boundary
docs/COMMERCIAL.md	What is open source vs. commercial / managed hosting

Validation

npm run typecheck   # type-checks the project
npm run lint        # typecheck + banned-pattern + repo-boundary checks
npm run verify      # fast regression suite
npm test            # full test suite

Key social-content regression specs: tests/social-content-weekly-defaults.test.ts (weekly defaults and status copy) and tests/social-content-execution-contract.test.ts (the Hermes execution contract). Tests covering /api/marketing/* exist only for legacy compatibility.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please read CONTRIBUTING.md and the Code of Conduct first. Changes to auth, OAuth, tenant isolation, internal callback routes, or deployment workflows require maintainer review.

Security

Do not file public issues for vulnerabilities. Email security@sugarandleather.com — see SECURITY.md.

License and trademarks

Code in this repository is licensed under Apache-2.0. The Aries AI and Sugar & Leather names, logos, and brand assets are trademarks of Sugar & Leather, LLC and are not covered by the code license — see TRADEMARKS.md. Acceptable use is described in ACCEPTABLE_USE.md.

Support and sponsorship

Community support is via GitHub Issues (SUPPORT.md). Commercial support, managed hosting, and custom integration work are available through Sugar & Leather, LLC — see docs/COMMERCIAL.md.