Ekho
Private messaging for AI agent fleets
Ekho is a store-and-forward relay that gives distributed AI agents identity, inboxes, and delivery guarantees on private networks. No public broker. No cloud dependency. Just signed messages between agents you control.
Agent A
sender
EKHO
relay
Agent B
recipient
Features
What it does.
Signed Messaging
Every request is HMAC-SHA256 signed with per-agent secrets. Timestamp validation and nonce replay protection prevent impersonation and replay attacks.
Guaranteed Delivery
Messages retry with exponential backoff (1m to 2h) up to 5 times. Failed messages land in a dead-letter archive visible to operators.
Rate Limiting & Quarantine
Per-agent message throttling with automatic quarantine on abuse or missed heartbeats. Operators can pause, resume, or quarantine any agent manually.
Policy Engine
Deny-first message routing rules based on sender, recipient, message type, and priority. Fleet-wide or agent-scoped policies with full CRUD.
Operator Console
Dark-mode React dashboard with fleet KPIs, agent management, approval workflows, policy editor, dead-letter viewer, and real-time event feed.
Extension Hooks
Plugin system for custom message scanning, memory extraction, and security gates. Ships with ShieldCortex bridge and OpenClaw adapter.
How it works
4 simple steps.
Deploy the Relay
Run the Ekho relay on your Tailscale network, homelab, or cloud instance. One command with Docker, or npm install for development.
Enroll Agents
Issue enrollment tokens from the operator console. Agents register with a one-time token and receive a signed identity and secret.
Send & Receive
Agents send signed messages to each other through the relay. Recipients poll their inbox, ACK delivery, and the relay handles retry and audit.
Monitor & Control
Operators watch fleet health in real-time, approve high-risk actions, manage policies, and intervene when agents need human oversight.
Operator Console
Built for operators.
Real-time fleet health, agent management, policy control, and dead-letter inspection — all in a dark-mode dashboard.
Agents
12
active
Messages
4,892
total
Delivered
4,847
99.1%
Queued
23
pending
Quarantined
1
auto
Dead Letters
3
archived
Rate Violations
17
last 24h
| Agent | Status | Messages | Last Seen |
|---|---|---|---|
agent_planner | active | 1,243 | 2s ago |
agent_executor | active | 892 | 5s ago |
agent_monitor | active | 2,104 | 1s ago |
agent_scanner | quarantined | 653 | 4m ago |
Integrate in minutes
The SDK handles signing, polling, heartbeats, and ACKs. Your agent just handles messages.
import { EkhoAgentAdapter } from "@ekho/sdk";
const agent = new EkhoAgentAdapter(
{
agentId: "agent_abc",
secret: "your_secret",
relayBaseUrl: "http://relay:4000",
},
{
onMessage: async (msg) => {
console.log(`Received ${msg.message_type} from ${msg.sender_agent_id}`);
},
}
);
agent.start(); // Auto heartbeat + inbox polling35+
Tests
4
Packages
27
API Endpoints
<5ms
Message Latency
Pricing
Simple, transparent pricing.
OSS
Free
Self-hosted relay for single-fleet deployments
- ✓1 fleet, unlimited agents
- ✓Signed messaging with retry & dead-letter
- ✓Rate limiting & quarantine automation
- ✓Basic policy engine (deny/allow)
- ✓Operator console
- ✓SQLite storage
- ✓Docker & npm deployment
- ✓OpenClaw & ShieldCortex integrations
- ✓MIT License
Pro
$99
One-time payment. Per-organisation, unlimited instances.
- ✓Everything in OSS
- ✓Multi-fleet / multi-tenant
- ✓Advanced policy engine
- ✓Analytics dashboard
- ✓Priority support
- ✓Offline license key (no phone-home)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Ekho?+
Ekho is a private messaging relay for distributed AI agents. It provides store-and-forward delivery, signed authentication, and operator control for agent-to-agent communication on private networks.
Does Ekho require Tailscale?+
No. Ekho is designed for Tailscale meshes but works on any network where agents can reach the relay over HTTP. Tailscale provides the private network layer, but Ekho handles its own authentication via HMAC-SHA256 signatures.
How is Ekho different from a message broker like RabbitMQ?+
Ekho is purpose-built for AI agent fleets, not general-purpose messaging. It includes agent identity, per-agent secrets, operator approval workflows, policy-based message routing, and automatic quarantine — features that would require extensive custom code on top of a generic broker.
What agent frameworks does Ekho support?+
The @ekho/sdk works with any Node.js agent. The @ekho/openclaw-plugin provides native OpenClaw integration. The HTTP API works from any language — Python, Go, Rust, or shell scripts.
Can I run multiple fleets?+
The OSS core supports one fleet with unlimited agents. Multi-fleet / multi-tenant support is available with a Pro license.
How does the Pro license work?+
Pro is a one-time $99 payment. After checkout you receive an offline-verified RS256 JWT token instantly. No phone-home, no subscription. Set the EKHO_LICENSE_KEY environment variable or place an ekho.license file next to the relay. One license covers your entire organisation with unlimited relay instances.
Is Ekho production-ready?+
Ekho is in active development preparing for its first public release. The core relay, SDK, and operator console are functional and covered by 35+ tests. We recommend evaluating it in non-critical environments first.
Give your agents a voice
Deploy Ekho in minutes. Private messaging, delivery guarantees, and operator control for your AI agent fleet.