---
title: "Cursor & Claude: AI-Powered Honcho Setup"
icon: "wand-magic-sparkles"
description: "Build Honcho-powered AI agents quickly using Cursor or Claude. Zero configuration required."
sidebarTitle: 'Vibecoding Setup'
---

Get Honcho up and running in minutes using AI coding assistants. These prompts are specifically optimized for Cursor and Claude to generate production-ready code with minimal effort.

## 🚀 Quick Start

Choose your path based on your use case:

### Personal AI Assistant

Build an AI assistant that remembers conversations and learns user preferences.

<Tip>
Copy this prompt into Cursor or Claude to get a complete implementation:
</Tip>

```
Create a personal AI assistant using Honcho that remembers user preferences and conversations. Requirements:

REFERENCE DOCUMENTATION:
- Honcho Docs: https://docs.honcho.dev
- Honcho GitHub: https://github.com/plastic-labs/honcho
- Python SDK: https://github.com/plastic-labs/honcho-python
- API Reference: https://docs.honcho.dev/v2/api-reference/introduction

WHAT TO BUILD:
- Personal assistant that learns about the user automatically
- Remembers preferences, habits, and conversation history
- Provides personalized responses based on past interactions
- Uses Honcho's demo server (no setup required)

TECHNICAL SETUP:
- Python with Honcho SDK and OpenAI
- Simple command-line interface for testing
- Environment: Use demo.honcho.dev (no API key needed)
- LLM: OpenAI GPT-4 (provide env var setup)

CODE REQUIREMENTS:
- Complete working example with extensive comments
- Error handling and user-friendly messages
- Demonstration of key Honcho concepts:
  * Creating peers (user and assistant)
  * Managing sessions and conversations
  * Automatic learning from interactions
  * Querying learned information
  * Getting context for AI responses

EXAMPLE WORKFLOW:
1. User starts conversation with assistant
2. Assistant responds using any existing knowledge about user
3. System automatically learns facts from the conversation
4. System stores conversation in session
5. Future conversations reference past interactions

Include installation instructions, environment setup, and example conversations to test.
```

### Discord Bot with Memory

Create a Discord bot that learns about server members and provides personalized interactions.

```
Build a Discord bot using Honcho that learns about server members and provides personalized interactions.

REFERENCE DOCUMENTATION:
- Honcho Docs: https://docs.honcho.dev
- Honcho GitHub: https://github.com/plastic-labs/honcho
- Python SDK: https://github.com/plastic-labs/honcho-python
- Discord Guide: https://docs.honcho.dev/v2/guides/discord
- API Reference: https://docs.honcho.dev/v2/api-reference/introduction

STARTER TEMPLATE:
- Use the official discord-python-starter from Plastic Labs: https://github.com/plastic-labs/discord-python-starter
- This template already includes Honcho integration, py-cord, and fly.io deployment
- Modify the existing bot.py file to add enhanced memory features

WHAT TO BUILD:
- Discord bot with persistent memory using Honcho
- Learns about users through natural conversation  
- Provides personalized responses based on user history
- Handles multi-user conversations with context awareness
- Extends the starter template with advanced memory features

TECHNICAL SETUP:
- Clone the discord-python-starter repository
- Python with py-cord, Honcho SDK, and OpenRouter LLM support
- Uses uv for package management (already configured)
- Environment variables template provided (.env.template)
- Docker and fly.io deployment ready

CORE FEATURES TO ADD:
- Enhanced per-user memory and personality modeling
- Channel-specific session management  
- Theory-of-mind queries ("What does this user like?")
- Advanced fact extraction from conversations
- Multi-participant conversation handling
- Slash commands for memory management

IMPLEMENTATION REQUIREMENTS:
- Extend the existing on_message function with memory features
- Add new slash commands for memory testing and management
- Integrate Honcho's dialectic API for personalized responses
- Add session management for different channels
- Implement background fact learning and storage
- Error handling and comprehensive logging

DEPLOYMENT:
- Use the included fly.toml for deployment
- Environment variable management with fly secrets
- Docker containerization (Dockerfile provided)

Include examples of enhanced bot interactions and memory demonstrations.
```

## 🎯 Using Cursor

### Setup Workflow

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="New Project">
    ```bash
    # Create project
    mkdir my-honcho-agent
    cd my-honcho-agent
    
    # Open in Cursor
    cursor .
    
    # Use Cmd+L to open AI chat
    # Paste one of the prompts above
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Discord Starter">
    ```bash
    # Clone the starter template
    git clone https://github.com/plastic-labs/discord-python-starter.git
    cd discord-python-starter
    
    # Install dependencies
    uv sync
    
    # Configure environment
    cp .env.template .env
    # Add your Discord token and API keys
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

### Cursor Tips

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Reference Codebase" icon="code">
    Use `@codebase` to ask questions about your entire project
  </Card>
  <Card title="Reference Docs" icon="book">
    Use `@docs https://docs.honcho.dev` for documentation context
  </Card>
  <Card title="Generate Tests" icon="vial">
    Ask Cursor to write comprehensive tests for your Honcho integration
  </Card>
  <Card title="Iterate Quickly" icon="arrows-rotate">
    Request specific improvements: "Add better error handling"
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## 🤖 Claude Workflows

### Rapid Development

```
I want to quickly prototype an AI agent with Honcho. Help me build:

REFERENCE DOCUMENTATION:
- Honcho Docs: https://docs.honcho.dev
- Honcho GitHub: https://github.com/plastic-labs/honcho
- Quickstart Guide: https://docs.honcho.dev/v2/documentation/introduction/quickstart
- SDK Documentation: https://docs.honcho.dev/v2/documentation/platform/sdk

1. SETUP: Complete development environment with Honcho demo server
2. CORE: Basic peer/session/message workflow with memory
3. INTEGRATION: OpenAI LLM integration with context management
4. TESTING: Simple test cases to verify memory functionality
5. ITERATION: Framework for adding features incrementally

Focus on:
- Working code over perfect architecture
- Clear comments explaining Honcho concepts
- Easy-to-modify structure for experimentation
- Immediate feedback and testing capabilities

Start with the most minimal viable example and show me how to extend it.
```

### Production Deployment

```
Help me deploy my Honcho application to production:

REFERENCE DOCUMENTATION:
- Self-Hosting Guide: https://docs.honcho.dev/v2/contributing/self-hosting
- Configuration Guide: https://docs.honcho.dev/v2/contributing/configuration-guide
- Platform Overview: https://docs.honcho.dev/v2/documentation/platform/overview

REQUIREMENTS:
- Environment configuration and secrets management
- Database setup and migrations
- API authentication and rate limiting
- Monitoring and logging setup
- Deployment automation

Provide step-by-step deployment instructions for [Fly.io/Vercel/Railway/Heroku].
```

## 💡 Common Patterns

### Basic Conversation Flow

1. **Initialize**: Create peers and start a session
2. **Converse**: Exchange messages between user and assistant
3. **Learn**: Honcho automatically extracts facts from conversations
4. **Remember**: Future conversations use accumulated context
5. **Personalize**: Responses adapt based on learned information

### Advanced Features

<Steps>
  <Step title="Multi-User Sessions">
    Implement separate memory contexts for different users or channels
  </Step>
  <Step title="Context Windows">
    Manage conversation history to stay within LLM token limits
  </Step>
  <Step title="Fact Management">
    Query and update the knowledge graph programmatically
  </Step>
  <Step title="Theory of Mind">
    Use dialectic API to reason about user preferences and mental states
  </Step>
</Steps>

## 🛠️ Troubleshooting

<CodeGroup>
```text Connection Issues
"My Honcho connection is failing with [ERROR]. Here's my environment setup: [paste code]. What's wrong and how do I fix it?"
```

```text Memory Not Persisting
"The agent isn't remembering conversations between sessions. Here's my session management code: [paste code]. Help me debug this."
```

```text Performance Optimization
"My Honcho queries are slow. Here's my implementation: [paste code]. How can I optimize this?"
```

```text Integration Problems
"I'm trying to integrate Honcho with [SYSTEM] but getting [ERROR]. Here's my approach: [paste code]. What's the correct way to do this?"
```
</CodeGroup>

## 🚀 Next Steps

After your initial setup:

1. **Add Features**: Extend with voice input, web UI, or API endpoints
2. **Improve Memory**: Implement custom fact extraction and retrieval
3. **Scale Up**: Add caching, background processing, and optimization
4. **Deploy**: Move from demo server to production environment
5. **Monitor**: Add logging, metrics, and error tracking

## 📚 Resources

### Documentation
- **Main Docs**: [docs.honcho.dev](https://docs.honcho.dev)
- **API Reference**: [docs.honcho.dev/v2/api-reference](https://docs.honcho.dev/v2/api-reference/introduction)

### Code & Examples
- **Honcho Core**: [github.com/plastic-labs/honcho](https://github.com/plastic-labs/honcho)
- **Python SDK**: [github.com/plastic-labs/honcho-python](https://github.com/plastic-labs/honcho-python)
- **TypeScript SDK**: [github.com/plastic-labs/honcho-node](https://github.com/plastic-labs/honcho-node)
- **Discord Starter**: [github.com/plastic-labs/discord-python-starter](https://github.com/plastic-labs/discord-python-starter)

### Key Concepts for AI Prompts
When working with AI assistants, mention these concepts:
- **Core**: "peers, sessions, messages, facts"
- **Advanced**: "dialectic API, theory of mind, context management"
- **Integration**: "LLM context injection, session persistence, multi-user handling"

<Note>
**Pro Tip**: Be specific about your requirements and constraints when prompting AI. The more context you provide, the better the generated code will match your needs.
</Note>