Connect your own AI agent to your ElfHosted apps, and where ElfTerm went
Two changes to how you look after your ElfHosted apps arrive together. You can now connect the AI agent you already use, like Claude or ChatGPT, straight to your own stack. And ElfTerm, the browser terminal, has been retired, because everything it did now has a simpler home. Here’s what’s new, plus a reminder of what Sam already does for you.
Can I connect my own AI agent? 🤖
Yes. If you already use Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code or Cursor, you can connect it to your ElfHosted stack and ask about your apps in the same chat you use for everything else. It connects through ElfBot using MCP, the standard way AI agents plug into tools.
Once it’s connected, your agent can look things up any time:
- Which apps you have, whether they’re healthy, and their recent uptime
- How much CPU, memory, storage and bandwidth they’re using
- What’s in your media, photo, book and music libraries, and what’s been requested
- The settings ElfHosted documents for each app, and which ones you’ve set
- ElfHosted’s docs, so its answers come from the real instructions
It can also ask for changes: restart or pause an app, back up one app or everything, search for a missing movie or series, or change one of an app’s settings. Every change waits for your OK. You approve it in ElfBot, and nothing happens until you do. Your agent only ever sees your own apps.
Why connect one when Sam is already there? Because it brings your stack to where you already work. An agent that’s also connected to your calendar or notes can tie them together, like turning what’s new in your libraries into a movie-night list. Claude Code can run a health check on a schedule and only tell you when something needs you. And you get to use whichever model and subscription you already have.
How do I connect it? 🔌
- Open ElfBot and click Connected agents.
- Copy the Server URL shown under Connect an agent.
- Add it to your agent as a custom connector or MCP server, then sign in to ElfBot and allow it when your agent sends you there.
The Connect your AI agent guide has the exact steps for claude.ai, ChatGPT, Claude Code and Cursor, plus how to make a token for anything that can’t sign in.
Don’t have an agent yet? 🧝
You don’t need one to get started: Sam is already in your dashboard. But if you’d like an agent of your own, one that’s always on and remembers what you’ve asked it before, we’ll host it for you:
- Hermes: Nous Research’s agent, which writes and improves its own skills as it goes, remembers across sessions, runs its own scheduled jobs, and messages you on Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp, Signal and more. It arrives with the AI already included, so it works from the first chat.
- OpenClaw: an agent built around skills and integrations for automating tasks, also arriving with the AI included.
- Pip: a cheerful helper for the whole family, living in your private family chat. Reminders, the noticeboard, chores, meals and the family calendar in one place, a morning “what’s on today”, and a grown-up alert if a child’s chat turns worrying. Pip thinks with your ChatGPT plan or an API key of your own.
Hermes and OpenClaw connect to your stack the same way as any other agent, with a token from Connected agents. That gives you an agent that keeps an eye on your apps around the clock, and messages you when something needs you.
What about Sam? 🧙
Sam, the assistant in your dashboard, comes with every account, with nothing to set up. Whether or not you connect an agent of your own, he’s the quickest way to keep your stack happy:
- He helps you set up your apps. Just added something new? Ask Sam to help you get it going. He walks you through it from ElfHosted’s own docs, step by step, and can fill in the settings for you.
- He troubleshoots your real stack. Ask “why won’t this play?” or “is everything healthy?” in plain words, in any language, at any hour. He checks your actual apps, reads their logs, tells you what went wrong, and fixes it once you say so.
- He alerts you about the apps you care about. Install Sam on your phone, and he’ll send a push notification when an app goes down and another when it’s back. Nothing buzzes you until you’ve said you want to hear about that app, a group of apps blipping together arrives as one summary, and tapping an alert opens a conversation about it.
- He sorts out the chores. When storage fills up, he finds what’s using it and helps you clear it. He changes app settings, restarts what’s stuck, and takes on the jobs that used to need a command line.
Whenever he offers to change something, he shows you an Approve card, and he only goes ahead when you tap it.
Where did ElfTerm go? 🗺️
ElfTerm, the browser terminal on your dashboard, has been retired. Every job it did has a home that doesn’t need a command line:
- Restart an app, watch its logs, or back it up: the app’s card in ElfBot, or ask Sam
- Claim your Plex server: Claim Plex Server in the … menu on the Plex card in ElfBot
- Symlink one folder into your import folder: right-click it in FileBrowser and choose Symlink Here
- Symlink a whole source, or find and delete broken symlinks: ask Sam, or use FileBrowser’s Broken Symlink Finder
- Move, rename or edit files: FileBrowser
The full list is on Where ElfTerm went. If you used ElfTerm for something that isn’t there, tell us in #elf-help on Discord and we’ll find it a home.
Do I need to do anything? 🤔
No. Sam is already in your dashboard, and connecting an agent is there whenever you want it. To get alerts, install Sam on your phone and say yes when he asks. If you have notes or habits built around ElfTerm, the list above shows where each one lives now.
Where do I get help? 🛟
Start with Sam. He’s in your dashboard at any hour, he checks your real apps, and he can fix things once you approve. If Sam can’t sort it out, our team is in #elf-help on Discord. We’re slower than Sam, but we’ll get there.