Claude Code

Claude Code is the coding harness Helios Code runs. It is the only harness. You bring the image, Helios brings the sign-in.

What Helios does at launch

1. Reads the Claude account you connected.
2. Injects a short-lived token for that account into the sandbox as CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN.
3. Writes a CLAUDE.md into ~/workspace so the agent works in the folder that Helios watches.
4. Starts Claude Code inside a session manager so you can detach and reattach.

The sandbox never holds your Anthropic API key or your Claude password.

What your image needs

Install the Claude Code CLI in the Dockerfile.

RUN curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | bash - \
 && apt-get install -y nodejs \
 && npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

The image also needs helios-agent and a session manager. The starter Dockerfile from helios code iac scaffold has everything. See environments.

Enable the harness on the environment.

enabledAiAgents:
  - id: claude_code

Connect your Claude account

Each person who launches an agent connects their own Claude account. Helios signs the agent in as the person who launched it.

In the dashboard, open Integrations and connect Claude Account.

From the CLI, start the flow, sign in in the browser, and paste the code shown after sign-in.

helios integration connect claude_account
helios integration finish <id> --code <code>

helios configure does this for you in its claude step. See configure.

Give the agent a repository

Connect GitHub so the agent can clone and push. See authentication. Then pass the repository at launch.

helios code launch <environment-id> --git-repo https://github.com/acme/api --attach

Credentials for GitHub are injected at the network layer, the same way as for every other integration. See sandboxes.

Hooks and events

The starter image installs Helios hooks for Claude Code. They forward prompt and stop events to Helios, which is how the dashboard and the terminal app show the agent's status and open a files tab when the agent edits a repository.

Read the raw event stream from the CLI.

helios code events <agent-id> --follow

Teach the agent about Helios

Install the Helios skill into a Claude Code project so the agent knows how to use the helios CLI itself.

helios skills install claude-code

This writes a SKILL.md under .claude/skills/helios/ in the current project. The skill lists the commands for chats, workflows, integrations, and coding agents, so an agent can set up its own environment or trigger a workflow.