Nucleus

Nucleus is ClusterCode’s built-in AI assistant. It lives in the orchestrator dashboard and helps you manage workers, launch DevBoxes, execute commands, and monitor your cluster — all through natural conversation.

Nucleus runs on Anthropic models

Nucleus is powered internally by Anthropic (Claude) models. Each plan includes a monthly AI allowance (see Budget); when you exhaust it — or to run on your own account — bring your own key in Settings → Secrets: add an Anthropic API key or a Claude OAuth token and toggle Use for Nucleus. The OAuth option routes requests through your personal Claude Code subscription.

What Nucleus Can Do

• Launch DevBoxes from tickets — “Launch a DevBox for github.com/org/repo/issues/42”
• Execute commands — “Run npm start in DevBox X” or start long-running processes in the background
• Open terminals and displays — “Open a terminal on DevBox X” or open a VNC display for GUI interaction
• Build images — “Build the claude-code-terminal image” with composable capabilities
• Monitor status — “What’s running on worker-1?” or get details on a specific DevBox
• Fetch tickets — Pull details from GitHub Issues or Azure DevOps work items
• Navigate the UI — Nucleus can direct you to any page in the dashboard
• Read docs — Nucleus can look up ClusterCode documentation to answer your questions

How It Works

Nucleus is an AI agent with access to MCP (Model Context Protocol) tools that control the orchestrator. When you ask it to do something, it:

1. Interprets your request
2. Calls the appropriate MCP tools
3. Confirms the action with you before executing (for destructive operations)
4. Reports the result

Available MCP Tools

Tool	Description
get_infrastructure_state	Get current workers and DevBoxes
get_container	DevBox details by ID or name
launch_container	Launch a DevBox from a ticket URL, empty, or from an existing DevBox
start_container	Start a stopped DevBox
stop_container	Stop a running DevBox
remove_container	Remove a DevBox permanently
exec_in_container	Execute a bash command in a running DevBox
exec_in_container_background	Start a long-running command via tmux (returns immediately)
list_images	List available images on a worker
list_capabilities	List composable image capabilities available on your plan
open_terminal	Open a terminal session in the UI with optional auto-execute commands
open_display	Open a VNC display session for GUI interaction
navigate	Navigate to a page in the dashboard UI
build_image	Build a composable DevBox image with selected agents and capabilities
fetch_ticket	Fetch ticket details from a URL (GitHub Issues, Azure DevOps)
read_docs	Read ClusterCode documentation pages
load_skill	Load a Nucleus skill by name

Budget

Nucleus sessions use AI credits from your plan allowance:

Plan	Monthly AI Allowance
Starter	$2/mo
Pro	$6/mo
Enterprise	$10/user/mo

You can also bring your own key in Settings → Secrets — an Anthropic API key or a Claude OAuth token — for usage beyond your plan. See AI Credits for how the allowance works.

Tips

• Ask Nucleus to launch a DevBox from a GitHub issue or Azure DevOps ticket
• Enable host networking when launching to test from your phone at host-ip:port
• Try: “Open a terminal on DevBox X” to get a live shell
• Nucleus will confirm launch details with you before creating a DevBox