detect-agent

August 11, 2026 · View on GitHub

A lightweight utility for detecting if code is being executed by an AI agent or automated development environment.

Installation

JavaScript / TypeScript

npm install detect-agent

Go

go get github.com/vercel/detect-agent

Usage

JavaScript / TypeScript

import { determineAgent } from 'detect-agent';

const { isAgent, agent } = await determineAgent();

if (isAgent) {
  console.log(`Running in ${agent.name} environment`);
  // Adapt behavior for AI agent context
}

Go

import (
    "errors"
    detectagent "github.com/vercel/detect-agent"
)

agent, err := detectagent.Detect()
if errors.Is(err, detectagent.ErrAgentNotFound) {
    // not running inside an agent
} else if err != nil {
    log.Fatal(err)
} else {
    fmt.Printf("Running in %s environment\n", agent.Name)
}

Agent Definitions

The agent detection rules live in agents.json, validated against agents.schema.json.

Note

You can use these definitions two ways: install the npm package for a ready-to-use API, or consume the JSON file directly from GitHub if you're not in a JavaScript environment or want to build your own detection logic:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vercel/detect-agent/main/agents.json

Supported Agents

This package can detect the following AI agents and development environments:

  • Cursor (Anysphere)
  • Claude Code (Anthropic)
  • Claude Cowork (Anthropic)
  • Kimi Code (Moonshot AI)
  • Grok Build (xAI)
  • Devin (Cognition Labs)
  • Gemini CLI (Google)
  • Codex (OpenAI)
  • Antigravity (Google DeepMind)
  • Augment
  • Cline
  • OpenCode
  • OpenClaw
  • Goose (Block)
  • Junie (JetBrains)
  • Kiro (AWS)
  • Pi
  • GitHub Copilot
  • Replit
  • Custom agents (via the AI_AGENT environment variable)

See agents.json for the exact environment variables and conditions used to detect each one.

The AI_AGENT Standard

We're promoting AI_AGENT as a universal environment variable standard for AI development tools. This allows any tool or library to easily detect when it's running in an AI-driven environment.

For AI Tool Developers

Set the AI_AGENT environment variable to identify your tool:

export AI_AGENT="your-tool-name"
# or
AI_AGENT="your-tool-name" your-command
  • Use lowercase with hyphens for multi-word names
  • Include version information if needed, separated by an @ symbol
  • Examples: claude-code, cursor-cli, devin@1, custom-agent@2.0

Use Cases

Adaptive Behavior

import { determineAgent } from 'detect-agent';

async function setupEnvironment() {
  const { isAgent, agent } = await determineAgent();

  if (isAgent) {
    // Running in AI environment - adjust behavior
    process.env.LOG_LEVEL = 'verbose';
    console.log(`🤖 Detected AI agent: ${agent.name}`);
  }
}

Telemetry and Analytics

import { determineAgent } from 'detect-agent';

async function trackUsage(event: string) {
  const result = await determineAgent();

  analytics.track(event, {
    agent: result.isAgent ? result.agent.name : 'human',
    timestamp: Date.now(),
  });
}

Feature Toggles

import { determineAgent } from 'detect-agent';

async function shouldEnableFeature(feature: string) {
  const result = await determineAgent();

  // Enable experimental features for AI agents
  if (result.isAgent && feature === 'experimental-ai-mode') {
    return true;
  }

  return false;
}

Contributing

We welcome contributions!

Adding New Agent Support

To add support for a new AI agent:

  1. Add the agent's detection rule to agents.json, following the structure defined in agents.schema.json. Agents are evaluated in array order — the first match wins, so place more specific rules before more general ones.
  2. Add test cases in testcases.json.
  3. Add the agent to the Supported Agents list above.