Project NOVA: Networked Orchestration of Virtual Agents

Project NOVA (Networked Orchestration of Virtual Agents) is a comprehensive, self-hosted AI assistant ecosystem that leverages n8n workflows, LLMs, and 25+ specialized Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers to create a powerful, extensible agent system capable of controlling both digital environments and physical devices in your home.

🌟 Features

• Centralized AI Assistant Hub: Route requests to 25+ specialized agents through an intelligent router
• Conversation-Aware Intelligence: Maintains context across interactions with advanced conversation history processing
• OpenWebUI Integration: Modern chat interface with conversation persistence and enhanced user experience
• Domain-Specific Capabilities: Knowledge management, development tools, media production, home automation, and more
• Self-Hosted & Privacy-Focused: Run everything locally with open-source components
• Containerized Architecture: Easy deployment with Docker, Dockerfiles, and docker-compose.yml files
• SSE Transport Integration: Enhanced MCP server communication using supergateway
• Native n8n Integration: Uses n8n's built-in MCP Client Tool node - no community nodes required
• Extensible Framework: Add new specialized agents with provided templates and comprehensive documentation

🏗️ Architecture Overview

Project NOVA uses a sophisticated hub-and-spoke architecture with conversation intelligence:

Current Architecture Components:

• OpenWebUI Frontend: Modern chat interface with conversation history and session management
• n8n Workflow Engine: Processes requests and orchestrates agent communication
• Intelligent Router Agent: Analyzes requests and conversation context to route to appropriate specialized agents
• 25+ Specialized Agents: Domain-specific MCP-powered agents for various tasks
• MCP Server Ecosystem: Containerized services providing tool capabilities to agents

📚 Reference Guide

Project NOVA includes a comprehensive reference guide to help you understand and use all available agents effectively:

• Agent Index: Complete overview of all agents with capabilities and links
• Router Agent Quick Reference: How the routing system works and best practices
• Sub-Agents by Category:
  • Knowledge Management Agents: Documentation, notes, and information management tools
  • Development & Repository Agents: Code, repository, and system management tools
  • Media & Creative Agents: Audio, video, and creative production tools
  • AI & Automation Agents: Workflow, browser automation, and AI extension tools

The reference guide provides detailed information about each agent's capabilities, tools, example queries, and troubleshooting tips.

📋 Specialized Agents

Project NOVA includes over 25 specialized agents across multiple domains:

Knowledge Management & Note-Taking

• TriliumNext Notes Agent - Controls TriliumNext Notes knowledge base application
• Blinko Agent - Manages notes in the Blinko note-taking service (uses custom MCP implementation)
• BookStack Agent - Interfaces with BookStack documentation and wiki platform
• Memos Agent - Works with lightweight Memos note-taking application
• Outline Agent - Manages Outline knowledge base for team documentation
• SiYuan Agent - Controls SiYuan Note personal knowledge management system
• Karakeep Agent - Organizes digital content collections and bookmarks
• Paperless Agent - Manages Paperless-NGX document management system
• OnlyOffice Agent - Manages ONLYOFFICE DocSpace for document collaboration

Development & Repository Management

• CLI Server Agent - Provides secure command-line execution capabilities
• Forgejo Agent - Manages Forgejo Git repositories and issues
• Gitea Agent - Controls Gitea Git service for repository management
• System Search Agent - Finds files and folders across file systems

Media & Creative Tools

• Ableton Copilot - Assists with music production in Ableton Live
• OBS Agent - Controls OBS Studio for streaming and recording
• Reaper Agent - Controls REAPER digital audio workstation
• Reaper QA Agent - Analyzes and answers questions about REAPER projects
• YouTube Agent - Transcribes YouTube videos for summarization and content analysis

AI & Automation

• Flowise Agent - Connects to Flowise chatflows and AI assistants
• Langfuse Agent - Accesses managed prompts from Langfuse
• Puppeteer Agent - Provides browser automation for web scraping and testing
• RAGFlow Agent - Retrieval-augmented generation with source citations
• Fetch Agent - Retrieves web content from URLs with advanced options

Monitoring & Home Automation

• Home Assistant Agent - Controls smart home devices through Home Assistant
• Prometheus Agent - Queries and analyzes metrics from Prometheus monitoring

🔍 Use Cases

• Home Automation: "Turn off the living room lights and start playing my evening playlist"
• Knowledge Management: "Find my notes about the project meeting from last Tuesday"
• Creative Production: "Help me set up a new Ableton Live project with a drum rack"
• Development Assistance: "Check my Gitea repositories for any open pull requests"
• System Management: "Monitor the CPU usage on my server for the last 24 hours"
• Content Analysis: "Get the transcript from this YouTube video and summarize the key points"

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

Before setting up Project NOVA, ensure you have:

Option A: OpenWebUI + n8n Setup (Recommended)

• OpenWebUI Instance: For the modern chat interface with conversation management
  • Note: For text-to-speech features (voice input), OpenWebUI requires SSL/HTTPS (even a self-signed certificate works)
• n8n Instance: A running n8n installation (v1.88.0 or later)
  • Critical: Version 1.88.0+ is required as it introduced the native MCP Client Tool node
  • No Community Nodes Required: All agents now use n8n's native MCP Client Tool node

Option B: n8n Only Setup (Basic)

• n8n Instance: A running n8n installation (v1.88.0 or later) with chat trigger capabilities
• No Community Nodes Required: All agents use n8n's native MCP Client Tool node

Common Requirements

• Docker Host: Environment for running containerized MCP servers
• LLM Access: Either:
  • Cloud API access (OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, etc.)
  • Local Ollama instance with models that support tool use/function calling
• Applications to Control:
  • The actual applications you want NOVA to control (most agents are designed for self-hosted applications)
  • Examples: Home Assistant, Gitea, Reaper, OBS Studio, TriliumNext, etc.
  • Each agent requires its corresponding application to be accessible

Setup Instructions

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/dujonwalker/project-nova.git
cd project-nova

2. Choose Your Deployment Option

Option A: OpenWebUI + n8n (Recommended)

This setup provides the best user experience with conversation history, session management, and a modern interface.

1. Set up OpenWebUI inlet filter:

   • In your OpenWebUI instance, navigate to Workspace → Functions
   • Click "Create New Function"
   • Copy and paste the code from openwebui-function/n8n_inlet_filter.py into the function editor
   • Important: Update the n8n_url configuration variable at the top of the filter with your complete n8n webhook URL (including server IP/hostname and webhook UUID)
   • Save the filter

2. Create a new model using the filter:

   • Navigate to Workspace → Models
   • Click "Create New Model"
   • Configure your base model (e.g., your preferred LLM)
   • In the Filters section, select the n8n inlet filter you just created
   • Save the model
   • The filter will now automatically forward messages to n8n and manage conversation history

3. Configure n8n workflows:

   • Import the router agent workflow (n8n-workflows/router_agent.json)
   • Set up a webhook trigger in the router agent (configure URL in OpenWebUI filter)
   • Import specialized agent workflows as needed

Option B: n8n Only Setup

1. Import workflows in your n8n instance:

   • Bulk import via n8n CLI (easiest):

     # Navigate to your n8n installation directory
     n8n import:workflow --input=path/to/project-nova/n8n-workflows/*
     

   • Import via n8n Web Interface:
     • Navigate to your n8n dashboard
     • Click on "Workflows" in the sidebar
     • Use the "Import from file" option for each workflow
     • Start with the router agent first, then specialized agents

2. Configure after import:

   • Update OpenWebUI filter: Copy the webhook URL from your imported router agent and paste it into the OpenWebUI inlet filter configuration
   • Configure API keys: Add your actual API keys for the services you want to use (Blinko, Home Assistant, etc.)
   • Update server IPs: Replace YOUR_SERVER_IP placeholders with your actual server addresses

3. Set up MCP Servers

• Use the Dockerfiles and docker-compose.yml files provided in mcp-server-dockerfiles to build and run your servers
• Or use the instructions to set up MCP servers directly on your host
• Configure each MCP server for the agents you plan to use

4. Configure Your API Keys and Credentials

• LLM Provider: Update credentials in each workflow for your LLM provider (OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, etc.)
• Application APIs: Give NOVA the keys to your apps (Paperless-NGX API key, Gitea API key, Home Assistant token, etc.)
• MCP Server Connections: Configure SSE endpoints or server connections in each workflow

5. Start Using NOVA

With OpenWebUI Setup:

• Navigate to your OpenWebUI instance
• Start a conversation - messages are automatically processed through n8n
• The inlet filter handles conversation history and routing automatically

With n8n Only Setup:

• Navigate to the router agent workflow in n8n
• Disconnect the webhook trigger node and connect the chat trigger node instead (the chat trigger is already present but disconnected by default)
• Use the chat trigger node to start a conversation with NOVA
• The router will analyze your requests and direct them to appropriate specialized agents

🔧 Advanced Configuration

OpenWebUI Integration Details

The OpenWebUI integration uses an inlet filter (openwebui-function/n8n_inlet_filter.py) that:

• Processes all incoming messages through n8n before they reach the LLM
• Manages conversation history by extracting and forwarding previous messages
• Prevents duplicate calls with intelligent deduplication (30-second window)
• Handles session management with unique chat IDs
• Returns n8n responses directly to the user through system message injection

Key configuration options in the filter:

• n8n_url: Your n8n webhook endpoint URL
• n8n_bearer_token: Authentication token for n8n
• timeout: Request timeout for n8n calls (default: 15 seconds)
• enabled: Toggle to enable/disable n8n processing

Conversation History Processing

Project NOVA now includes sophisticated conversation context handling:

Router Agent Features:

• Processes conversation history to understand context
• Provides intelligent follow-up routing (e.g., "any repos with X in the name?" continues with the same repository agent)
• Maintains session continuity across interactions

Sub-Agent Features:

• All specialized agents receive conversation history when available
• Agents can reference previous interactions for better context
• Consistent conversation experience across agent handoffs

Adding a New Specialized Agent

1. Use the prompt-templates/generate-agent.md template to create a new agent system prompt
2. Create a Dockerfile using prompt-templates/generate-container.md as a guide
3. Add n8n workflow configuration using existing workflows as templates
4. Update the router agent to include your new specialized agent
5. Add documentation to the reference guide

📁 Repository Structure

project-nova/
├── README.md                      # This comprehensive README file
├── agents/                        # System prompts for all agents (reference)
├── mcp-server-dockerfiles/        # Dockerfiles and docker-compose.yml files for MCP servers
│   ├── [server-name]-mcp/         # Each MCP server has its own directory
│   │   ├── Dockerfile             # Container definition
│   │   ├── docker-compose.yml     # Deployment configuration
│   │   ├── README.md              # Server-specific setup instructions
│   │   └── start.sh               # Entry point script (when applicable)
├── n8n-workflows/                 # n8n workflow export files (.json) - THE ACTUAL WORKING SYSTEM
├── openwebui-function/            # OpenWebUI integration components
│   └── n8n_inlet_filter.py       # OpenWebUI inlet filter for n8n integration
├── prompt-templates/              # Templates for creating new components
│   ├── agent-input-examples/      # Example inputs for each agent (.json)
│   ├── generate-agent.md          # Template for creating new agents
│   ├── generate-container.md      # Guide for containerizing MCP servers
│   └── generate-routing-agent.md  # Router agent generation template
└── reference-guide/               # Comprehensive documentation
    ├── agents-index.md            # Complete list of all agents
    ├── router-agent-quick-reference.md  # Router usage guide
    └── sub-agents-by-category/    # Detailed agent documentation by domain
        ├── knowledge-agents.md
        ├── devops-agents.md
        ├── media-agents.md
        └── automation-agents.md

📊 Performance Considerations

• Recommended minimum specs for basic setup: 4GB RAM, 2 CPU cores
• For OpenWebUI + full agent ecosystem: 16GB RAM, 8 CPU cores recommended
• Consider using local LLM inference (Ollama) for reduced API costs and latency
• MCP server resource usage varies by agent - monitor container usage and scale as needed

🔮 Future Development

• Enhanced OpenWebUI integration features:
  • File upload support through agents
• Additional specialized agents for more domains

🙏 Acknowledgments

• n8n for the incredible workflow automation platform
• OpenWebUI for the excellent frontend interface with conversation management
• Model Context Protocol for standardizing AI tool interaction
• Supergateway for enabling conversion from STDIO to SSE transport
• nerding-io for their pioneering work on n8n-nodes-mcp that inspired this project
• All the open-source projects that make the specialized agents possible

📚 Additional Resources

• Project NOVA: Detailed Write-up - Comprehensive blog post with additional insights and implementation details
• For questions or support, please open an issue in this repository

🔍 MCP Resources

If you're looking to expand your Project NOVA with additional agents, here are some valuable resources for finding MCP servers:

Verified Working MCP Servers

• My Curated List of Working MCP Servers - A regularly updated collection of GitHub-hosted MCP servers I've personally tested and verified working with Project NOVA. Note that some servers hosted on other platforms (like gitea-mcp) won't appear in this GitHub-specific list.

Additional MCP Directories

• MCP.so - A comprehensive directory of MCP libraries
• MCPServers.org - Collection of available MCP servers
• MCP Servers GitHub - Official MCP servers repository
• MCP Directory - Searchable directory of MCP servers
• Smithery AI - MCP server development platform
• Glama.ai MCP Servers - Curated list of MCP servers
• MCPHub.ai - Hub for MCP server discovery
• Awesome MCP Servers - Curated list of awesome MCP servers

These resources can help you discover new MCP servers to integrate into your own Project NOVA implementation.