Oda profiles and launchers

DataMind Oda is the desktop app that works with your company's DataMind OS, and it can also run from a command line in named profiles. A profile selects how that run works; this page covers the profiles Oda ships, how a profile is built, and how to add bundles to one.

The shipped profiles

A command-line start names exactly one profile: oda --profile <name>. Oda ships five profiles:

Naming a profile, its flags and its templates is on Command line and flags. The web mode has its own reference on The Oda web interface, one-shot runs are on Headless runs, and the serving profiles are described below.

How a profile is built

• Stacked from bundles. A profile is composed from bundles, and each bundle carries the patch document it contributes; the launcher stacks those documents into the named profile. The web, headless, acp and sdk profiles start from Oda's shared core; sdk-minimal carries its own standalone tree instead.
• Later layers win. Layers and your own settings file for the profile write the same entries, and the last write for an entry wins. Your file is applied on top of the shipped layers, so a change you save there wins last; The profile settings file covers it.
• A layer replaces the whole setting. A patch replaces the whole setting of the entry it targets, rather than merging into it; a patch must restate the complete setting, not only the values it changes.
• A bundle that will not load is skipped. Its selection stays, so a later start tries it again; Startup and diagnostics covers the message.

Add a bundle to a profile

1. Install the package into the profile from a command line:

   shCopy

   oda plugin --profile <name> add <package>

2. Start the profile again. After the command succeeds, Oda updates the profile's bundle list: a package that carries a patch document joins the profile's layers, and a package that carries none stays an ordinary dependency.

• Managing packages from outside Oda needs pnpm on your PATH. The command forwards its arguments to the package manager, so removing or updating a package works the same way.
• A running profile keeps the bundle set it started with, so restart the profile after changing its packages.
• The bundles a profile runs can also be managed from inside the app: Plugins and bundles covers the Plugins pages, and Remote methods and streams covers the methods a bundle can expose to clients.

Help without starting

Every shipped profile answers --help the same way: it prints the profile's help and exits with code 0, before its transport starts, and it does not claim standard input or output.

The automation profile

The acp profile serves automation clients that speak the Agent Client Protocol, over standard input and output. It serves one client per process and runs until that client disconnects; closing its standard input shuts it down cleanly. Its help describes it: Serve automation clients over Agent Client Protocol stdio.

• Standard output carries only protocol frames. Keep anything else off it: a plugin or patch that prints there breaks the connection.
• Sessions can be created, closed, listed and resumed. Clients work through session/close, session/list and session/resume against the stored sessions, and a resume reconnects the MCP servers its request declares, without replaying earlier updates. Driving a session is walked through on Automation clients, and the protocol in depth is on Automation with ACP.
• Only the advertised surface. The profile adds no private methods or fields; clients use only what the protocol advertises.
• A custom profile must keep the bridge. A profile of your own that should serve automation clients must keep this bundle, or keep another automation bridge, or no client gets an answer.
• Configuration changes need a restart. A running connection never observes a replaced server; stop the process, change the configuration, and start it again.

The SDK profile

The sdk profile serves Oda SDK clients over newline-delimited JSON-RPC, on standard input and output. One runtime serves one client and runs until that client disconnects; closing its standard input shuts it down cleanly. Its help describes it: Serve DataMind Oda SDK clients over stdio JSON-RPC.

• Standard output carries only protocol frames. Keep loggers and every other writer off it.
• A custom profile must keep the SDK server. A profile of your own must keep this bundle, or keep another SDK server, or client initialization fails.
• Configuration changes need a restart. A running connection never observes a replaced server; stop the process, change the configuration, and start it again.

How a client starts and drives a runtime, and the messages it sends, are on Oda SDK overview.

Settings for SDK deployments

• Token-limit stops. A deployment setting decides whether a run that stops at its token limit counts as accepted or as an error.
• Bundled document runtime. The SDK profile ships a bundled Python runtime for its Office document features. A deployment setting replaces it; an empty value turns the bundled runtime features off.

The minimal runtime

sdk-minimal is a small standalone runtime for SDK clients: JSON-RPC, one model adapter, a single persistent shell tool, and sessions kept as plain JSON lines under the Oda home folder. It does not layer over Oda's shared core.

• One tool only. A persistent shell: bash on macOS and Linux, pwsh on Windows.
• What it leaves out. The shared services are not part of it: there are no settings pages, no managed credentials, no telemetry, no compaction, no filesystem tools, no workspace instructions, no skills, no jobs and no subagents.
• The model comes only from the client's initialization request, which overrides environment defaults.
• Launch settings. The context window falls back to about 1,000,000 tokens, and the system prompt is a short coding-assistant persona by default; launch settings replace both.
• Changing its composition can break the stream. A patch that expands its tree can change what reaches standard output and corrupt the protocol frames.

Questions, answered

Which profiles does Oda ship?

web serves the interface in a browser, headless answers one task and exits, acp serves automation clients that speak the Agent Client Protocol, sdk serves Oda SDK clients over standard input and output, and sdk-minimal is a small standalone runtime for SDK clients. Each command-line start names exactly one of them.

What wins when two layers change the same setting?

The last write wins. Layers and your own settings file write the same entries, and a patch replaces the whole setting of the entry it targets, not only the values it names. The profile settings file covers the file your changes live in.

How do I add a package to a profile?

From a command line: oda plugin --profile <name> add <package>. Managing packages from outside Oda needs pnpm on your PATH, and a package that carries a patch document joins the profile's layers once the command succeeds. A running profile keeps the bundle set it started with, so restart it afterwards.

Does --help start the mode?

No. --help prints the profile's help and exits with code 0, before the profile's transport starts, and it does not claim standard input or output.

Can one serving runtime work with more than one client?

No. A serving runtime works with one client and runs until that client disconnects; give each client its own process. Closing standard input shuts the runtime down cleanly.

What must my own profile keep to serve clients?

For automation clients, keep the automation bundle, or another automation bridge, or no client gets an answer. For SDK clients, keep the SDK bundle, or another SDK server, or client initialization fails. Either way, configuration changes need a restart.

Which shell does the minimal runtime use?

A persistent shell: bash on macOS and Linux, pwsh on Windows. It is the runtime's only tool.

Where does the minimal runtime keep its sessions?

As plain JSON lines under the Oda home folder.

What can a deployment change for the SDK profile?

Two settings: whether a run that stops at its token limit counts as accepted or as an error, and the bundled Python runtime for Office document features, which a deployment setting can replace or turn off with an empty value.