---
title: "Overview"
description: "Carina is the local-first runtime for coding agents — policy, hash-chained audit, and transactional rollback."
source: https://carina.nebutra.com/getting-started/introduction/
---

# Overview

> Carina is the local-first runtime for coding agents — policy, hash-chained audit, and transactional rollback.

Carina is a **local-first AI agent runtime**. It sits where a coding agent leaves chat and starts acting on a real repository — under policy, with an audit trail you can verify, and patches you can roll back.

<div class="docs-tag-row">

</div>

## Why Carina

Three promises — everything else hangs off these:

| Promise | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| **Policy before effect** | Fourteen capabilities, profiles, approvals — the model never bypasses the kernel |
| **Hash-chained audit** | Append-only events; `carina audit verify` detects tampering |
| **Transactional rollback** | File mutations via patches with provenance, not silent overwrites |

> Full power for the agent. Full control for you. Authority stays on your machine.

## Get started in three steps

    Runtime layers, sessions, policy, audit.

    Agents, tools, workflows, workers.

    JSON-RPC, method catalog, playground.

## Surfaces

| Surface | Role |
| --- | --- |
| **CLI / TUI** | Local interactive coding and ops |
| **JSON-RPC + Gateway** | Embed in your product |
| **SDKs** | TS / Python / Go typed clients |
| **Workers** | Distributed execution with leases |
| **MCP** | External tools, still policy-gated |

Same engine: session + profile + audit wherever you attach.

## What makes Carina different

| Category | Optimized for | Carina |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Editor assistants | In-IDE chat | Runtime **governance** behind any client |
| CLI coding agents | Conversational terminal UX | Durable sessions, audit, rollback, workers, embed |
| Cloud agent tasks | Hosted remote UX | **Local-first**; cloud is optional boundary |
| Homegrown stacks | One-off orchestration | Reusable policy / audit / patch primitives |

## Non-goals

- Full editor product  
- Hosted managed agent SaaS as the core  
- Replacing Git history or code review  
- Pretending alpha packaging is finished enterprise distribution  

## Source of truth

- Product framing: `docs/product.md` · cloud boundary: `docs/nebutra-cloud-boundary.md`
- Architecture map: `docs/architecture.md` · docs map: `apps/docs/FEATURE_MAP.md`
- Live CLI: `carina --help` · [CLI reference](/reference/cli/)

## Next

| Goal | Page |
| --- | --- |
| Install on my machine | [Installation](/getting-started/installation/) |
| First end-to-end run | [Quickstart](/getting-started/quickstart/) |
| Day-to-day recipes | [Common workflows](/getting-started/common-workflows/) |
| Terms | [Glossary](/reference/glossary/) |

  New here? Stay on <Badge variant="accent">Get started</Badge> until you have completed doctor → run → audit verify once. Then branch into policy, workflows, or embed as needed.

---
Source: https://carina.nebutra.com/getting-started/introduction/
Markdown: https://carina.nebutra.com/getting-started/introduction/index.md