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VectorStep

Gateway overview

The VectorStep Gateway is a lightweight Python/FastAPI WebSocket gateway that runs AI agents with MCP tool access. It acts as an executor backend for VectorStep pipelines, providing an alternative to OpenClaw with support for multiple LLM providers and configurable MCP tool servers.

The gateway sits between VectorStep and your LLM providers. VectorStep sends an agent request over WebSocket; the gateway runs the full agentic loop (LLM calls, MCP tool execution, multi-turn conversation) and returns the final result. VectorStep never sees intermediate tool calls or thinking content — it gets one clean response.

This section is the Gateway’s own reference: configuration, agent authoring, the WebSocket and REST protocols, and day-two operations. If you just want the fastest path to a first pipeline running, see the site’s quick start instead — this page is the Gateway’s standalone introduction.

Quick Start

Section titled “Quick Start”
Terminal window
# 1. Install dependencies
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt


# 2. Copy and edit the config template
cp samples/config.yaml.example config.yaml
# Edit config.yaml — set your LLM provider keys and MCP servers


# 3. Create your agents directory
mkdir -p agents/my-agent
# Add agent.yaml and soul.md — see Creating Agents below


# 4. Set environment variables for any ${VAR_NAME} placeholders in config.yaml
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...


# 5. Start the gateway (host/port come from config.yaml's `server:` section)
python -m gateway.main


# 6. Find your operator token (auto-generated on first run)
cat ~/.vectorstep-gateway/identity/device-auth.json
# Copy the 'operator' token — you'll need it for VectorStep's config

Directory Structure

Section titled “Directory Structure”
VectorStep-Gateway/
├── samples/
│   └── config.yaml.example           # Config template with all options documented
├── agents/                           # Your agent definitions (gitignored)
├── config.yaml                       # Your config (gitignored)
├── gateway/
│   ├── main.py                       # FastAPI app, WebSocket endpoint, REST API
│   ├── tracing.py                    # OpenTelemetry setup and W3C trace context extraction
│   ├── auth/
│   ├── agents/
│   ├── session/
│   ├── mcp/
│   ├── llm/
│   ├── runner/
│   └── models/
└── requirements.txt

Where next

Section titled “Where next”