diff --git a/ai/honcho/Dockerfile b/ai/honcho/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..feddec6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ai/honcho/Dockerfile
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+# build stage — fetches and builds Honcho from source
+# Using buildkit cache mounts for speed across rebuilds
+FROM python:3.13-slim-bookworm AS builder
+
+RUN apt-get update && \
+    apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends git && \
+    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+COPY --from=ghcr.io/astral-sh/uv:0.9.24 /uv /bin/uv
+
+# Clone Honcho at a pinned commit for reproducibility
+ARG HONCHO_REPO=https://github.com/plastic-labs/honcho
+ARG HONCHO_REF=main
+RUN git clone --depth 1 --branch ${HONCHO_REF} ${HONCHO_REPO} /app
+
+WORKDIR /app
+
+ENV UV_COMPILE_BYTECODE=1
+ENV UV_LINK_MODE=copy
+
+RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/uv \
+    uv sync --frozen --no-group dev
+
+# --- runtime stage ---
+FROM python:3.13-slim-bookworm
+
+RUN groupadd --system app && \
+    useradd --system --gid app --create-home app
+
+COPY --from=builder /app /app
+COPY --from=builder /root/.cache/uv /root/.cache/uv
+
+WORKDIR /app
+ENV PATH="/app/.venv/bin:$PATH"
+ENV HOME=/app
+
+COPY --chown=app:app config.toml /app/config.toml
+
+USER app
+EXPOSE 8000
+
+CMD ["fastapi", "run", "--host", "0.0.0.0", "src/main.py"]
diff --git a/ai/honcho/config.toml b/ai/honcho/config.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0578f57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ai/honcho/config.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+[app]
+LOG_LEVEL = "INFO"
+MAX_MESSAGE_SIZE = 25000
+EMBED_MESSAGES = true
+NAMESPACE = "honcho"
+
+[db]
+CONNECTION_URI = "postgresql+psycopg://honcho:honcho_pass@honcho-db:5432/honcho"
+SCHEMA = "public"
+POOL_SIZE = 10
+MAX_OVERFLOW = 20
+
+[auth]
+USE_AUTH = false
+
+[sentry]
+ENABLED = false
+
+[telemetry]
+ENABLED = false
+
+[webhook]
+ENABLED = false
+
+[cache]
+ENABLED = true
+URL = "redis://honcho-redis:6379/0"
+
+[llm]
+DEFAULT_MAX_TOKENS = 4096
+
+# Embeddings via Ollama (nomic-embed-text recommended on this system)
+[embedding]
+VECTOR_DIMENSIONS = 768
+MAX_INPUT_TOKENS = 8192
+
+[embedding.model_config]
+transport = "openai"
+model = "nomic-embed-text"
+base_url = "http://ollama:11434/v1"
+
+# --- Deriver (user representation builder) ---
+[deriver]
+ENABLED = true
+WORKERS = 1
+POLLING_SLEEP_INTERVAL_SECONDS = 5.0
+FLUSH_ENABLED = true
+
+[deriver.model_config]
+transport = "openai"
+model = "hermes-3"
+base_url = "http://ollama:11434/v1"
+
+# --- Dialectic ---
+[dialectic]
+MAX_INPUT_TOKENS = 4096
+SESSION_HISTORY_MAX_TOKENS = 8192
+
+[dialectic.levels.minimal]
+MAX_TOOL_ITERATIONS = 1
+MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS = 512
+[dialectic.levels.minimal.model_config]
+transport = "openai"
+model = "hermes-3"
+base_url = "http://ollama:11434/v1"
+
+[dialectic.levels.low]
+MAX_TOOL_ITERATIONS = 3
+[dialectic.levels.low.model_config]
+transport = "openai"
+model = "hermes-3"
+base_url = "http://ollama:11434/v1"
+
+[dialectic.levels.medium]
+MAX_TOOL_ITERATIONS = 2
+[dialectic.levels.medium.model_config]
+transport = "openai"
+model = "hermes-3"
+base_url = "http://ollama:11434/v1"
+
+[dialectic.levels.high]
+MAX_TOOL_ITERATIONS = 4
+[dialectic.levels.high.model_config]
+transport = "openai"
+model = "hermes-3"
+base_url = "http://ollama:11434/v1"
+
+[dialectic.levels.max]
+MAX_TOOL_ITERATIONS = 10
+[dialectic.levels.max.model_config]
+transport = "openai"
+model = "hermes-3"
+base_url = "http://ollama:11434/v1"
+
+# --- Summary ---
+[summary]
+ENABLED = true
+MESSAGES_PER_SHORT_SUMMARY = 20
+MESSAGES_PER_LONG_SUMMARY = 60
+
+[summary.model_config]
+transport = "openai"
+model = "hermes-3"
+base_url = "http://ollama:11434/v1"
+
+# --- Dream ---
+[dream]
+ENABLED = false
+
+# --- Peer Card ---
+[peer_card]
+ENABLED = true
+
+# --- Vector Store ---
+[vector_store]
+TYPE = "pgvector"
+DIMENSIONS = 768
diff --git a/ai/honcho/init-db.sql b/ai/honcho/init-db.sql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0aa0fc2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ai/honcho/init-db.sql
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS vector;