# Overnight Local-LLM Paper-Trading Agent Every night the Mac wakes itself, runs **4 trader personas** one at a time against **one local LLM** (gpt-oss-20b via [oMLX](https://omlx.ai), an Apple-MLX inference server). Each persona researches the web + live market data, forms up to **4 trade theses — at least one of them an options trade** — and writes JSON. In the morning at market open a separate job reads that JSON and places **Alpaca paper trades** with programmatic risk guardrails. Everything is visible in a local Streamlit dashboard, including an **Agents tab** that manages the roster (add/edit/disable agents, per-agent research budgets) via `state/agents.json` — no code edits needed. > **Paper trading only.** Fake money, real prices. "The build works" ≠ "it's profitable" — the > quality of a local model's theses is the open question you tune over time. ## Requirements - Apple Silicon Mac (built/tested on M4 Pro, 24 GB), **plugged in, lid open, logged in** overnight. - [oMLX](https://omlx.ai) (Apple-MLX server) auto-running on `:8090` with a model downloaded (default `gpt-oss-20b`; toggle `qwen35_27b`). Enforces an API key, auto-read from `~/.omlx/settings.json`. - [uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/) for Python env management. - Alpaca **paper** account + Finnhub free key. ## Setup ```bash # 1. Python env + deps uv sync # 2. Secrets cp .env.example .env # then paste your Alpaca paper + Finnhub keys # 3. Model host — oMLX auto-starts on login; if not, bring it up + verify tool-calling omlx start # OpenAI-compatible API on http://127.0.0.1:8090 uv run python scripts/smoke_toolcalling.py # GATE: multi-turn tool calls must PASS # 4. Phase-0 gate uv run pytest ``` Switch models any time with one line in `.env`: `MODEL_PROFILE=gpt_oss` or `qwen35_27b`. ## Entry points | Command | What it does | |---|---| | `uv run python -m orchestration.run_nightly` | Nightly research run (all enabled agents → JSON). `--compressed` for a fast test | | `uv run python -m execution.run_market_open` | Morning: JSON → guardrails → Alpaca paper orders. `--force` to test while closed | | `uv run streamlit run web/dashboard.py` | Dashboard: positions, PnL, theses, orders, logs | | `uv run python -m reporting.report` | CLI summary | ## How it works `run_nightly` starts oMLX, then runs Nova → Warren-lite → Atlas → Maverick **sequentially** (one model, time-sliced with rollover budgets; per-agent budgets are dashboard-editable). The roster comes from `config/agent_registry.py` (built-ins merged with `state/agents.json`). Each agent researches with tools (`run_python` for math, `run_analysis` for data/charts, web search/fetch, Alpaca/Finnhub/yfinance market data, options chains, `get_portfolio` for continuity) and its output is checkpointed incrementally to `state/output//`. Nudges keep agents researching broadly, steer them to the **options mandate** (each night's picks must include a researched single-leg option), and converge them near the end of their budget. **Each persona trades its own Alpaca paper account** (Nova→agent1, Warren-lite→agent2, Atlas→agent3, Maverick→agent4 — Maverick is the deliberately aggressive options/shorts book), so the books — and their PnL — stay separate and comparable. `run_market_open` gates on Alpaca's clock, then per account applies `execution/guardrails.py` (position/day caps, sizing, buying-power, an options conviction floor + premium cap, and a reserved slot so the mandated option trade isn't trimmed) and places **GTC bracket** orders (marketable-limit entry so stop/take legs survive multi-day holds). > **Adding an agent:** use the dashboard's 🤖 Agents tab (clone a template, tweak knobs), create > a fresh Alpaca paper account for it, enable **options trading (level 2)** on that account, and > add `ALPACA__KEY` / `ALPACA__SECRET` to `.env`. Maverick ships built-in but still needs > its own account keys the same way. ### The differentiating layer - **Market regime snapshot** — SPY trend / VIX / sector momentum computed in code each night and injected into every agent's kickoff (shared ground truth). - **Self-learning journal** — each agent sees its own past picks marked-to-market before researching; losses and wins become explicit lessons. - **AI Investment Committee** — a Chief-Risk-Officer LLM pass reviews the whole book after research and issues per-pick verdicts (APPROVE / REDUCE / VETO with reasons). The memo lands in the Reports tab and the morning executor **enforces** the verdicts. ## Automate it (America/Chicago) - **00:00–07:00** research (fair-share time-slicing: ~105 min/agent with 4 agents; tune per-agent budgets from the dashboard), machine woken at **23:55**. - **08:30** execution (= 09:30 ET open; gated on Alpaca's clock, never local time). ```bash scripts/install_launchd.sh # loads the 3 launchd jobs sudo pmset repeat wakeorpoweron MTWRFSU 23:55:00 # one-time: wake the Mac nightly (needs sudo) ``` Overnight requirements: **plugged in, lid open, logged in** (lock screen OK), oMLX running, `.env` filled. Remove with `scripts/uninstall_launchd.sh` + `sudo pmset repeat cancel`. ## Instruments & safety - Trades **stocks (long or short)** and **single-leg long options** (buy calls/puts). Per-trade + per-day caps; stops/takes enforced in code, not trusted from the LLM. Shorts use inverted brackets; options are sized by premium×100 (max loss = premium; see `docs/options-phase.md`). - `run_python` executes model-generated code locally — kept math-only, sandboxed, no network.