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Get an ECP Context running locally in three steps.

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Prerequisites

  • Node.js 22+ (required for schema generation and full builds in this repo; see Development)
  • npm (v7+ for workspaces) or pnpm
  • For OpenAI: set OPENAI_API_KEY. For Ollama: install Ollama and run it locally.

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Step 1: Clone and install

git clone https://github.com/executioncontrolprotocol/executioncontrolprotocol.git
cd executioncontrolprotocol
npm install

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Step 2: Run a Context

Install the CLI from the repository (one-time). This gives you the ecp command: 
npm install -g tsx
cd packages/cli
npm link
cd ../..
Then run the single-executor example with OpenAI: 
ecp run examples/single-executor/context.yaml --enable openai -i topic="ECP"
Or validate a Context without running it: 
ecp validate examples/single-executor/context.yaml -i topic=test
After ecp run, tracing is enabled by default. You can inspect the latest run with: 
ecp trace list
ecp trace <run-id>
Disable tracing with --no-trace (traces default to ~/.ecp/traces). For every flag and option on your installed CLI, run ecp --help or ecp run --help (same pattern for validate and trace). For Ollama (no API key): 
ollama pull llama3.2:3b
ecp run examples/single-executor/context.yaml --provider ollama --enable ollama --model llama3.2:3b -i topic="Test"

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Step 3: Inspect the manifest

The canonical example Context is spec.yaml at the repo root. It includes:
  • inputs — parameters like shopifyStoreId, jiraProject
  • outputs — structured results (e.g. from a schema)
  • schemas — JSON Schema-like definitions for outputs
  • triggers — when the Context runs (e.g. schedule, webhook)
  • orchestration — entrypoint, strategy, delegation defaults
  • executors — agents with models, mounts, and policies

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Next steps

  • Development — preview docs locally, global CLI install
  • Concepts — Context, executors, mounts, orchestration
  • SETUP.md — env vars, system config, Ollama details