Should you build your own Aldena?
Role-based AI agent teams that do project work on a server of their own
One room's worth of this is a weekend now that the agent loop ships as an SDK: five role-scoped agents in a Docker sandbox, a manager that hands work down, a prompt before anything destructive, a pull request at the end. What does not fall out of that weekend is the rest of it. A server per project that somebody else patches and meters, ten OAuth integrations that stay authorized, memory that survives the run, and a screen where the person paying for the work can watch it and approve it. Build the room. The building around the room is the subscription.
ENOriginal research content in English. Original prompt preserved in English.
Build me a local team of AI coding agents that ships pull requests, to replace Aldena. Requirements:
- A CLI plus a local web page: Node 24 + Express + better-sqlite3, server-rendered with
a little vanilla JS. `agents run "add rate limiting"` starts a run and the page on
localhost:7070 streams what every agent is doing.
- Agents are rows in SQLite: name, role, instructions, model. Seed five (manager, analyst,
backend, frontend, reviewer) from a roles.json I can edit, each calling the Anthropic API
with the key from .env.
- Only the manager takes my request. It hands work to at most 3 agents per turn and stops
at depth 5. Every hand-off, reply and tool call is a row in SQLite so I can read a run
back a week later.
- File edits and shell commands run inside one Docker container per project, mounting only
that project's checkout. Never on my host, never two agents in the same container at once.
- A tools.json of allow / ask / deny per tool. On ask the run blocks and the web page shows
the exact command with Approve and Reject buttons; on deny the tool is not in the schema
the agent sees at all.
- Memory is two Markdown files loaded at the start of a run and appended to at the end:
.agents/project.md that all of them read, .agents/NAME.md private to one agent. Cap each
at 100 lines and make the agent delete a line before it writes a new one.
- A run ends with a branch, a commit and `gh pr create`. No agent gets the merge command,
that stays mine.
- Out of scope: multi-user accounts, seat billing, and OAuth into Jira, Linear or Slack.
Do not provision servers, the Docker container is the whole runtime.
- No accounts, no telemetry, everything on my machine except the model calls. Secrets in .env.
- Include a README with setup, where the SQLite file lives, and how to authenticate `gh`
before the first run.The prompt opens pre-filled in your agent. Review it before running.
What would building your own look like?
Run several role-scoped agents against one Docker sandbox, let a manager agent hand work to the others and collect their replies, gate the dangerous tools behind an approval prompt, and end the run with a branch and a pull request.
What you will need
- Docker
- Anthropic or OpenAI API key
- GitHub CLI authenticated against the repo
- Node.js 24
The agents are the cheap part. People pay for the machine the work runs on, the credentials that are still valid on Monday, and a record of what was approved that they can show the client who is paying for it.
xa machine per project that someone else provisions, patches and bills by the hour
xconnected GitHub, Bitbucket, Jira, Linear, Notion, Slack, Drive, Gmail, Sentry and Vercel, and the upkeep behind those tokens
xmemory that outlives the run, private per agent and shared per project
xa screen a non-engineer can watch the run in and approve from
xone prepaid balance metering every model and every server hour
Prefer something ready-made?
OpenHandsAgents that work in a container instead of on your laptop, with the UI, the CLI and the sandbox in the box. You supply the container host and the model bill.Open source↗
ClineThe approval gate as an editor extension: it plans, then asks before each edit and each command. One agent, your repo, your keys.Open source↗
gooseA desktop agent that spawns subagents and drives your own tools through MCP. Vendor-neutral under the Linux Foundation, which is more than most of this field can say.Open source↗View all 4 alternatives to Aldena →· Licença, instalação e limitações em cada alternativa.
How much does Aldena cost?
- Monthly billing
- $99/mo$99/mo · per person
- Per year
- $1,188/yr$1,188/yr
- On a Brazilian card, with 3.5% IOF
- R$517/moR$6,208/yr
Saved to My list. You will see a notice on this site when the price changes.
You complete the purchase on Aldena’s site. Vibe Radar does not handle payments.
starter$99/mo · monthly per active member, plus prepaid usage credits · $1,188/yr
Free tierThe free plan is the whole feature set at 2 members, 2 rooms, 5 agents per room and 3 connectors per room; model usage and server hours still come out of prepaid credits.
verified 2026-10-20 · source ↗
Is it cheaper to build or buy Aldena?
Adjust the numbers: hours to build, your hourly rate, running costs and the subscription price.
Over 24 months, subscribing is cheaper.
Starting hours estimated from the analysis (weekend to multi-day). Does not price what you give up (support, integrations, security).
Is Aldena free?
The free plan is the whole feature set at 2 members, 2 rooms, 5 agents per room and 3 connectors per room; model usage and server hours still come out of prepaid credits. The paid plan is Starter at $99/mo (checked 10/20/2026).
Can I rebuild Aldena?
Kinda. The core of Aldena is buildable in a weekend with the prompt on this page, but there are real gaps: a machine per project that someone else provisions, patches and bills by the hour, connected GitHub, Bitbucket, Jira, Linear, Notion, Slack, Drive, Gmail, Sentry and Vercel, and the upkeep behind those tokens. Read the honest list above before committing.
How much does Aldena cost?
Aldena costs about $99/mo (Starter, checked 10/20/2026), which is $1,188 per year.
What do I lose by replacing Aldena?
Honestly: a machine per project that someone else provisions, patches and bills by the hour; connected GitHub, Bitbucket, Jira, Linear, Notion, Slack, Drive, Gmail, Sentry and Vercel, and the upkeep behind those tokens; memory that outlives the run, private per agent and shared per project; a screen a non-engineer can watch the run in and approve from; one prepaid balance metering every model and every server hour. If any of those are load-bearing for you, keep paying.
Is there an open-source alternative to Aldena?
Yes: OpenHands (Agents that work in a container instead of on your laptop, with the UI, the CLI and the sandbox in the box. You supply the container host and the model bill.) Cline (The approval gate as an editor extension: it plans, then asks before each edit and each command. One agent, your repo, your keys.) goose (A desktop agent that spawns subagents and drives your own tools through MCP. Vendor-neutral under the Linux Foundation, which is more than most of this field can say.) All 4 curated free alternatives are at https://viberadar.si/aldena/alternatives. The prompt is for when you want it exactly your way.