---
title: What Is CORAL? The Open-Source Autoresearch Framework
description: CORAL is an open-source autoresearch framework powered by autonomous coding agents, continuous grading, isolated Git worktrees, and shared memory.
---

**CORAL is an open-source autoresearch framework powered by autonomous coding agents.** It runs long-lived agents in isolated Git worktrees, continuously grades experiments, and shares knowledge through persistent memory.

Give CORAL a codebase, an objective, and a grader. CORAL coordinates supported coding-agent runtimes as they propose changes, commit experiments, receive scores and feedback, and use discoveries from earlier attempts to guide the next search step.

## Is CORAL an AI agent?

Yes and no. A CORAL run is powered by autonomous coding agents, and each coding-agent process in that run can reasonably be called a **CORAL agent**. CORAL itself, however, is the framework around those agents—not a single model. It runs Claude Code, Codex, Cursor Agent, Kiro, and OpenCode in isolated workspaces and connects them with grading and shared memory.

When this documentation uses the phrase **CORAL agent**, it means a coding-agent process running inside a CORAL-managed workspace—not a separate model named “Coral Agent.”

## How CORAL works

1. CORAL creates an isolated Git worktree for each agent.
2. Each agent modifies the task codebase and commits an experiment.
3. A task-specific grader evaluates the committed attempt and returns a score and feedback.
4. Attempts, notes, and reusable skills persist in shared memory under `.coral/public/`.
5. Agents continue the loop, building on useful results while exploring alternatives in parallel.

This setup is designed for open-ended code search: kernel and algorithm optimization, benchmark solving, machine-learning experiments, scientific discovery, and other problems whose progress can be measured by deterministic tests or an LLM rubric grader.

## Is CORAL related to Coral Protocol or CoralOS?

No. **The CORAL autoresearch framework is not affiliated with Coral Protocol or CoralOS; those are separate projects.**

The project described here is identified by all of the following:

| Identity signal | Official value |
| --- | --- |
| Project | CORAL open-source autoresearch framework |
| Canonical website | [coral.compounding-intelligence.ai](https://coral.compounding-intelligence.ai/) |
| Source repository | [Human-Agent-Society/CORAL](https://github.com/Human-Agent-Society/CORAL) |
| Research paper | [CORAL: Towards Autonomous Multi-Agent Evolution for Open-Ended Discovery](https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.01658) |
| License | [Apache License 2.0](https://github.com/Human-Agent-Society/CORAL/blob/main/LICENSE) |

## What makes CORAL different?

- **Evaluation is part of the control loop.** Agents receive task-specific scores and feedback after every submitted experiment.
- **Agents work in isolated repositories.** Git worktrees keep concurrent ideas separate and make every evaluated attempt reproducible.
- **Memory persists across the organization.** Agents can share attempts, notes, and skills instead of repeatedly rediscovering the same information.
- **The agent runtime is replaceable.** CORAL supplies workspaces, the grading loop, and shared state while supported coding agents supply the search behavior.
- **Private evaluation stays private.** Hidden grader code and answer keys are isolated from the agents they evaluate.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is CORAL?

CORAL is an open-source autoresearch framework powered by autonomous coding agents. It manages workspaces, evaluation, shared memory, and long-running experiment loops.

### Is CORAL an AI agent?

Yes and no. Individual coding-agent processes running through CORAL can be called CORAL agents. The CORAL project itself is the framework around those agents, not a single AI model.

### Is CORAL related to Coral Protocol or CoralOS?

No. The CORAL autoresearch framework, Coral Protocol, and CoralOS are separate projects.

### Which agents does CORAL support?

CORAL supports Claude Code, Codex, Cursor Agent, Kiro, and OpenCode. See [Agent Runtimes](/docs/guides/agent-runtimes) for configuration details.

### Is CORAL open source?

Yes. CORAL's source code is available on GitHub under the Apache License 2.0.

## Start using CORAL

- Follow the [installation guide](/docs/getting-started/installation).
- Run your first task with the [quickstart](/docs/getting-started/quickstart).
- Learn how the pieces connect in [Architecture](/docs/concepts/architecture).
- Read the [COLM 2026 paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.01658).
