# Arcade

Arcade is a tools & integrations option for building AI agents. Tool-calling with per-user OAuth, so the agent acts as the user, not as root.

## Facts

- Layer: Tools & integrations (What it touches)
- Vendor: Arcade
- Licence: open source
- Pricing: freemium
- Self-hostable: yes
- SDKs: py, ts
- Requires: `ARCADE_API_KEY`
- Docs: https://www.arcade.dev/
- Last verified: 2026-08-21

## When to reach for it

- You are choosing a tools & integrations component — what it touches.
- You need to run it on your own infrastructure, or your procurement process requires source access.

## Worth knowing

The per-user token model is what stops one user's agent reading another user's mailbox.

## Alternatives in the tools & integrations layer

| Option | What it does | Licence | Self-host |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MCP (Model Context Protocol) | The open protocol for exposing tools and data to agents. The default answer. | open source | yes |
| Composio | Managed auth and tool-calling for 250+ SaaS apps. | open source | no |
| Browserbase | Managed headless browsers with stealth and session replay, plus Stagehand. | proprietary | no |
| Playwright MCP | Drive a real local browser over MCP, using the accessibility tree. | open source | yes |
| Nango | Open-source integration platform — you own the OAuth and the sync logic. | open source | yes |

Head to head:

- https://newagent.build/compare/arcade-vs-mcp
- https://newagent.build/compare/arcade-vs-composio
- https://newagent.build/compare/arcade-vs-browserbase
- https://newagent.build/compare/arcade-vs-playwright-mcp
- https://newagent.build/compare/arcade-vs-nango

## Curated stacks using it

- Long-running operations agent: Runs for hours, survives deploys, and stops to ask a human before it spends money.

## Add it to a stack

```bash
curl -fsSL "https://newagent.build/api/stack?tools=arcade&format=sh" | sh
```

## Machine interfaces

- `GET https://newagent.build/api/registry` — every component as JSON
- `GET https://newagent.build/api/vendors` — vendors, with the repo and releases feed to watch
- `GET https://newagent.build/api/advise?q=<plain english>` — recommended stack for a description
- `GET https://newagent.build/api/stack?<layer>=<id>&format=sh|json|md|yml|agents|env` — a stack as files
- `GET https://newagent.build/llms.txt` — the whole registry in one fetch

Any page here also returns markdown if you send `Accept: text/markdown`.