diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 83de512..f365d0e 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -290,6 +290,19 @@ dependencies = [
  "uuid",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "colony-agent"
+version = "0.1.0"
+dependencies = [
+ "clap",
+ "colony-types",
+ "reqwest",
+ "serde",
+ "serde_json",
+ "tokio",
+ "toml",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "colony-cli"
 version = "0.1.0"
diff --git a/crates/colony-agent/Cargo.toml b/crates/colony-agent/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ab51bae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/colony-agent/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+[package]
+name = "colony-agent"
+version = "0.1.0"
+edition = "2021"
+
+[[bin]]
+name = "colony-agent"
+path = "src/main.rs"
+
+[dependencies]
+colony-types = { path = "../colony-types" }
+clap = { version = "4", features = ["derive"] }
+reqwest = { version = "0.12", features = ["json", "rustls-tls"] }
+serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive"] }
+serde_json = "1"
+tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }
+toml = "0.8"
diff --git a/crates/colony-agent/src/main.rs b/crates/colony-agent/src/main.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ae7b506
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/colony-agent/src/main.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+use clap::{Parser, Subcommand};
+
+#[derive(Parser)]
+#[command(name = "colony-agent", about = "Ape Colony Agent Runtime — autonomous agent lifecycle")]
+struct Cli {
+    #[command(subcommand)]
+    command: Commands,
+}
+
+#[derive(Subcommand)]
+enum Commands {
+    /// Start the agent worker loop (pulse + react)
+    Worker,
+    /// Run one dream cycle (memory consolidation)
+    Dream,
+    /// Create a new agent on this VM
+    Birth {
+        name: String,
+        #[arg(long)]
+        instruction: String,
+    },
+    /// Show agent status
+    Status,
+}
+
+#[tokio::main]
+async fn main() {
+    let cli = Cli::parse();
+
+    match cli.command {
+        Commands::Worker => {
+            eprintln!("colony-agent: worker not yet implemented");
+            std::process::exit(1);
+        }
+        Commands::Dream => {
+            eprintln!("colony-agent: dream not yet implemented");
+            std::process::exit(1);
+        }
+        Commands::Birth { name, instruction } => {
+            eprintln!("colony-agent: birth '{}' with instruction: {}", name, instruction);
+            eprintln!("not yet implemented");
+            std::process::exit(1);
+        }
+        Commands::Status => {
+            eprintln!("colony-agent: status not yet implemented");
+            std::process::exit(1);
+        }
+    }
+}