diff --git a/agent/src/index.ts b/agent/src/index.ts
index 8e8e93ccc8..d4f0448f63 100644
--- a/agent/src/index.ts
+++ b/agent/src/index.ts
@@ -647,6 +647,11 @@ const startAgents = async () => {
         elizaLogger.error("Error starting agents:", error);
     }
 
+    // upload some agent functionality into directClient
+    directClient.startAgent = async character => {
+      // wrap it so we don't have to inject directClient later
+      return startAgent(character, directClient)
+    };
     directClient.start(serverPort);
 
     elizaLogger.log("Visit the following URL to chat with your agents:");