diff --git a/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/package.json b/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/package.json
index 86fbef5d1..34ea84b3f 100644
--- a/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/package.json
+++ b/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/package.json
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
     "memoize-one": "^6.0.0",
     "minimatch": "^9.0.4",
     "openai": "^4.56.0",
-    "path-util": "file:./packages/path-util",
     "playwright-core-lite": "file:./packages/playwright-core-lite",
     "queue-manager": "file:./packages/queue-manager",
     "react": "file:./packages/react",
diff --git a/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/codecs/packages/libopusjs/libopus.wasm.fs.js b/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/codecs/packages/libopusjs/libopus.wasm.fs.js
index 0e043f2ce..fb1ed4115 100644
--- a/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/codecs/packages/libopusjs/libopus.wasm.fs.js
+++ b/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/codecs/packages/libopusjs/libopus.wasm.fs.js
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 import path from 'path';
 import fs from 'fs';
-import { getCurrentDirname } from 'path-util';
 
 const loadWasm = p => {
   const b = fs.readFileSync(p);
@@ -8,7 +7,7 @@ const loadWasm = p => {
   return m;
 };
 
-let dirname = getCurrentDirname(import.meta, process);
+const dirname = path.dirname(new URL(import.meta.url).pathname);
 const wasm = loadWasm(path.join(dirname, '/libopus.wasm'));
 
 const location = new URL('http://localhost');
diff --git a/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/codecs/packages/mpg123-decoder/src/MPEGDecoder.fs.js b/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/codecs/packages/mpg123-decoder/src/MPEGDecoder.fs.js
index b046f200a..9fa1b85ad 100644
--- a/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/codecs/packages/mpg123-decoder/src/MPEGDecoder.fs.js
+++ b/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/codecs/packages/mpg123-decoder/src/MPEGDecoder.fs.js
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import EmscriptenWASM from "./EmscriptenWasm.js";
 
 import path from 'path';
 import fs from 'fs';
-import { getCurrentDirname } from "path-util";
 
 const loadWasm = p => {
   const b = fs.readFileSync(p);
@@ -12,7 +11,7 @@ const loadWasm = p => {
   return m;
 };
 
-let dirname = getCurrentDirname(import.meta, process);
+let dirname = path.dirname(new URL(import.meta.url).pathname);
 const wasmAudioDecoderCommon = loadWasm(path.join(dirname, '/wasm-audio-decoder-common.wasm'));
 const emscriptenWasm = loadWasm(path.join(dirname, '/emscripten-wasm.wasm'));
 
diff --git a/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/path-util/package.json b/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/path-util/package.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 0055c483c..000000000
--- a/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/path-util/package.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "name": "path-util",
-  "main": "path-util.mjs"
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/path-util/path-util.mjs b/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/path-util/path-util.mjs
deleted file mode 100644
index 3b23253e0..000000000
--- a/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/path-util/path-util.mjs
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
-import path from 'path';
-
-export const getCurrentDirname = (importMeta = import.meta, _process = process) => {
-  if (importMeta.dirname) {
-    return importMeta.dirname;
-  } else if (importMeta.url) {
-    return path.dirname(new URL(importMeta.url).pathname);
-  } else if (_process) { // In some environments, importMeta is not defined. So we revert to process.
-    return _process.cwd() 
-  } else { // We default to this, and pray to God it works.
-    console.info("[getCurrentDirname] Defaulting to '.'.")
-    return "."
-  }
-};
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/react-agents-node/install-agent.mjs b/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/react-agents-node/install-agent.mjs
index c77a4f9a1..45baffadd 100644
--- a/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/react-agents-node/install-agent.mjs
+++ b/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/react-agents-node/install-agent.mjs
@@ -3,10 +3,8 @@ import fs from 'fs';
 import { mkdirp } from 'mkdirp';
 import { rimraf } from 'rimraf';
 import toml from '@iarna/toml';
-import { getCurrentDirname } from '../react-agents/util/path-util.mjs';
-import { npmInstall } from '../../../../lib/npm-util.mjs';
 
-const dirname = getCurrentDirname(import.meta, process);
+const dirname = path.dirname(new URL(import.meta.url).pathname);
 const copyWithStringTransform = async (src, dst, transformFn = (s) => s) => {
   let s = await fs.promises.readFile(src, 'utf8');
   s = transformFn(s);
@@ -98,9 +96,6 @@ export const installAgent = async (directory) => {
   };
   await removeDependencies();
 
-  // install local dependencies (from the agent's package.json)
-  await npmInstall(directory);
-
   // symlink node_modules deps
   const addDependencies = async () => {
     await Promise.all(dependencies.map(async (name) => {
diff --git a/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/react-agents-node/node-runtime.mjs b/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/react-agents-node/node-runtime.mjs
index ae2f3beb8..3fc4d6f4c 100644
--- a/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/react-agents-node/node-runtime.mjs
+++ b/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/react-agents-node/node-runtime.mjs
@@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
 import path from 'path';
 import crossSpawn from 'cross-spawn';
 import { devServerPort } from './util/ports.mjs';
-import { getCurrentDirname} from '../react-agents/util/path-util.mjs'
 import { installAgent } from '../react-agents-node/install-agent.mjs';
 
 //
 
-const localDirectory = getCurrentDirname(import.meta, process);
+const localDirectory = path.dirname(new URL(import.meta.url).pathname);
 
 //
 
diff --git a/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/react-agents-node/watcher.mjs b/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/react-agents-node/watcher.mjs
index 5e028a72e..f09d445d5 100644
--- a/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/react-agents-node/watcher.mjs
+++ b/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/react-agents-node/watcher.mjs
@@ -3,11 +3,10 @@ import crossSpawn from 'cross-spawn';
 import { program } from 'commander';
 import { createServer as createViteServer } from 'vite';
 import { Debouncer } from 'debouncer';
-import { getCurrentDirname } from '../react-agents/util/path-util.mjs';
 
 //
 
-const dirname = getCurrentDirname(import.meta, process);
+const dirname = path.dirname(new URL(import.meta.url).pathname);
 
 // watch SIGTERM
 process.on('SIGTERM', () => {
diff --git a/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/react-agents/classes/generative-agent-object.ts b/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/react-agents/classes/generative-agent-object.ts
index a3841cc45..47c92dc14 100644
--- a/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/react-agents/classes/generative-agent-object.ts
+++ b/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/react-agents/classes/generative-agent-object.ts
@@ -184,6 +184,7 @@ export class GenerativeAgentObject {
           text,
         actOpts,
         debugOpts,
+        mode: 'basic' // hardcode basic for now. TODO: Make this an argument
       });
       await executeAgentActionStep(this, step);
     });
diff --git a/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/react-agents/util/path-util.mjs b/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/react-agents/util/path-util.mjs
deleted file mode 100644
index 3b23253e0..000000000
--- a/packages/usdk/packages/upstreet-agent/packages/react-agents/util/path-util.mjs
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
-import path from 'path';
-
-export const getCurrentDirname = (importMeta = import.meta, _process = process) => {
-  if (importMeta.dirname) {
-    return importMeta.dirname;
-  } else if (importMeta.url) {
-    return path.dirname(new URL(importMeta.url).pathname);
-  } else if (_process) { // In some environments, importMeta is not defined. So we revert to process.
-    return _process.cwd() 
-  } else { // We default to this, and pray to God it works.
-    console.info("[getCurrentDirname] Defaulting to '.'.")
-    return "."
-  }
-};
\ No newline at end of file