Remote machines

CodeAF splits in two. The screen runs on the machine in front of you, and the conversation runs on the machine where the code, the tools and the model key are. The two halves talk over your own ssh, so there is no daemon, no port to open and no config file of CodeAF's own.

Try it in CodeAF

What you need

Only two things: ssh devbox already works from where you sit, and CodeAF is installed on devbox, on the path a non-login ssh command sees. CodeAF runs your own ssh, so your ~/.ssh/config, host aliases, keys, jump hosts and agent all apply. Add a path to pick the project, as in --host devbox:code/app, or a user, as in --host me@devbox.

Reach it from anywhere with Tailscale

Install Tailscale on the dev box and on your laptop or phone, and sign both into the same tailnet. The dev box is then reachable by its Tailscale name from wherever you are, so ssh devbox works on any network, and the same one command works from any of your devices.

How it differs from plain ssh

Drawing the screen never waits on the network; only pressing Enter makes a round trip. The status line shows the link, such as devbox · 3ms. Paste a screenshot or attach a file and it travels to devbox with your message. Click a path in a reply and a copy opens here, in your own editor or viewer. Close the lid mid-reply and the turn keeps running on devbox; the status line says reconnecting to devbox and the link redials by itself for up to 5 minutes. After a redial the keyboard can stay with the other window, shown as typing from another window now, so press Enter to take it back. From your phone, ssh into devbox, run codeaf in the project, and you join the same live conversation, folded to fit the screen.

Things to build

• Start at the desk, check from the train: codeaf chat --host devbox, close the lid mid-reply, then ssh devbox and codeaf from your phone: the same conversation is there with the finished reply.
• A big box behind a thin laptop: codeaf chat --host gpubox:code/model, and the tests run where the GPUs are while you type on a light laptop.
• One dev box on every network: put the dev box and your devices on one tailnet, and the same --host devbox works from home, the office or a café.
• A nightly routine on the dev box: keep codeaf open in a tmux on the dev box and set the routine there; its passes run from that window while your laptop sleeps. Run a nightly test routine

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