Run agents on another computer

Run agents on a bigger or always-on computer while you watch them from your own. You reach it with ssh.

Add a computer I reach over ssh to Hivemind as a machine, and open one of its project folders as a frame.

1. Ask me for the ssh destination (`user@host` or an alias from `~/.ssh/config`), a short name for it, and the folder on it to open.
2. Check ssh works without questions: `ssh -o BatchMode=yes user@host true`. If it asks about the host key or for a password, stop. Ask me to run `ssh user@host` once myself and answer it. Never type a password.
3. Check the platform: `ssh user@host uname -sm`. It must be Linux (x86_64 or arm64) or macOS on arm64. Otherwise stop and tell me.
4. Add it: `hive machine add user@host --label <name>`. It puts this version's `hive` there. Then `hive machine check <name>` must print `<name>: reachable`, the platform and a hive version.
5. With the Hivemind app open, open the folder as a frame: `hive ctl frame add --machine <name> --folder <full path> --name <frame name>`.
6. Ask me which agent to start there. Its program must be installed on that machine: check with `ssh user@host command -v <agent program>`. Start it with `hive ctl spawn --frame <frame name> --agent <agent> --prompt "<task>"` only if I gave a task.

At the end, tell me the machine's name, what `hive machine check` printed, and the frame that opened. Tell me `hive ps --machine <name>` lists what runs there.

REFERENCE https://hivemind.griiken.com/guide/machines.md

How a machine runs your agents, and how it differs from a host: Machines and hosts.

Before you startCopy Anchor Link

• The computer runs Linux (x86_64 or arm64) or macOS on Apple Silicon, with an ssh server you can log in to.
• You answered its host-key question once, in a terminal: ssh user@host.
• The agent programs you want to run there are installed on it.

Hivemind uses your own OpenSSH: your keys, your ssh agent and ~/.ssh/config. A password, if you use one, goes in the system keychain.

Add the machineCopy Anchor Link

Open a folder on itCopy Anchor Link

Check it workedCopy Anchor Link

Run pwd in a terminal in the new frame. It prints the folder on the machine.

Sessions outlive the connectionCopy Anchor Link

Terminals and agents on the machine keep running when the network drops, your laptop sleeps or the app quits, and reattach when you are back. To reach them without the app:

hive ps --machine build
hive attach <session> --machine build     # ctrl-b d detaches
hive run --machine build --cwd /srv/web -- npm test
hive kill <session> --machine build

Nothing to install or update thereCopy Anchor Link

Hivemind keeps hive on the machine itself, one copy per version in ~/.hivemind/bin/. When you update the app, it puts its new version there the next time it connects, and keeps the two before it.

Several people on one loginCopy Anchor Link

People who log in to a machine as the same user each get their own terminals there, in ~/.hivemind/people/<person>/. One person's update never stops another's agents. They are kept apart, not hidden: anyone on that login can still open the other folders. For privacy, give each person a login of their own.

Manage itCopy Anchor Link

A machine's ⋯ menu in the Machines pane has:

To be told when an agent there needs you, even with your laptop closed, run this on the machine:

hive push set https://ntfy.sh/your-topic
hive push test

If it didn'tCopy Anchor Link

More in Troubleshooting.

Good to knowCopy Anchor Link

• Issues are read from your own computer, not from the machine's folder.

RelatedCopy Anchor Link

• Keep agents running while your laptop sleeps: a computer that keeps whole workspaces up, with no desktop.
• CLI reference

Last validated for Hivemind 2026.10.3.