Use case

Remote development

TL;DR

Run your agents on a bigger machine and keep your laptop for reading and reviewing. Install Pane on a home server, cloud VM or workstation, open Pane on both computers with the same Tailscale login, and connect from Settings → Remote Access → Your computers. Use a connection code for browsers, other Tailscale accounts, or headless daemon hosts. Agents keep working on the host when you close the lid, and everything is where you left it when you reconnect.

Agents use a lot of memory, CPU and battery, and several at once on a laptop means hot fans and a short afternoon. The work belongs on a machine built for it, while you keep the laptop for steering and review.

Why move the work

The laptop steers and reviews; another machine does the heavy lifting.

Running agents on a desktop, server or cloud VM gives them more memory and cores and keeps your laptop cool and quiet. It also means the work doesn't stop when you close the lid or lose Wi-Fi.

How it works

Same Pane, same shortcuts; the worktrees and agents live on the host.

The Pane app on your laptop becomes a client. Worktrees, terminals and agents run on the host. You see the same interface, use the same shortcuts and review the same diffs; only the machine doing the work changes. A host switcher in the sidebar lets you move between your own machine and remote hosts.

Kick off a task and close the laptop. The agent keeps going on the host, and when you open Pane again, its output and your place are waiting. Permission prompts reach every connected client and wait until someone answers.

Setting it up

Open Pane on both computers and connect through Tailscale. Use codes for browsers and headless hosts.

  1. 1Install Pane on the machine that should do the work.
  2. 2For your own computers, sign in to Tailscale with the same login and keep Pane open on both. Open Settings → Remote Access → Your computers on your laptop and click Connect.
  3. 3For browsers and other Tailscale accounts, create a code under Connection codes → Set Up Host. Paste it under Your computers → Add with a Code on desktop, or at runpane.com/app in a browser.
  4. 4For a server with no screen, run npx --yes runpane@latest on it and follow the setup wizard.

Common setups

Any pairing where one machine has more power, or never sleeps.

  • → Laptop and home desktop. Your desktop runs the agents; you check in from the couch or a café.
  • → Laptop and cloud VM. An always-on machine for long or overnight work.
  • → Laptop and office workstation. Use the big machine from anywhere.
  • → Phone and any host. Check progress and answer prompts from the browser app.

A sleeping host runs nothing, so keep it awake or use an always-on machine; see what is session persistence? For other remote approaches, see Pane Remote vs alternatives.

Sources

Corrections
If anything here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we'll fix it and update the date at the top. Open an issue on GitHub
Sources

frequently asked questions

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Download*
Windows SmartScreen warningDirect downloads can show a SmartScreen warning while Pane is unsigned. Pane is fully open source, so you can audit the code and build from source yourself.1. Click More info2. Click Run anyway3. Continue the installerThe PowerShell install downloads the official release directly and avoids most browser download friction.npm global install
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By Parsa Khazaeepoul, co-founder of Pane. .