What is a host machine?

The host is the machine that does the actual work. It runs your code, your agents, your terminals, and your git repos. In Pane, the host runs the Pane daemon and all your agent sessions.

What is a client device?

The client is the device you're sitting in front of. It shows the UI and sends your input to the host. In Pane, the client can be the Pane desktop app or the browser app on your phone or tablet.

Where does my code live?

Always on the host. Your repos, worktrees, and files never leave the host machine. The client just shows you what's happening and lets you interact with it.

Can I have multiple clients?

Yes. You can connect your laptop, phone, and tablet to the same host. Each client sees the same sessions. Pane shows which client is viewing which session.

Do I need a powerful client?

No. The client just displays the UI. All the heavy lifting (running agents, building code, git operations) happens on the host. You can control a powerful desktop from a phone.

glossary

client vs host: what do they mean?

TL;DR

In remote development, the host is the machine running your repos, terminals and agents, and the client is the device in front of you showing the UI. Your code stays on the host and never moves to the client. With Remote Pane, a desktop or cloud VM is the host and your laptop or phone is the client. If you use Pane on one computer, it's both, and you don't need to think about it.

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When people talk about "client" and "host" in remote development, they're describing two machines that split the work. The host does the heavy lifting. The client shows you what's happening.

the simple version

The host does the work and keeps the code. The client shows you the UI.

	host	client
what it is	The machine running your code and agents	The device in front of you
examples	Your desktop, a cloud VM, a Mac mini	Your laptop, phone, tablet
what runs there	Repos, terminals, agents, git, builds	The Pane UI, your input
where code lives	Here. Always.	Never. It just shows you the UI.

a real-world example

A desktop at home can be the host while your phone is the client.

Say you have a powerful desktop at home with your repos and agents running. You leave the house and want to check on your agents from your phone.

Your desktop is the host. It's running the Pane daemon, your terminals, and your agents. Your phone is the client. It shows the Pane UI and lets you interact with everything running on the desktop.

Your code never leaves the desktop. Your phone just shows you what's happening and lets you type.

Today the phone client is Pane's browser app at runpane.com/app, which you can add to your home screen. Pane's iOS and Android app is coming soon.

when you don't need to care

On one machine, it's both, and the distinction doesn't matter.

If you're using Pane on one machine without Remote Pane, your computer is both the host and the client. The distinction doesn't matter. It only comes up when you set up Remote Pane to separate the UI from where the work happens.

→ Remote VM Setup - set up a host and connect from a client
→ What Is a Daemon? - the background program that runs on the host
→ Security & permissions - how client-host connections stay secure

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

→ Remote Pane docs
→ Security docs

frequently asked questions