runpane

Install or configure Pane from npm.

The package does not include the Pane desktop runtime. It downloads the correct Pane release artifact only when you run runpane install or runpane update.

Quick Start

Run the guided setup (Node 20 or newer):

npx --yes runpane@latest

Persistent install:

npm i -g runpane
runpane setup

Use the arrow keys and Enter to choose an action; Esc or Ctrl+C cancels.

The wizard can install Pane on this machine, configure this machine as a remote host, update Pane, or run diagnostics. For remote access, choose Set up a remote host, accept or enter a name, and follow the Tailscale login prompts. Copy the connection code into Pane on your other device or runpane.com/app. Sign that device into the same Tailscale network first. No tunnel flags are needed in the wizard.

MCP Server

runpane mcp runs a stdio MCP server whose tools mirror the runpane commands, generated from the CLI contract. The Pane desktop app registers it with Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor automatically. To register it yourself:

claude mcp add --scope user pane -- npx --yes runpane@latest mcp
codex mcp add pane -- npx --yes runpane@latest mcp

See docs/PANE_MCP.md.

Developing This Repository

When debugging RunPane from a Pane repository checkout, prefer the built local wrapper over npx --yes runpane@latest so diagnostics exercise local changes:

PATH=/opt/homebrew/opt/node@22/bin:$PATH node packages/runpane/dist/cli.js doctor --json

doctor remains the first diagnostic command before local-control actions. On macOS it reads installed app bundle metadata and must not launch Pane.app/Contents/MacOS/Pane --version.

Advanced

Explicit Commands

npx --yes runpane@latest setup
npx --yes runpane@latest install client
npx --yes runpane@latest install daemon --label "My Server"
npx --yes runpane@latest update
npx --yes runpane@latest doctor

runpane install daemon installs Pane and then invokes the installed executable with --remote-setup, preserving the pane-remote://... connection-code output.

Package Managers

One-shot execution:

pnpm dlx runpane@latest
yarn dlx runpane@latest
bunx runpane@latest

Persistent install:

npm i -g runpane
runpane setup

pnpm add -g runpane
runpane setup

Commands

runpane
runpane setup
runpane install
runpane install client
runpane install daemon
runpane update
runpane version
runpane doctor
runpane --help

Common Options

--version <latest|vX.Y.Z>
--format <auto|appimage|deb|dmg|zip|exe>
--download-dir <path>
--pane-path <path>
--dry-run
--verbose

Daemon setup also forwards Pane remote-host options:

--label <name>
--prefer-tunnel <tailscale|ssh|manual|auto>
--print-only

Watching the Workspace

runpane watch waits for workspace transitions from the Pane daemon without polling. Under --follow it prints one line per event: READY (a turn ended), BLOCKED (the agent is waiting on a human), IDLE, STUCK (real unsubmitted composer text; an agent prompt suggestion never counts), NEW, GONE, EXIT, plus HEARTBEAT every 60 seconds as proof of life.

runpane watch --self-test
runpane watch --follow

The defaults are responsive: no settle, no batching, all event kinds, IDLE every 10 minutes. Panes and shell users see every event immediately.

A consumer that pays for every line (an orchestrator that re-reads its whole context per wake-up) opts into cadence shaping instead. This is the recommended orchestrator invocation, budgeted at about 6 wake-ups per active pane per hour worst case, usually 1 to 3:

runpane watch --self-test
runpane watch --follow --quiet --kinds agent.ready,agent.blocked,agent.idle,panel.exited,pane.gone --settle 180000 --blocked-settle 30000 --min-interval 600000 --idle-backoff

When someone is waiting on the result, use the user-present profile instead: --settle 60000 --blocked-settle 15000 --min-interval 120000 with no --idle-backoff, so READY arrives within about 3 minutes rather than 13.

A Session orchestrator watches its whole Session with one command instead of one --pane per Pane. The daemon re-reads the Session's Panes on every read, so sessions associate and sessions detach need no re-arm, and JOINED and LEFT (pane.associated, pane.detached) report the change. For Session members with an open PR, the daemon also polls GitHub about every 3 minutes and reports PR <pane-name> pane <pane-id> #<number> CONFLICTED, CHECKS PASSED or CHECKS FAILED <names>, and MERGED (pr.conflicted, pr.checks, pr.merged) on transitions only. The cursor defaults to session-<uuid>:

runpane watch --session <session-id> --follow --quiet --json --kinds agent.ready,agent.blocked,agent.idle,panel.exited,pane.gone,pane.associated,pane.detached,pr.conflicted,pr.checks,pr.merged --settle 180000 --blocked-settle 30000 --min-interval 600000 --idle-backoff

After a RESET, JSON baseline entries carry replay: true. They restate current state, so a replayed agent.ready is never READY.

• --kinds drops agent.busy; BUSY carries no action.
• --settle <ms> emits READY only after the panel stays idle that long. A BUSY inside the window cancels it silently, which removes the idle/working flips a pane makes while it waits on subagents.
• --blocked-settle <ms> does the same for BLOCKED, so a prompt answered in the pane within seconds wakes nobody.
• --min-interval <ms> holds non-urgent lines and flushes them together at most once per interval. BLOCKED bypasses it.
• --idle-backoff fires IDLE at --idle-after, then 30m, 1h, 3h, then daily, and resets on any activity.

These flags require --follow. Pane Chat arms them automatically through its pane-orchestrator skill, so you only need them for your own scripts. Pass --quiet to any monitor that wakes an agent: it drops WATCH OK, HEARTBEAT, and WATCH RECONNECTED (_ok, _heartbeat, _reconnected in JSON), while WATCH ERROR, RESET, and DROPPED always print. Judge a dead watch by a non-zero exit or a WATCH ERROR line, not by silence. runpane agent-context --command watch --json lists every flag with its default.

Workers can hand back a structured report with runpane report --state ready|blocked|failed|done [--pr <n>] [--head <sha>] [--summary-file <path>] [--question <text>]. Watchers receive it as agent.report (REPORT <pane> pane <pane-id> panel <panel-id> ready pr#747 fc5dce9) only when --kinds lists it, and it skips the --min-interval batch. runpane panels last-message --panel <panel-id> reads an agent's last reply from its transcript.

Attribution

npm package downloads use source=npm when requesting release artifacts from runpane.com/api/download. If that route is unavailable, the CLI falls back to matching GitHub release assets and prints a warning.

The wrapper also sends best-effort lifecycle telemetry with a persisted anonymous install_id. Count distinct wrapper users with count(DISTINCT properties.install_id) on runpane_wrapper_* events. Set RUNPANE_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1 to disable wrapper telemetry.

Maintenance Notes

Keep the npm and PyPI clients in sync with each Pane release. When changing shared installer behavior:

• If release asset names or platforms change, update both npm and PyPI wrapper artifact matching.
• If runpane CLI behavior changes, update both clients and the shared smoke tests.
• If the website /api/download contract changes, verify npm and PyPI fallback behavior.
• If daemon setup flags change, update docs, README files, and wrapper tests together.
• Keep the CI wrapper matrix green: Linux, macOS, Windows, Node 20/22, and Python 3.8/3.13 (runs on PRs that touch the wrappers or contract).

Publishing

This package should be published through npm Trusted Publishing from GitHub Actions. Token-based NPM_TOKEN publishing is a fallback for first package reservation or manual publication only.