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Codeman

The missing control plane for AI coding agents

Agent Visualization • Zero-Lag Input Overlay • Mobile-First UI • Respawn Controller • Multi-Session Dashboard • Git Worktree Support

License: MIT Node.js 18+ TypeScript 5.5 Fastify Tests

Codeman — parallel subagent visualization


Quick Start - Installation

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ark0N/Codeman/master/install.sh | bash

This installs Node.js and tmux if missing, clones Codeman to ~/.codeman/app, and builds it. You'll need at least one AI coding CLI installed — Claude Code or OpenCode (or both). After install:

codeman web
# Open http://localhost:3000 — press Ctrl+Enter to start your first session

Update to latest version:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ark0N/Codeman/master/install.sh | bash -s update
Run as a background service

Linux (systemd):

mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user && printf '[Unit]\nDescription=Codeman Web Server\nAfter=network.target\n\n[Service]\nType=simple\nExecStart=%s %s/dist/index.js web\nRestart=always\nRestartSec=10\n\n[Install]\nWantedBy=default.target\n' "$(which node)" "$HOME/.codeman/app" > ~/.config/systemd/user/codeman-web.service && systemctl --user daemon-reload && systemctl --user enable --now codeman-web && loginctl enable-linger $USER

macOS (launchd):

mkdir -p ~/Library/LaunchAgents && printf '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>\n<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">\n<plist version="1.0"><dict><key>Label</key><string>com.codeman.web</string><key>ProgramArguments</key><array><string>%s</string><string>%s/dist/index.js</string><string>web</string></array><key>RunAtLoad</key><true/><key>KeepAlive</key><true/><key>StandardOutPath</key><string>/tmp/codeman.log</string><key>StandardErrorPath</key><string>/tmp/codeman.log</string></dict></plist>\n' "$(which node)" "$HOME/.codeman/app" > ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.codeman.web.plist && launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.codeman.web.plist
Windows (WSL)
wsl bash -c "curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ark0N/Codeman/master/install.sh | bash"

Codeman requires tmux, so Windows users need WSL. If you don't have WSL yet: run wsl --install in an admin PowerShell, reboot, open Ubuntu, then install your preferred AI coding CLI inside WSL (Claude Code or OpenCode). After installing, http://localhost:3000 is accessible from your Windows browser.


Agent Orchestration

Codeman includes a built-in multi-agent coordination layer: define persistent agent profiles with roles and memory vaults, track work on a shared kanban board, route tasks between agents via a typed messaging system, and integrate external project management tools via the Clockwork OS API. Agents retain context across sessions through an automatically indexed memory vault with BM25 search and LLM-synthesised pattern notes.

  • 5-Minute Quickstart — create agents, claim a work item, open the board, send a message
  • Full User Guide — complete documentation for agents, vault, work items, board, messaging, Clockwork OS, and API reference

Mobile-Optimized Web UI

The most responsive AI coding agent experience on any phone. Full xterm.js terminal with local echo, swipe navigation, and a touch-optimized interface designed for real remote work — not a desktop UI crammed onto a small screen.

Mobile — landing page with QR auth Mobile — idle session with keyboard accessory Mobile — active agent session
Landing page with QR auth Keyboard accessory bar Agent working in real-time
Terminal Apps Codeman Mobile
200-300ms input lag over remoteLocal echo — instant feedback
Tiny text, no contextFull xterm.js terminal
No session managementSwipe between sessions
No notificationsPush alerts for approvals and idle
Manual reconnecttmux persistence
No agent visibilityBackground agents in real-time
Copy-paste slash commandsOne-tap /init, /clear, /compact
Password typing on phoneQR code scan — instant auth

Secure QR Code Authentication

Typing passwords on a phone keyboard is miserable. Codeman replaces it with cryptographically secure single-use QR tokens — scan the code displayed on your desktop and your phone is authenticated instantly.

Each QR encodes a URL containing a 6-character short code that maps to a 256-bit secret (crypto.randomBytes(32)) on the server. Tokens auto-rotate every 60 seconds, are atomically consumed on first scan (replays always fail), and use hash-based Map.get() lookup that leaks nothing through response timing. The short code is an opaque pointer — the real secret never appears in browser history, Referer headers, or Cloudflare edge logs.

The security design addresses all 6 critical QR auth flaws identified in "Demystifying the (In)Security of QR Code-based Login" (USENIX Security 2025, which found 47 of the top-100 websites vulnerable): single-use enforcement, short TTL, cryptographic randomness, server-side generation, real-time desktop notification on scan (QRLjacking detection), and IP + User-Agent session binding with manual revocation. Dual-layer rate limiting (per-IP + global) makes brute force infeasible across 62^6 = 56.8 billion possible codes. Full security analysis: docs/qr-auth-plan.md

Touch-Optimized Interface

  • Keyboard accessory bar — Tab, arrow up/down, /init, /clear, /compact quick-action buttons above the virtual keyboard. Destructive commands require a double-press to confirm — first tap arms the button, second tap executes — so you never fire one by accident on a bumpy commute
  • Compose panel — tap the pencil icon to open a full-width auto-growing textarea above the keyboard. The + button (inset bottom-left) opens an action sheet to Take Photo, Photo Library, or Attach File — multiple images attach as thumbnails with tap-to-preview, long-press-to-replace, and × to remove. The send button (↑ circle, bottom-right) dispatches all queued images and text as a single combined prompt (joined with line breaks). Multi-line text is supported — use Ctrl+J to insert a line break in the textarea. Type / to get an inline slash command popup showing built-in Claude Code commands (/compact, /clear, /help, /bug, /cost, /doctor, /init, /login, /logout, /memory, /model, /pr_comments, /release-notes, /review, /status, /terminal-setup, /vim) merged with any session-specific plugin commands (e.g. GSD skills). Supports substring and subsequence matching — typing /cmpct finds /compact
  • Context window pill — a color-coded % badge appears next to the hamburger menu showing how full the active session's context window is (green → yellow → orange → red as it fills toward 200k tokens)
  • Swipe navigation — left/right on the terminal to switch sessions (80px threshold, 300ms)
  • Smart keyboard handling — toolbar and terminal shift up when keyboard opens (uses visualViewport API with 100px threshold for iOS address bar drift)
  • Safe area support — respects iPhone notch and home indicator via env(safe-area-inset-*)
  • 44px touch targets — all buttons meet iOS Human Interface Guidelines minimum sizes
  • Bottom sheet case picker — slide-up modal replaces the desktop dropdown
  • Native momentum scrolling-webkit-overflow-scrolling: touch for buttery scroll
codeman web --https
# Open on your phone: https://<your-ip>:3000

localhost works over plain HTTP. Use --https when accessing from another device, or use Tailscale (recommended) — it provides a private network so you can access http://<tailscale-ip>:3000 from your phone without TLS certificates.


Live Agent Visualization

Watch background agents work in real-time. Codeman monitors agent activity and displays each agent in a draggable floating window with animated Matrix-style connection lines back to the parent session.

Subagent Visualization

  • Floating terminal windows — draggable, resizable panels for each agent with a live activity log showing every tool call, file read, and progress update as it happens
  • Connection lines — animated green lines linking parent sessions to their child agents, updating in real-time as agents spawn and complete
  • Status & model badges — green (active), yellow (idle), blue (completed) indicators with Haiku/Sonnet/Opus model color coding
  • Auto-behavior — windows auto-open on spawn, auto-minimize on completion, tab badge shows "AGENT" or "AGENTS (n)" count
  • Nested agents — supports 3-level hierarchies (lead session -> teammate agents -> sub-subagents)

Zero-Lag Input Overlay

Zerolag Demo — local echo vs server echo side-by-side

When accessing your coding agent remotely (VPN, Tailscale, SSH tunnel), every keystroke normally takes 200-300ms to round-trip. Codeman implements a Mosh-inspired local echo system that makes typing feel instant regardless of latency.

A pixel-perfect DOM overlay inside xterm.js renders keystrokes at 0ms. Background forwarding silently sends every character to the PTY in 50ms debounced batches, so Tab completion, Ctrl+R history search, and all shell features work normally. When the server echo arrives 200-300ms later, the overlay seamlessly disappears and the real terminal text takes over — the transition is invisible.

  • Ink-proof architecture — lives as a <span> at z-index 7 inside .xterm-screen, completely immune to Ink's constant screen redraws (two previous attempts using terminal.write() failed because Ink corrupts injected buffer content)
  • Font-matched rendering — reads fontFamily, fontSize, fontWeight, and letterSpacing from xterm.js computed styles so overlay text is visually indistinguishable from real terminal output
  • Full editing — backspace, retype, paste (multi-char), cursor tracking, multi-line wrap when input exceeds terminal width
  • Persistent across reconnects — unsent input survives page reloads via localStorage
  • Enabled by default — works on both desktop and mobile, during idle and busy sessions

Extracted as a standalone library: xterm-zerolag-input — see Published Packages.


Respawn Controller

The core of autonomous work. When the agent goes idle, the Respawn Controller detects it, sends a continue prompt, cycles context management commands for fresh context, and resumes — running 24+ hours completely unattended.

WATCHING → IDLE DETECTED → SEND UPDATE → /clear → /init → CONTINUE → WATCHING
  • Multi-layer idle detection — completion messages, AI-powered idle check, output silence, token stability
  • Circuit breaker — prevents respawn thrashing when Claude is stuck (CLOSED -> HALF_OPEN -> OPEN states, tracks consecutive no-progress and repeated errors)
  • Health scoring — 0-100 health score with component scores for cycle success, circuit breaker state, iteration progress, and stuck recovery
  • Built-in presetssolo-work (3s idle, 60min), subagent-workflow (45s, 240min), team-lead (90s, 480min), ralph-todo (8s, 480min), overnight-autonomous (10s, 480min)

Multi-Session Dashboard

Run 20 parallel sessions with full visibility — real-time xterm.js terminals at 60fps, per-session token and cost tracking, tab-based navigation, and one-click management.

Multi-Session Dashboard

Persistent Sessions

Every session runs inside tmux — sessions survive server restarts, network drops, and machine sleep. Auto-recovery on startup with dual redundancy. Ghost session discovery finds orphaned tmux sessions. Managed sessions are environment-tagged so the agent won't kill its own session.

Smart Token Management

Threshold Action Result
110k tokens Auto /compact Context summarized, work continues
140k tokens Auto /clear Fresh start with /init

Notifications

Real-time desktop alerts when sessions need attention — permission_prompt and elicitation_dialog trigger critical red tab blinks, idle_prompt triggers yellow blinks. Click any notification to jump directly to the affected session. Hooks auto-configured per case directory.

Ralph / Todo Tracking

Auto-detects Ralph Loops, <promise> tags, TodoWrite progress (4/9 complete), and iteration counters ([5/50]) with real-time progress rings and elapsed time tracking.

Ralph Loop Tracking

Run Summary

Click the chart icon on any session tab to see a timeline of everything that happened — respawn cycles, token milestones, auto-compact triggers, idle/working transitions, hook events, errors, and more.

Zero-Flicker Terminal

Terminal-based AI agents (Claude Code's Ink, OpenCode's Bubble Tea) redraw the screen on every state change. Codeman implements a 6-layer anti-flicker pipeline for smooth 60fps output across all sessions:

PTY Output → 16ms Server Batch → DEC 2026 Wrap → SSE → Client rAF → xterm.js (60fps)

Git Worktree Support

Run parallel Claude sessions on isolated branches without conflicts. Hit + in the session tab bar to branch from any existing session — create a new branch or check out an existing one. Each worktree opens as a normal session with a 🌿 branch badge. When the session ends, choose to Remove, Keep (resume later via the + picker), or Merge back into the origin session.


Remote Access — Cloudflare Tunnel

Access Codeman from your phone or any device outside your local network using a free Cloudflare quick tunnel — no port forwarding, no DNS, no static IP required.

Browser (phone/tablet) → Cloudflare Edge (HTTPS) → cloudflared → localhost:3000

Prerequisites: Install cloudflared and set CODEMAN_PASSWORD in your environment.

# Quick start
./scripts/tunnel.sh start      # Start tunnel, prints public URL
./scripts/tunnel.sh url        # Show current URL
./scripts/tunnel.sh stop       # Stop tunnel
./scripts/tunnel.sh status     # Service status + URL

The script auto-installs a systemd user service on first run. The tunnel URL is a randomly generated *.trycloudflare.com address that changes each time the tunnel restarts.

Persistent tunnel (survives reboots)
# Enable as a persistent service
systemctl --user enable codeman-tunnel
loginctl enable-linger $USER

# Or via the Codeman web UI: Settings → Tunnel → Toggle On
Authentication
  1. First request → browser shows Basic Auth prompt (username: admin or CODEMAN_USERNAME)
  2. On success → server issues a codeman_session cookie (24h TTL, auto-extends on activity)
  3. Subsequent requests authenticate silently via cookie
  4. 10 failed attempts per IP → 429 rate limit (15-minute decay)

Always set CODEMAN_PASSWORD before exposing via tunnel — without it, anyone with the URL has full access to your sessions.

QR Code Authentication

Typing a password on a phone keyboard is terrible. Codeman solves this with ephemeral single-use QR tokens — scan the code on your desktop, and your phone is instantly authenticated. No password prompt, no typing, no clipboard.

Desktop displays QR  →  Phone scans  →  GET /q/Xk9mQ3  →  Server validates
→  Token atomically consumed (single-use)  →  Session cookie issued  →  302 to /
→  Desktop notified: "Device authenticated via QR"  →  New QR auto-generated

Someone who only has the bare tunnel URL (without the QR) still hits the standard password prompt. The QR is the fast path; the password is the fallback.

How It Works

The server maintains a rotating pool of short-lived, single-use tokens. Each token consists of a 256-bit secret (crypto.randomBytes(32)) paired with a 6-character base62 short code used as an opaque lookup key in the URL path. The QR code encodes a URL like https://abc-xyz.trycloudflare.com/q/Xk9mQ3 — the short code is a pointer, not the secret itself, so it never leaks through browser history, Referer headers, or Cloudflare edge logs.

Every 60 seconds, the server automatically rotates to a fresh token. The previous token remains valid for a 90-second grace period to handle the race where you scan right as rotation happens — after that, it's dead. Each token is single-use: the moment a phone successfully scans it, the token is atomically consumed and a new one is immediately generated for the desktop display.

Security Design

The design is informed by "Demystifying the (In)Security of QR Code-based Login" (USENIX Security 2025), which found 47 of the top-100 websites vulnerable to QR auth attacks due to 6 critical design flaws across 42 CVEs. Codeman addresses all six:

USENIX Flaw Mitigation
Flaw-1: Missing single-use enforcement Token atomically consumed on first scan — replays always fail
Flaw-2: Long-lived tokens 60s TTL with 90s grace, auto-rotation via timer
Flaw-3: Predictable token generation crypto.randomBytes(32) — 256-bit entropy. Short codes use rejection sampling to eliminate modulo bias
Flaw-4: Client-side token generation Server-side only — tokens never leave the server until embedded in the QR
Flaw-5: Missing status notification Desktop toast: "Device [IP] authenticated via QR (Safari). Not you? [Revoke]" — real-time QRLjacking detection
Flaw-6: Inadequate session binding IP + User-Agent stored for audit. Manual session revocation via API. HttpOnly + Secure + SameSite=lax cookies

Timing-Safe Lookup

Short codes are stored in a Map<shortCode, TokenRecord>. Validation uses Map.get() — a hash-based O(1) lookup that reveals nothing about the target string through response timing. There is no character-by-character string comparison anywhere in the hot path, eliminating timing side-channel attacks entirely.

Rate Limiting (Dual Layer)

QR auth has its own rate limiting, completely independent from password auth:

  • Per-IP: 10 failed QR attempts per IP trigger a 429 block (15-minute decay window) — separate counter from Basic Auth failures, so a fat-fingered password doesn't burn your QR budget
  • Global: 30 QR attempts per minute across all IPs combined — defends against distributed brute force. With 62^6 = 56.8 billion possible short codes and only ~2 valid at any time, brute force is computationally infeasible regardless

QR Code Size Optimization

The URL is kept deliberately short (/q/ path + 6-char code = ~53-56 total characters) to target QR Version 4 (33x33 modules) instead of Version 5 (37x37). Smaller QR codes scan faster on budget phones — modern devices read Version 4 in 100-300ms. The /q/ prefix saves 7 bytes compared to /qr-auth/, which alone is the difference between QR versions.

Desktop Experience

The QR display auto-refreshes every 60 seconds via SSE with the SVG embedded directly in the event payload (~2-5KB) — no extra HTTP fetch, sub-50ms refresh. A countdown timer shows time remaining. A "Regenerate" button instantly invalidates all existing tokens and creates a fresh one (useful if you suspect the QR was photographed).

When someone authenticates via QR, the desktop shows a notification toast with the device's IP and browser — if it wasn't you, one click revokes all sessions.

Threat Coverage

Threat Why it doesn't work
QR screenshot shared Single-use: consumed on first scan. 60s TTL: expired before the attacker can act. Desktop notification alerts you immediately.
Replay attack Atomic single-use consumption + 60s TTL. Old URLs always return 401.
Cloudflare edge logs Short code is an opaque 6-char lookup key, not the real 256-bit token. Single-use means replaying from logs always fails.
Brute force 56.8 billion combinations, ~2 valid at any time, dual-layer rate limiting blocks well before statistical feasibility.
QRLjacking 60s rotation forces real-time relay. Desktop toast provides instant detection. Self-hosted single-user context makes phishing implausible.
Timing attack Hash-based Map lookup — no string comparison timing leak.
Session cookie theft HttpOnly + Secure + SameSite=lax + 24h TTL. Manual revocation at POST /api/auth/revoke.

How It Compares

Platform Model Comparison
Discord Long-lived token, no confirmation, repeatedly exploited Codeman: single-use + TTL + notification
WhatsApp Web Phone confirms "Link device?", ~60s rotation Comparable rotation; WhatsApp adds explicit confirmation (acceptable tradeoff for single-user)
Signal Ephemeral public key, E2E encrypted channel Stronger crypto, but exploited by Russian state actors in 2025 via social engineering despite it

Full design rationale, security analysis, and implementation details: docs/qr-auth-plan.md


SSH Alternative (sc)

If you prefer SSH (Termius, Blink, etc.), the sc command is a thumb-friendly session chooser:

sc              # Interactive chooser
sc 2            # Quick attach to session 2
sc -l           # List sessions

Single-digit selection (1-9), color-coded status, token counts, auto-refresh. Detach with Ctrl+A D.


Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut Action
Ctrl+Enter Quick-start session
Ctrl+W Close session
Ctrl+Tab Next session
Ctrl+K Kill all sessions
Ctrl+L Clear terminal
Ctrl+Shift+R Restore terminal size
Ctrl/Cmd +/- Font size
Escape Close panels

API

Sessions

Method Endpoint Description
GET /api/sessions List all
POST /api/quick-start Create case + start session
DELETE /api/sessions/:id Delete session
POST /api/sessions/:id/input Send input

Respawn

Method Endpoint Description
POST /api/sessions/:id/respawn/enable Enable with config + timer
POST /api/sessions/:id/respawn/stop Stop controller
PUT /api/sessions/:id/respawn/config Update config

Ralph / Todo

Method Endpoint Description
GET /api/sessions/:id/ralph-state Get loop state + todos
POST /api/sessions/:id/ralph-config Configure tracking

Subagents

Method Endpoint Description
GET /api/subagents List all background agents
GET /api/subagents/:id Agent info and status
GET /api/subagents/:id/transcript Full activity transcript
DELETE /api/subagents/:id Kill agent process

System

Method Endpoint Description
GET /api/events SSE stream
GET /api/status Full app state
POST /api/hook-event Hook callbacks
GET /api/sessions/:id/run-summary Timeline + stats

Architecture

flowchart TB
    subgraph Codeman["CODEMAN"]
        subgraph Frontend["Frontend Layer"]
            UI["Web UI<br/><small>xterm.js + Agent Windows</small>"]
            API["REST API<br/><small>Fastify</small>"]
            SSE["SSE Events<br/><small>/api/events</small>"]
        end

        subgraph Core["Core Layer"]
            SM["Session Manager"]
            S1["Session (PTY)"]
            S2["Session (PTY)"]
            RC["Respawn Controller"]
        end

        subgraph Detection["Detection Layer"]
            RT["Ralph Tracker"]
            SW["Subagent Watcher<br/><small>~/.claude/projects/*/subagents</small>"]
        end

        subgraph Persistence["Persistence Layer"]
            SCR["Mux Manager<br/><small>(tmux)</small>"]
            SS["State Store<br/><small>state.json</small>"]
        end

        subgraph External["External"]
            CLI["AI CLI<br/><small>Claude Code / OpenCode</small>"]
            BG["Background Agents<br/><small>(Task tool)</small>"]
        end
    end

    UI <--> API
    API <--> SSE
    API --> SM
    SM --> S1
    SM --> S2
    SM --> RC
    SM --> SS
    S1 --> RT
    S1 --> SCR
    S2 --> SCR
    RC --> SCR
    SCR --> CLI
    SW --> BG
    SW --> SSE
Loading

Development

npm install
npx tsx src/index.ts web    # Dev mode
npm run build               # Production build
npm test                    # Run tests

See CLAUDE.md for full documentation.


Codebase Quality

The codebase went through a comprehensive 7-phase refactoring that eliminated god objects, centralized configuration, and established modular architecture:

Phase What changed Impact
Performance Cached endpoints, SSE adaptive batching, buffer chunking Sub-16ms terminal latency
Route extraction server.ts split into 12 domain route modules + auth middleware + port interfaces −60% server.ts LOC (6,736 → 2,697)
Domain splitting types.ts → 14 domain files, ralph-tracker → 7 files, respawn-controller → 5 files, session → 6 files No more god files
Frontend modules app.js → 8 extracted modules (constants, mobile, voice, notifications, keyboard, API, subagent windows) −24% app.js LOC (15.2K → 11.5K)
Config consolidation ~70 scattered magic numbers → 9 domain-focused config files Zero cross-file duplicates
Test infrastructure Shared mock library, 12 route test files, consolidated MockSession Testable route handlers via app.inject()

Full details: docs/code-structure-findings.md


Published Packages

npm

Instant keystroke feedback overlay for xterm.js. Eliminates perceived input latency over high-RTT connections by rendering typed characters immediately as a pixel-perfect DOM overlay. Zero dependencies, configurable prompt detection, full state machine with 78 tests.

npm install xterm-zerolag-input

Full documentation


License

MIT — see LICENSE


Full Feature Reference

For exhaustive feature documentation, configuration details, and differences from the upstream fork, see FEATURES.md.


Track sessions. Visualize agents. Control respawn. Let it run while you sleep.

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