Run Agents on exe.dev

exe.dev gives you Linux VMs that you reach over SSH. A VM stays on when your computer sleeps, so your agents keep working. pocketty works with exe.dev in two ways:

• Route A: a VM as a host. You get herdr Panes, agent notifications, Changes and previews on a machine that is always on. You set up each VM with one command on your computer.
• Route B: the exe.dev lobby as a host. You get a prompt to create, list and delete VMs from your phone. Use it when you make new VMs often, and want to do it away from your computer.

Start with route A. Route B adds to it, and it does not replace it: you set a default script on your computer once, and you still add each new VM to pocketty as in route A.

Before You Start

• An exe.dev account.
• A computer that can run ssh exe.dev. See exe.dev’s SSH key help.

Put Your Phone’s Key on exe.dev

exe.dev checks your key at its own SSH proxy, before the connection gets to a VM. So the key must be on your exe.dev account. A key in the VM’s ~/.ssh/authorized_keys does not work, and Send key to host and the setup command do not work either.

1. In pocketty, open Settings. Under Device Key, tap Copy Key.
2. Add the key to your account in one of these ways:

   • On the phone, open exe.dev/user/security and add the key there.

   • On your computer, put the key in this command and run it:

     echo 'ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 AAAA… pocketty' | ssh exe.dev ssh-key add

One key works for all the VMs on your account, and for the lobby.

Route A: A VM as a Host

1. Create the VM

On your computer, run:

curl -fsSL https://pocketty.app/vm.sh |
  ssh exe.dev new --name shed --setup-script /dev/stdin

Change shed to the name you want. exe.dev runs the script one time, when the VM starts for the first time. The script:

• Installs herdr, with its hooks for Claude Code, Codex and Pi.
• Runs herdr as a systemd user service, so it starts again when the VM restarts.
• Installs the pocketty daemon, which sends agent notifications.

You can read the script first at pocketty.app/vm.sh. To set up a VM that you already have, run the script on it:

curl -fsSL https://pocketty.app/vm.sh | ssh shed.exe.xyz bash

2. Add the VM on Your Phone

1. Tap + on the host list.
2. Type these:
   • Name: any name you want, for example shed. It is only a label in pocketty.
   • Address: the VM name from step 1, then .exe.xyz, for example shed.exe.xyz.
   • User: exedev.
3. Keep Sign in with on Device key, and tap Save.
4. Tap the host. The dot next to its name turns green when pocketty is connected.

3. Start an Agent

When herdr runs, the host screen shows New workspace. Tap it, type a name, and tap Create. The new Pane opens with a shell. Start your agent there, for example with claude.

exe.dev VMs come with Claude Code, Codex and Pi. Sign in to your agent as you do on any computer.

The VM now works like any other host:

• Agent notifications work without Tailscale. The phone pairs with the VM when it connects. On the VM, pocketty devices lists your phone.
• Changes and the file browser show the files on the VM.
• Previews load the dev servers on the VM through SSH. You do not need exe.dev’s HTTPS proxy for them.

Route B: The exe.dev Lobby as a Host

ssh exe.dev opens the exe.dev lobby. It is a prompt for commands such as new, ls and rm, not a shell. Add the lobby as a host to run these commands from your phone.

1. Make the Script Your Default

Do this once, on your computer:

curl -fsSL https://pocketty.app/vm.sh |
  ssh exe.dev defaults write dev.exe new.setup-script

Each VM that you create after this gets herdr and the pocketty daemon. This includes the VMs that you create from the phone. To remove the default, run ssh exe.dev defaults delete dev.exe new.setup-script.

2. Add exe.dev on Your Phone

1. Tap + on the host list.
2. Type exe.dev as the Name and the Address, and exedev as the User. exe.dev does not use the user name.
3. Keep Sign in with on Device key, and tap Save.

3. Manage Your VMs

Tap exe.dev, then New shell. The lobby shows the prompt exe.dev ▶.

Command	What it does
ls	Lists your VMs.
new --name box	Creates the VM box.
rm box	Deletes the VM box.
help	Lists all the commands.

The host screen for exe.dev says herdr is not installed on this host. This is correct. The lobby is not a computer, so it has no herdr, no files and no notifications.

When you create a VM, add it on your phone as in route A, step 2.

If It Does Not Connect

• Sign-in refused: your phone’s key is not on your exe.dev account. On your computer, ssh exe.dev ssh-key list shows the keys on the account. Add the key again.
• No New workspace: herdr does not run. On the VM, check systemctl --user status herdr.
• No notifications: on the VM, check pocketty status and pocketty devices. See Agent Notifications.