openrig/docs/reference/getting-started.md

OpenRig setup reference

This is the full reference for installing and running OpenRig, written for the agent doing the setup and for anyone who wants the detail. The short version for people is Getting started.

For the agent doing the setup

The rigs skill is the procedure: follow it in order. This page is what it looks things up in.

• Done means the person is talking to the operator in a visible OpenRig view. A healthy daemon, a started kernel or an opened window isn't done on its own. If they'd rather talk later, the handoff is still pending: say so, and leave them the exact command.
• Read readiness; don't assume it:
  • The kernel: the Kernel: line in rig status, and rig ps --nodes --rig kernel.
  • A team: rig ps --nodes --rig <team>.
  • A missing or unknown signal isn't ready.
  • rig up exiting 1 with Status: partial and Startup attention means a seat is waiting at a prompt. Answer it, or ask the person to, then run the rig seat continue <seat> it names.
• Prerequisites: check the person's existing toolchain first (mise, nvm, Homebrew or the nodejs.org installer) and the PATH. Use what's there. Don't change a shared Homebrew's ownership, and don't make a local workaround the standard route. If Node.js is installed after your session started, check that new shells and the session's hooks can find it. In one published-0.6.11 Mac run, OpenRig's Claude hooks reported node: command not found until the PATH was fixed.
• Ask once, then reuse the answer: the provider (Claude Code, Codex or both), Herdr, Ghostty on macOS, remembered command allowances, and the team.
• Before changing their machine: say what applies to their route, then wait for a yes. See what OpenRig changes on your machine.
• When something stops:
  • Incomplete setup and restart maps what you see to the next action.
  • What can interrupt installation and the OpenRig view covers the view.
  • Headless or SSH handoff covers no-display cases.
  • A timed-out command may still have taken effect. Read rig ps or rig seat status <seat> before you run it again.
• Don't:
  • relaunch a team to reopen its view;
  • start another seat to clear a prompt;
  • build the person's project yourself. Give the goal to the operator.

Before you start

Setup and launch are separate: declining rig setup avoids its ~/.tmux.conf change, but starting Codex seats can still write workspace trust and selected MCP/config fragments. runtime.codex.hooks_enabled=false controls hooks; it isn't a no-global-config option. Setup has no project-only mode. Trusted project .codex/config.toml settings don't redirect OpenRig's home-config writes. A separate selected CODEX_HOME keeps Codex config, login and sessions together in that home; it needs its own working sign-in and doesn't relocate ~/.tmux.conf.

What OpenRig changes on your machine

• Install: @openrig/cli goes in globally with npm.
• Setup: rig setup adds an OpenRig block to ~/.tmux.conf. It can install tmux (with Homebrew on macOS), and Herdr unless you pass --no-herdr. Plain rig setup, which is what the one-command install runs, checks both Claude Code and Codex and may install a missing one; rig setup --providers claude (or codex) limits it to yours.
• Starting OpenRig, for the coding agent you use (paths are the usual defaults):
  • Codex: hooks, workspace trust and team-selected config fragments (including MCP) in the selected CODEX_HOME/config.toml, default ~/.codex/config.toml. These affect other Codex sessions using that home.
  • Claude Code: workspace trust in ~/.claude.json, and activity hooks in the project's .claude/settings.local.json, plus a status line unless you already have your own.
  • Discovery skills go in ~/.claude/skills and ~/.agents/skills.
  • Each seat's CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md gets OpenRig's managed blocks (culture, identity, onboarding). One more line, pointing an agent at its seat skills, is added only on a yes: saved at setup, or set where the daemon runs (OPENRIG_SKILLS_ROUTER_LINE_ENABLED).
• Starting a team in your project: adds managed guidance to AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md, plus the team's skills and plugins.
• Permissions: by default, OpenRig's own kernel gets broader permissions than a project team gets by default. On Codex that's full access with no approval prompts (-s danger-full-access -a never). On Claude Code, its file tools, web fetches and operational commands, including reads under your home folder, run without asking. A permission policy, per-agent choice or Codex profile changes that. What your team can do depends on the team you choose and your settings; workshop, for example, ships with broad access.
• Backups: OpenRig doesn't guarantee it can preserve or roll back these files, so back them up first.

Everything OpenRig writes, and why →

You need Node.js 22 or 24 and tmux, on macOS or Linux, and one working Claude Code or Codex account: one is enough, since the kernel operator adapts the shipped starter team to whichever you have. On Linux, the distribution's own Node.js can be older (Ubuntu 24.04's is 18); install a supported version with nvm (nvm install 22) or NodeSource. On a Mac with Apple silicon, use Node.js 22 (see the compatibility history). On a Mac where you aren't an administrator, or where Homebrew belongs to another account (its brew install is refused), install Node.js in your own home folder with nvm: run touch ~/.zshrc (a new Mac account has none, and nvm's installer only adds itself to a profile file that already exists), then nvm's install command, for nvm v0.40.8 curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.8/install.sh | bash (nvm's page has the newest), open a new terminal, and run nvm install 22. nvm itself needs no administrator password, and npm install -g then installs into your nvm folder. If nvm's installer says you need Apple's command line tools, run xcode-select --install, then its install command again. Native Windows isn't supported. On Windows, use WSL2: it's the Windows route OpenRig supports, though OpenRig's automated tests don't run on it yet. One user's working setup is below. Node 20 and odd-numbered releases (23, 25 and so on) are not supported; Node 26 and later even-numbered releases are untested.

On Linux, if Codex cannot run commands and reports bwrap: loopback: Failed RTM_NEWADDR: Operation not permitted, ask the machine owner to follow OpenAI's sandbox prerequisites, including its bwrap AppArmor profile guidance; changes to AppArmor are the owner's choice.

Choose permissions before starting the team. Ordinary OpenRig launches use Codex's -s workspace-write, with approval policy from your native configuration, or Claude Code's acceptEdits, which still leaves commands subject to native rules and prompts. A team seat with no permission policy, per-seat choice or (for Codex) named profile also gets a per-launch team default: Claude runs ordinary rig commands, project reads and common tests without prompting, while lifecycle commands such as rig up and rig down still ask; Codex also gets the OpenRig workspace root and its pod's state directory as writable directories. The kernel's own seats get a wider operational default. Codex's sandbox normally blocks network access, including the local OpenRig daemon, so before that plain launch OpenRig asks Codex for its own configuration and adds network access inside the sandbox only when Codex answers that no configuration layer sets sandbox_workspace_write.network_access and no managed requirement could restrict it; if Codex can't be asked or doesn't answer in time, the launch is left unchanged. To keep it off, set network_access = false under [sandbox_workspace_write] in your Codex configuration. If Codex does not answer within a few seconds, the seat starts without it. A command allowance does not change general sandbox/network settings. The starter's profile: default selects OpenRig resources, not a native permission profile. Agent-guided setup recommends keeping the team default and offers to remember selected OpenRig commands in your native settings only if you want that. An existing explicit choice is reused; No or no answer keeps the team default and leaves settings unchanged. Broader access is separate.

If permission prompts are slowing you down, consider the workshop bundle. It ships with broad access and non-interruptive mode: its agents bypass permission prompts and supported harness warning dialogs. The listing and before-install view explain that access before you choose it.

Everything below reports what is currently true, never a guarantee that downstream work will succeed. "Daemon up" does not mean every agent is healthy; "kernel ready" does not mean every kernel agent is healthy; a workspace root being live does not mean it is the right one for your project.

WSL2: a reported working setup

WSL2 is the Windows route OpenRig supports. OpenRig's automated tests don't run on it yet; this is one user's working setup. dajiaohuang ran OpenRig 0.6.6 under WSL2 on Ubuntu 24.04, with Node.js 24.14.1, tmux 3.4, Codex CLI 0.161.0 and Pi (@earendil-works/pi-coding-agent) 1.0.4, headless, as the distribution's root user.

• What worked, with one Codex seat and one Pi seat: rig doctor, starting the daemon (rig daemon start --no-kernel), launching both seats, replies to rig send and rig capture, and stopping with rig down --snapshot followed by a warm restore with rig up --existing.
• What mattered:
  • the install and the OpenRig instance on the Linux filesystem;
  • Linux-native Node.js and harnesses, not the Windows npm or pi that WSL inherits;
  • Pi credentials the managed seat can reach, because a global Pi login isn't shared with managed seats. This user put them in the seat's agent directory. For openrouter, zai, kimi-coding or minimax, a key in the daemon environment also works (OPENROUTER_API_KEY, ZAI_API_KEY, KIMI_API_KEY or MINIMAX_API_KEY): name it in recovery.provider_auth_env_allowlist, give the seat a <provider>/<id> model, then restart the daemon and relaunch the seat. Any other provider goes in the seat's agent directory;
  • the current @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent package in its own npm prefix, not the deprecated @mariozechner one.
• Not tested: the kernel and operator, herdr, reboot, suspend and resume, cross-host operation and long-running work.

Install and sign in

Agents: if you're setting OpenRig up for someone, load the rigs skill and follow it. It carries the install, the OpenRig view and the handoff to the operator as one procedure. From 0.6.7, OpenRig installs it as rigs in ~/.claude/skills and ~/.agents/skills when the daemon starts. To add it manually, use the release tag matching your installed rig --version: replace <release-tag> below with that tag, including its v prefix. rig --version prints the version and a commit, for example 0.6.11 (379f0a0d); the tag is v0.6.11. The skill is in the repository from v0.6.6; on an older install, use the v0.6.6 tag or upgrade first. Choose the command for the agent doing the setup:

# Claude Code
npx skills add "https://github.com/mvschwarz/openrig/tree/<release-tag>/skills/rigs" --skill rigs --agent claude-code

# Codex
npx skills add "https://github.com/mvschwarz/openrig/tree/<release-tag>/skills/rigs" --skill rigs --agent codex

These are the pinned, per-agent forms used on the rigs pages. You can also read skills/rigs/SKILL.md directly.

One command, for the full setup. It needs Node.js 22 or 24 with npm already installed. The preview prints what the script will do and changes nothing:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mvschwarz/openrig/v0.7.5/scripts/install.sh | sh -s -- --dry-run

The same command without --dry-run, curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mvschwarz/openrig/v0.7.5/scripts/install.sh | sh, installs the latest published @openrig/cli with npm install -g, runs the Node.js and SQLite check, then rig setup --dry-run and rig setup. rig setup checks both Claude Code and Codex and may install a missing one, as described below. A failed step prints FAILED [n/4] <command or check> (exit <code>). Where a provider isn't signed in yet, step 4 ends that way and rig setup lists each sign-in under "Some steps need attention". If the only remaining failures are provider sign-ins, the install steps finished: sign in to each selected provider as below, then continue at Start the kernel. To install only what the selected providers need, go step by step instead:

Choose your providers

Ask: “Which working account do you want this team to use: Claude Code, Codex, or both?” Reuse an explicit choice already made. Recommend the account the user already has working; a second subscription is not a prerequisite.

Install OpenRig (npm install -g @openrig/cli) and check tmux -V. With npm 11 or later, an npm warn install-scripts line for @openrig/cli is expected: only the postinstall Node.js and SQLite check was skipped, and node "$(npm root -g)/@openrig/cli/scripts/check-abi.mjs" runs it. Check only the selected providers:

• Claude Code: claude --version and claude auth status. If sign-in is missing, ask once: “Please run claude auth login in your launch environment.”
• Codex: codex --version and codex login status. If sign-in is missing, ask once: “Please run codex login in your launch environment.”

Install a missing selected CLI using its provider's installation instructions. The other provider's CLI/login is optional. Herdr is installed by default unless you decline it; cmux remains optional. Do not copy credentials or start repeated sign-in attempts. Recheck the selected login after the user completes it. rig setup --dry-run previews the broader setup; applying rig setup checks both harnesses and installs a missing one with npm, unless you pass the person's choice: rig setup --providers claude (or codex) leaves the other out, so it reads not selected instead of failed. On macOS it uses an existing Homebrew (it does not install Homebrew) to install a missing tmux (elsewhere tmux is checked, not installed). Herdr installs on macOS and Linux; pass --no-herdr to decline it. Setup also writes an OpenRig-managed block (mouse on, a longer history) into ~/.tmux.conf. It is optional for this selected-provider path, not a requirement to fix an unused provider.

Setup also prints the one line OpenRig can add to each seat's CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md, plus OpenRig's markers around it so it can be removed cleanly: the exact text it writes, which files it goes in, and what a no gives up. Show the person, ask, and save their answer with rig setup --router-line yes or rig setup --router-line no. No answer isn't a yes: with nothing saved and nothing set in the environment, the line isn't added. The answer covers only that line, and so does what setup says a no gives up; setup's "OpenRig may modify" list names the other writes.

The block keeps terminal.history_limit rows of scrollback per pane (default 10000). To keep more, run rig config set terminal.history_limit 50000, then rig setup again. A running tmux server keeps its old limit until it restarts or you run tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf; before tmux 3.7 that changes new panes only.

New managed agents and handover successors on macOS/Linux start from the daemon's selected launch environment and declared seat values, rather than stored tmux globals. Values named by tmux's update-environment option, including its default SSH-agent and display variables, come from the daemon's environment. Normal shell startup and configured tmux shell commands still run. OpenRig reasserts its selected OPENRIG_DB and configured TMUX_TMPDIR when starting the runtime after shell startup. If your custom setup intentionally supplies values through tmux's global environment, opt in with rig config set terminal.inherit_tmux_environment true. Setup points out this option when it detects custom tmux configuration; it never enables it automatically. The setting applies to future launches and successors, not running agents or your personal tmux server. If the scoped environment cannot be prepared, launch keeps its previous environment and reports a warning in fresh launch results and the daemon log. For handovers, check that log for this warning. This is not a promise that shell startup cannot add or override values. On Linux, a seat also gets the daemon's XDG_RUNTIME_DIR, so tools whose sockets live there work in seats, with DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=disabled: so its D-Bus clients don't find your session bus on their own. A seat's own env: value for either name wins. See "The runtime directory, on Linux" in the rig spec reference.

Start the kernel and check its state

With a working selected login, start the daemon if it is stopped, then read its state and the kernel seats:

rig daemon start  # only if the daemon is stopped
rig status
rig ps --nodes --rig kernel

Starting the kernel, including its operator and advisor, is part of installing OpenRig. Keep it for a normal install: it helps you choose and start your project team. rig daemon start --no-kernel is for automation or an explicit request to omit the kernel; it leaves you without that operator.

On a fresh instance, explicit daemon startup chooses the kernel variant from successful native auth probes: Claude alone, Codex alone, or both. It starts the kernel in the background without a project starter. An absent unused provider is fine; if both accounts are authenticated, the kernel uses both even when your later project uses just one. A request to use only one provider for everything is a separate choice.

Started is not ready. Read the Kernel: boot state in rig status and the individual seat state in rig ps --nodes --rig kernel. The view may open while agents finish starting; describe that state, without claiming they are ready. A missing or unknown readiness signal is not proof of readiness. Follow Incomplete setup and restart for login, trust, startup or missing-seat problems.

rig setup itself does not start the daemon. Preserve a daemon and kernel that already exist: daemon startup does not boot a second kernel when one is managed, and OPENRIG_NO_KERNEL=1 (--no-kernel) skips automatic kernel startup, including the restore below. If neither runtime is authenticated, kernel boot reports auth_blocked.

Daemon startup restores one existing kernel by itself: a managed kernel whose seats are all detached and still bound to their newest session, which is what startup reconcile leaves when every kernel terminal is gone, for example after a reboot. It does not detect a reboot as such. It uses the same restore as rig up kernel --existing, and rig status reports it as Kernel: booting until the seats are ready. A kernel stopped with rig down kernel, including one whose seats were already detached, stays down on later starts. So do a kernel with only some seats stopped and seats you unclaimed. Start one again with rig up kernel --existing. When the tmux server is gone, an explicit rig down of any rig can start an empty server and probe again. It records the stop and clears eligible bindings only after confirming the sessions are absent. This can leave an empty tmux server running; it never launches an agent or provider session. Unreadable or permission results and changed occupants leave the stop bookkeeping unchanged.

While that automatic restore runs, rig start continues to your other rigs and says the kernel is still restoring (kernelRestore.state: "restoring" with --json). Its exit status 0 then does not mean the kernel is ready; check rig status. When the restore has returned without a ready kernel, rig start still goes on to your other rigs but exits 1 (kernelRestore.state: "failed"), so rig start && next does not run next. A rig down kernel made during the restore waits for it to return and then stops the kernel, which stays down on later starts. A rig up kernel --existing with no fresh seats and no change to the saved non-interruptive choice, made during the restore, or after it restored every seat while those seats still run the sessions it started, reports that restore's outcome instead of starting another. Explicitly repeating the saved --non-interruptive or --no-non-interruptive choice also joins that restore.

rig start --last restores a rig unless every seat it launched was stopped on purpose with rig down or rig seat stop. A rig whose stop was never recorded counts as last running: one taken down with rig down before OpenRig 0.6.12, or one whose seats exited or were lost without rig down. So does a rig with no snapshot whose saved state can be restored. To keep such a rig down, run rig down <rig> once, by rig id when names are shared; it records the stop, and --last then leaves the rig down. --last never selects the kernel. Under --no-kernel (OPENRIG_NO_KERNEL=1) the daemon skips the kernel's automatic restore too; bring it back with rig up kernel --existing.

An explicit rig up kernel --existing --fresh <seat...> waits for startup's restore to finish, then replaces only the named seats that still hold the exact sessions startup launched. Other seats keep running. An operator's conversation correction also takes effect for that seat on the next explicit up or restore, using the corrected target; editing the token alone restarts nothing. Each replacement takes new seat leases, rechecks the managed occupant and terminal, and reports its own per-seat outcome. If the occupant changed, it is left alone. A different --non-interruptive or --no-non-interruptive choice after startup launched the seats is refused: the running launch choice stays unchanged. Stop the rig, then rerun with the desired choice.

Do not restart or recreate an existing kernel merely to open its view. The startup TUI (rig) offers its own kernel setup and individual-seat recovery; it does not automatically boot agents when it starts the daemon.

Open the kernel conversations

This is the OpenRig view, in a new terminal window or tab. Below 120 measured columns, the operator fills the first page; from 120, the dashboard and operator share it equally. The advisor always has a separate tab or tmux window. Agents: the rigs skill says when to open it, what to check, what to do when it can't open, and how to hand the person's goal to the operator; Install and sign in says how to load it.

rig setup installs Herdr by default on macOS and Linux. If the person declines Herdr, use rig setup --no-herdr; the OpenRig view can use plain tmux. Setup checks both PATH and the installer's default ~/.local/bin/herdr location. It leaves existing cmux settings alone and does not open a view during setup.

On a Mac, the installing agent also asks once, "Install Ghostty for the OpenRig view?" On Yes it reruns setup with --ghostty, preserving earlier choices such as --no-herdr and --providers. This installs the documented Homebrew cask and checks for the app. On No it uses --no-ghostty; Terminal.app remains available. Plain setup reports this offer without installing Ghostty or waiting for input. The person types no command.

This command opens it in a new terminal tab or window itself, so nobody copies or types commands. Over SSH or without a local display it can't, and the headless handoff applies:

rig terminal open saved:kernel --window --json

Run this on the daemon's desktop, as the same user. On macOS, the command opens a new tab or window in the hosting Ghostty (1.3 or newer), or a new window when hosted by Terminal. For Claude Desktop, iTerm or VS Code, it checks for a local macOS desktop session and opens a new Ghostty window if its scripting support is confirmed (1.3 or newer), otherwise Terminal.app with an explanation. That window uses the app's own profile defaults because there is no hosting window to copy. Before running the command, the agent should say that clicking Allow on macOS's one-time control prompt is fine: it lets OpenRig open the requested OpenRig view. A denied or uncertain action is reported once, not replayed in another app. If macOS remembers a denial, enable the calling app in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation, or use the printed command in a terminal yourself. Unknown width keeps the operator-only layout.

When the agent already runs inside Herdr, the command focuses a space with the same view and plan, or creates one if none matches, preserving its config and existing spaces. The caller's Herdr endpoint must match the daemon's endpoint; a mismatch is reported without opening a window or putting the view in another session.

The shared TUI (rig tui --shared) runs in the daemon's tmux server, so its own environment never carries the Herdr or Rex you are looking at; the markers are on the tmux client attached to it. When you open a terminal view from it on Linux, the TUI passes the markers of the client that was active last (normally the one that pressed the key) to the command, which then opens the view in that Herdr, or as a new session on that Rex server. The chosen client may belong to a different viewer: tmux only counts keys a client types, so a key sent by an agent (send-keys) or by a control-mode client doesn't count as any client's activity, and the view opens in the Herdr or Rex of the interactive client that typed last, however long ago. With no client attached, more than one client active in the same second, or a client that is in neither or can't be read, nothing is passed and the result is what it was before. Other platforms, and every other way of running rig terminal open, keep the previous result too.

On Linux, a local graphical display and a supported hosting terminal are required (Ghostty, GNOME Terminal, Konsole or xterm). Linux reports a window request; verify what actually appeared. SSH, headless, CI and unsupported Linux hosts get a no-window result with the reason, a command for the person to run, and any follow-up the agent needs to perform.

OpenRig's Herdr launch and its printed manual command keep your personal Herdr config when present. If it is absent, OpenRig creates private sidebar defaults; the new desktop terminal selects them from its measured width. The manual command uses the collapsed default. If private settings cannot be prepared, OpenRig reports why and keeps the ordinary launch or manual command with Herdr's usual settings.

The command runs Herdr when installed, using the daemon's configured session and socket. Otherwise it creates a plain tmux viewing session. Explicitly choose the latter with --provider tmux --window. Neither route types into or replaces the installing agent's terminal. Existing conversations continue in their original sessions.

Opening the same Herdr view with the same current plan selects its existing OpenRig workspace in the new window, preserving its tabs and contents. The receipt reports reuse and any currently absent or degraded seats; it does not claim to refresh the layout or create new tiles. Changed membership or attachment targets create a fresh workspace. A note identifies older workspaces and gives the command to close them after inspection; nothing is closed automatically. If the workspace inventory cannot be read, the command creates a fresh workspace and reports the inventory problem.

Terminal.app copies the person's front-window bounds to the new view without changing the original. Ghostty keeps the current window size when adding a tab. OpenRig keeps an existing personal Herdr config unchanged. Only when that config is absent, its private default starts the sidebar open at 160 columns or more, and collapsed below that width. Unknown widths use the collapsed default.

Confirm the view

For Claude-only, Codex-only and mixed kernels, the default saved:kernel layout uses the viewing terminal's measured width. Below 120 columns (or when width is unknown), the operator fills the first page, followed by dashboard and advisor pages. From 120 columns, dashboard and operator share the first page equally, with the advisor on a separate page. Select a Herdr tab to switch; in plain tmux, press Ctrl-b, then w and choose a view-* window; view-1 is the OpenRig view's first page. Missing roles are reported rather than filled with another conversation. The queue worker remains reachable through the dashboard. The composition uses the installed kernel's current bindings; no YAML edit, seat launch or daemon restart is needed. A custom saved view named kernel still takes precedence.

Inspect opened, absent, degraded, window and any notes. Confirm the new surface visibly shows the operator, with the dashboard and advisor reachable, and that the original terminal remains intact. The person sees Herdr only in a terminal they can see. Creating its workspace or switching the shared TUI to :terminals does not open that terminal. A created window or successful CLI response alone is not visual confirmation. A partial view remains partial. If the shared TUI tile shows a shell, the installing agent starts rig tui in that new tile.

Opening the view can happen while the kernel finishes starting. Report its actual state; do not start or restore seats just to obtain a view. If the kernel is absent or blocked, follow Incomplete setup and restart.

What can interrupt installation and the OpenRig view

For an installing agent, a blocked step needs an explanation, not silence. Name the command, the reported reason and what remains unfinished. These checks cover different points in the same journey:

What you see	Why and what to do next
Codex offers to switch to a cheaper model near a rate limit	This is Codex's own menu. Ask the person to choose in the seat's terminal; do not silently change the team's configured model. OpenRig disables Codex's startup update check for managed launches, but does not answer this model-choice menu.
A missing Node.js, npm or tmux; an install download or command fails	The named prerequisite or install step did not finish. Read its error and the platform and provider instructions, resolve that step, then recheck it. FAILED [4/4] with only selected-provider sign-ins outstanding means the package installed but those logins still need the person.
The installing harness refuses a tool call or asks for permission	Its native rules, sandbox or automatic permission decision apply before OpenRig can run. Claude Code's auto mode can deny calls as well as approve them. Show the specific refusal and ask the person to review it in the harness permission controls or run that named step themselves. Keep their chosen restrictions; a refused call does not prove the OpenRig command failed.
Herdr or Ghostty installation is unavailable or declined	Herdr is optional for the view: --window uses plain tmux when Herdr is absent, and its install failure is a warning. On macOS, Terminal.app is the fallback when supported Ghostty is absent. An explicitly requested Ghostty install can fail setup; resolve that install or decline it with --no-ghostty, preserving earlier choices. Address separate required-tool or login failures. Existing cmux remains supported.
macOS asks for Automation access, or the window action is denied	The command asks the desktop terminal app to open a new surface. Let the person answer the system prompt. Read the error and inspect any new window before retrying an uncertain action; do not silently switch apps and open a duplicate.
No local display, or the configured daemon is remote	--window needs the daemon's desktop. An SSH shell or remote daemon address alone does not give the agent that desktop. Explain the limit and use the manual or SSH handoff with the actual operator binding.
Herdr shows its introduction or agent-integration panel	These are Herdr's first-run panels. Follow the displayed controls: Return continues the intro and Esc closes the integration panel. Opening this view does not require installing Herdr's agent integrations or changing your Claude/Codex settings.
A saved layout is cramped in an 80×24 window	The default kernel view gives each role a full-width page. A custom saved kernel view still controls its own layout; adjust that saved view if needed. Changing or restarting the team is unnecessary.
The command returned, but visibility is unconfirmed	With authorized desktop tools, inspect the new window and a screenshot of its contents. A window listing alone proves only that a window exists. If the agent has only shell access, report what the command confirmed and ask the person to confirm the visible operator and that the dashboard and advisor tabs or windows are available. Do not report visual success without seeing it.
In a Claude Code seat's terminal, Shift+Enter submits instead of adding a newline	Whether Shift+Enter reaches Claude Code as its own key depends on the terminal and on tmux's extended-key support and settings (extended-keys, terminal-features). To add a newline anyway, press Ctrl+J, or type \ and then press Enter. Claude Code's tmux configuration guide covers the setup.

After a failure, inspect any newly opened surface before retrying. A tmux failure may name a newly created viewing session for inspection. Do not replace a failed local desktop action with commands for the person to copy; finish or explain the failed action. Close only the viewing window, or use Ctrl-b, then d in plain tmux, to leave the underlying conversations running.

Existing provider workspaces

The existing provider-only commands remain available when a terminal is already open. They create a workspace inside that provider, without opening an OS window:

rig terminal views --json
rig terminal open saved:kernel --provider herdr --json
rig terminal open saved:kernel --provider cmux --json

Use rig terminal status --json to inspect provider availability, liveness and the daemon's effective tmux server. To keep managed seats out of your personal tmux session list, opt into an isolated server with rig config set terminal.tmux_server isolated; existing live seats defer the switch until they are stopped and the daemon restarts.

To keep rigs in separate Herdr sessions, select one explicitly: rig terminal open future-prod-rig --provider herdr --session future-prod. --session default selects Herdr's default session; omitting the option keeps the daemon's configured endpoint. See named terminal sessions for desktop windows, previews and session-specific status. For the first desktop handoff, use --window. Only if the window cannot open, rig tui --shared is the dashboard-only fallback, not the operator's conversation.

Talk to the operator in any terminal

For an explicitly requested manual attachment, inspect the current bindings:

rig ps --nodes --rig kernel --json --fields logicalId,canonicalSessionName,tmuxAttachCommand

Find logicalId: operator.agent and run its tmuxAttachCommand, after env -u TMUX, in a new terminal on the same host and account:

env -u TMUX <tmuxAttachCommand>

When the daemon was started inside tmux on a non-default socket, its sessions live on that server, and tmuxAttachCommand names it (tmux -L <name> … or tmux -S <path> …). The installing agent fills in the actual command. This optional manual route is separate from the first-install desktop action above.

Plain terminal: a new viewing session

rig terminal open saved:kernel --provider tmux --window --json creates and opens the same width-based OpenRig view layout, with the advisor in a separate window. It reuses the daemon's composition and preserves existing sessions. The result names the viewing session. No pane names or shell commands need to be assembled by the person.

Headless or SSH handoff

A provider running on the server opens no window on the person's desktop. From a new terminal window or tab on their own machine, connect over SSH with the known host and account, then attach:

• the operator's conversation, with the command in Talk to the operator in any terminal;
• the Herdr view, with the command that rig terminal open saved:kernel --window prints when it can't open a window. It names the installed Herdr, wherever setup put it, and the daemon's socket. Then rig terminal open saved:kernel --provider herdr --json selects the view in it.

No new account or credential provisioning is part of this. Agents: the rigs skill gives the person this as one filled-in command.

Installing-agent handoff

The kernel's operator takes the person's goal and project folder, helps them choose and start a team, and hands the goal to the team's lead. The person can type the goal in the operator's pane (attach with the command above), or the agent that installed OpenRig sends it. The rig tui --shared fallback shows the dashboard, not this conversation. If the operator needs attention, use the recovery routes.

Agents: the rigs skill's step 2 has the exact rig send to the operator and says when installation is finished.

Stopping OpenRig keeps a team's work, and the branch a team makes is your change: an agent tidying up says what's on it before offering to remove it. The operator starts a team when you ask for one in its conversation, so an agent reporting back checks rig ps or the team's tasks before saying a team started on its own.

Choose your first team

Tell the kernel operator what you want to do. It asks about your goal, presents three teams with one recommendation, and fits the team to the providers you have. Review that choice before launching it.

rig specs preview starter --kind rig and the factory preview include the three choices and their uses, in text and JSON. The reminder respects a team you already picked; previewing a spec does not launch it.

Team	Talk to	Agents and purpose
starter	dev-build@starter	dev-build (Claude Code) and dev-review (Codex, pinned gpt-6-astra) for one bounded change
workshop	orch-lead@workshop	A lead, builder, QA and reviewer for ongoing work in one repository. It's a rig bundle, not built in: the operator installs it from its pinned listing
factory	orch-lead@factory	Seven: a lead, advisor, build, QA, design and two independent reviewers for sustained product work. It uses the most concurrent capacity

As shipped, starter needs both Claude Code and Codex. With only one of them, the operator writes an adapted copy of the team for your providers and keeps its name; there are no per-provider variants. first-project is starter's old name and still starts it, so an old rig up first-project now starts a Claude builder and a Codex reviewer. If you already have a rig named first-project (or starter), rig up first-project refuses instead and names the rig up <name> --existing command that brings that rig back.

Claude seats use the native default model, as the Claude kernel does: OpenRig does not pass a model override. Read the selected harness's configured model and show it alongside the team and launch command before proceeding. Confirm account access to any pin; if unavailable, ask for a supported model choice rather than silently substituting a model or provider. After launch, confirm the actual native model before assigning work.

Launch the starter team

cd <your-repository>
rig specs preview starter --kind rig
rig up starter --cwd . --plan
rig up starter --cwd .
rig status
rig ps --nodes --rig starter

Preview the selected seats, models and resources. Plan checks resolution and preflight for the working directory. The kernel is already your entry point; this step starts the chosen project team. Read readiness for the project seats, not only daemon health. Have the person answer a named authentication, trust, hook-review or permission prompt before giving that seat work; a launch default, or their answer for another seat, isn't their answer to this one. When a seat stops at such a prompt, rig up reports Status: partial, prints Startup attention (<seat>): <reason> and exits 1; rig ps --nodes repeats it as "Startup details". The reason ends with the command to run once the prompt is answered: rig seat continue <seat>, which delivers the seat's startup context in the same conversation. No new team is needed when returning to an existing project.

When a seat pauses, open its existing terminal with o in the startup view. Read the proposed command, working directory and target instance. For an intended local rig call, choose the native prompt's one-time approval if that is the scope you want; a saved command-prefix allowance also affects future matching calls. Decline an unexpected operation and tell the same agent what to do instead. Approval controls whether an action may run; the sandbox controls its filesystem and network access. Turning approvals off does not grant network access.

After answering, watch for the command's result and the agent continuing. Read the corresponding task and its history from your ordinary terminal. If an operation timed out, read its result before asking for another attempt: it may already have taken effect. A delivered message or disappearing prompt alone is not progress. If startup is still waiting for context delivery, use c (or rig seat continue <seat>) for the same occupant, then r to refresh. If the command times out, check rig seat status <seat> before trying again. Do not start another seat to clear a prompt.

Starter is a deliberately small starting point. For a bigger team, factory is built in (seven agents, using more concurrent capacity), and so are the specialist teams code-review, research and pm. Inspect rig specs ls --kind rig and rig specs preview <name> --kind rig before selecting one (pm is also an agent spec's name, so a preview without --kind rig reports it as ambiguous). A team published on GitHub, such as workshop, installs from its folder link with rig up <link> (see publishing a rig bundle).

Give the builder an outcome

For example, in a project that imports CSV files:

rig send dev-build@starter 'Improve the CSV import error when a required column is missing: name the column and leave the existing data unchanged. Add a regression check, ask dev-review for an independent check of the exact candidate, and record the result and how I can try it. Keep the change local; do not publish.'

Replace the example with a real problem in your repository. Include what the user should observe, a boundary and how success can be checked. The builder creates and claims a durable task, implements it, and routes the selected independent check. You should not have to relay the review between terminals. rig send is the initial conversation; the queue and repository artifacts retain the work. An unbound shell does not need to impersonate a queue owner.

Seat addresses carry the rig name (for example, dev-build@starter). From an actual project seat, follow the work with rig queue list --limit 1000: its default scope is the caller's current rig. queue list has no --rig option. From an observer shell or another rig, use rig queue list --destination dev-build@starter --limit 1000 and the same command for dev-review@starter, after verifying those live addresses. These show each destination's obligations, not a whole-rig view. An unbound shell must not pretend to be a seat to change scope; use --all-rigs only when that broader view is intended. Then read rig queue show <id> --full and rig queue transitions <id>. A delivered message is not a reviewed result. Read the artifact, exercise its behavior, and check the candidate reviewed.

Share the dashboard and return to it

After install, and whenever the person wants their agents again, the installing agent runs rig terminal open saved:kernel --window and checks the result. It does not finish by suggesting a dashboard command for the person to type.

Only if that window cannot open, rig tui --shared is the dashboard-only fallback. Explain the window failure and help with this fallback if chosen; it does not show the advisor or operator conversation.

A fresh kernel runs the ordinary TUI in its existing operator-human terminal. This command attaches another client to that terminal. Ctrl-b, then d detaches without quitting the TUI; return with the same command and the view stays where it was. Another authorized agent can capture or operate that same pane. It should tell you before changing your view. The terminal is not a human inbox and does not prove anyone is watching it.

Plain rig tui remains an independent local view. If an older kernel or a TUI you quit shows a shell, run rig tui in that shell once. --shared does not start or replace a terminal, so a missing binding is reported with recovery guidance rather than creating a second kernel.

Herdr users follow the same launch and task path. To place the managed team in Herdr, use rig terminal open starter --provider herdr; for the shared dashboard together with the kernel conversations, use the saved first view. The equivalent cmux provider is also available. Read the opened/absent/degraded result: a partial terminal view is not a healthy team. Each --provider herdr open adds a new workspace, numbered when the name is taken; return to the one already open when you want to preserve it. From inside Herdr, rig terminal open <view> --window focuses a matching space instead of adding one. Herdr's own status for a seat can read idle or unknown while OpenRig shows it waiting (needs-input), for example in a narrow tile that wraps Claude's footer, or in a tile that shows the inner tmux status line (with terminal.status_bar on, or for a seat session OpenRig adopted rather than created). Use OpenRig's view or the Feed to find waiting seats. This is terminal integration, not native plugin enrollment.

For team views with interactive panes, the open result distinguishes the dashboard overview from the team's lead conversation and asks whether you can see the team. This reminder is omitted from the default kernel view and entirely read-only watch views. If the provider cannot open, each labelled fallback command joins a different seat. Keep all returned commands complete when sharing them; a created workspace alone does not confirm visibility.

Built by the community

Tools built around OpenRig are maintained by their authors. We have not tested them; this list does not promise support or compatibility with your OpenRig version.

• Rig HQ, by dmelo: a read-only pixel-office viewer for rigs, seats, attention and queue handoffs, as described in the author's introduction. The author reports testing it with OpenRig 0.6.5. See its repository for setup and support.

Continue real project work

Return to the same owner with the next outcome, citing the earlier result. The seat address and durable queue survive closing your viewing terminal. Keep intent, acceptance and evidence in the repository's existing project, mission and slice artifacts; the starter reads those before inventing a path. rig context work-install lists what the project declares (intent, context files, skills). Without --project it picks the project by the seat's rig, then by the working directory, and stops with project_required and the exact --project commands only if several still match.

If the project has no work tree, start with rig workspace doctor and rig scope mission create --help, then rig scope slice create --help. Set the actual intended outcome before creating work. rig scope retains what is being built. When repeated coordination warrants a workflow, discover with rig workflow specs, inspect its owners and inputs, and instantiate the selected name with rig workflow instantiate --help. A workflow is not needed merely to make the first local change.

For a continuing team, OpenRig Software Factory offers manual/team work, queue-supported orchestration without Workflow, and an optional explicit Workflow path, with wake defaults, token costs and permission choices visible. Give its short request to your existing agent. After installation, discover the compatible bundled recipe with rig context show skills/core/openrig-software-factory --json; retain a missing/version-mismatch result rather than silently using newer instructions. Its growth section keeps three choices clear: stay with the pair, add one or two seats to the running rig with rig grow and no YAML, or optionally author a custom rig. It covers new-seat context/work ownership, concurrency costs and saving the expanded spec. This guide remains the short first-use path.

Move a seat to the other runtime

When a provider reaches its usage limit, or a seat would do better on the other runtime, move that one seat instead of rebuilding the team. Ask your operator agent, or run it yourself:

rig seat set-runtime dev-review@starter --runtime claude-code --reason "Codex limit" --dry-run
rig seat set-runtime dev-review@starter --runtime claude-code --reason "Codex limit"

The dry run shows the target's settings and where each comes from (an explicit option, the seat's agent spec for the target runtime, or the runtime's own default), what is cleared, and the costs below. Nothing changes until you run it without --dry-run.

The new runtime takes over before the old one stops. Its successor starts beside the current occupant, reads a handover (the seat's recap, its open rows and the predecessor's screen), and confirms it with rig seat set-runtime <seat> --confirm <switch-id> --note "<what it will do first>". Only then does the seat move: same address, connections and queue rows, with in-progress claims moved to the successor. If the successor doesn't confirm within 180 seconds (--confirm-timeout), nothing changes and the current occupant keeps the seat. A seat can switch itself. rig seat status <seat> shows an open or interrupted switch, and rig seat set-runtime <seat> --recover finishes one from its record.

What it costs:

• A new conversation. Native history isn't converted; only the handover carries over.
• The same address, a different terminal. The seat's pane and scrollback change.
• The team file isn't rewritten. The database and rig export show the new runtime; the YAML you imported keeps the old one, so a later converge against it reports a deferred change_runtime. Export the rig, or edit the member's runtime:, to keep them in step.
• Source settings are cleared, not mapped. The model, effort, Codex profile and an explicit native permission choice don't carry over, and neither does a model or effort the agent spec declares for the source runtime. Member and rig permission policy are kept.
• Two processes until cutover. The successor runs on the target's account while the switch is open.
• Messages are held during the switch. A rig send to the seat while it switches isn't typed; it says the seat is switching and until when. Send it again afterwards to reach whoever holds the seat.
• Leftover files after a failed switch. The target runtime's prepared seat storage and projections can remain.
• Codex and Claude Code, single-pane seats. Startup slash commands aren't run by a switch; the dry run lists them.

Stop your teams

rig down <rig-name> ends that rig's agent sessions and work in progress. Read rig ps --nodes --rig <rig-name> first so you can see who will stop; rig down also prints the rig's recorded agent sessions and their activity before stopping them. For example, to stop starter:

rig down starter

For "stop everything", list the rigs with rig ps --json and run rig down for each one you want stopped. Include kernel last if you want its operator, advisor and queue worker stopped too; its operator cannot continue helping after its own session ends. Check each result before calling the shutdown done.

rig daemon stop stops only the background service and preserves agent tmux sessions. If you also want that service stopped, run it after stopping the rigs. If the operator is handling this full shutdown and kernel is included, it gives you this last step before running rig down kernel: once kernel is down, run rig daemon stop in your own shell and check the result. The operator's session ends with kernel, so it cannot run that final command for you afterwards. If the daemon is already stopped, use rig daemon start --no-kernel to restore the lifecycle API without booting a new kernel, then stop the remaining rigs.

Incomplete setup and restart

Observation	Next action
Tool missing or login fails	Use the specific setup/auth hint; recheck that executable in the launch shell. Do not send work to an unready seat.
"Startup attention" or "Startup details" names a prompt	Answer the login, trust or bypass prompt in that seat's terminal, then run the rig seat continue <seat> it shows.
"Readiness timeout after 30s — harness did not become interactive"	The harness took longer than the readiness window. Raise it for the next launch with rig config set runtime.readiness_timeout_seconds <1-600>, then relaunch that seat.
"Claude resume did not finish within Ns; Claude may still be starting, so the launch was kept"	A restored Claude seat was not interactive when the wait ended. Its pane and resume token are kept. Look at the pane; once Claude is up, run rig seat clear-attention <seat>. The wait is about runtime.readiness_timeout_seconds in total for each seat (default 30 s), counting the first 3.2 s, and the time adds up seat by seat in a restore. Raising the setting for slow fresh launches lengthens it. If rig up or rig launch times out at 120 s, that is not a rollback: check rig ps before running it again.
Daemon is healthy, kernel is still starting	Read rig status and rig ps --nodes --rig kernel; kernel readiness is separate.
Kernel seats fail within a second of the first start, and tmux reports "server exited unexpectedly"	Check that your tmux can capture a pane, then start the failed seats again; see the tmux check below this table.
Shared terminal is absent	Check the kernel's operator.human terminal separately from its agents; recover only that seat as described below. Standalone rig tui remains available while resolving it.
Viewing terminal was closed	Open the conversations again with rig terminal open saved:kernel --window; rig tui --shared is only the dashboard fallback if that window cannot open. Do not relaunch the team.
Daemon restarted but tmux survived	Re-read rig status and the existing queue; a daemon restart is not a fresh project.
Host reboot lost tmux sessions	Starting the daemon restores the kernel by itself when that start finds all of its seats lost; a kernel that was already down before the reboot stays down, and rig start names rig up kernel --existing. Check rig status, and if it reports the restore failed, run rig up kernel --existing. For other rigs, open rig, start the daemon if needed (press S if it opens on the work views), and select the existing rig and seats. Resume is the default; a fresh conversation needs a separate decision.
Launch reports no usable snapshot	Inspect the existing rig and retained project files, then follow the same-seat recovery below.
Work is waiting on a prompt or decision	Read the row, transition and named prompt; preserve the obligation until the missing decision arrives.

When the shared kernel dashboard is missing. The dashboard runs in the kernel's operator.human terminal seat. Restoring the operator, advisor and queue worker does not also restore an unselected terminal. Read rig ps --nodes --rig kernel --json and use the terminal's registered canonicalSessionName for the operator.human row. Replace <dashboard-session> in the commands below with that name. Check the actual pane with rig capture "<dashboard-session>": a persisted running row alone does not prove that its tmux session is alive. A daemon or transport error is not proof that the terminal is absent.

• If only the viewing window closed and the TUI is still running, reopen it with rig terminal open saved:kernel --window.

• If the TUI exited but its terminal shell remains, run rig tui once in that existing pane. A fresh seat is unnecessary.

• If the terminal session itself is absent, start only that existing seat:

  rig seat launch "<dashboard-session>" --fresh --reason "recover missing shared kernel dashboard"
  

  The terminal has no agent conversation to resume. Its fresh-start action runs rig tui after the shell is ready; sibling agent sessions stay unchanged. This command intentionally omits --stop, so it refuses to replace a live occupant. Check the result before repeating it, then run rig capture "<dashboard-session>" to confirm the TUI and rig ps --nodes --rig kernel --full to check the seats. Once the dashboard is running, open its view with rig terminal open saved:kernel --window.

Opening saved:kernel places a view of existing sessions; it cannot create a missing terminal. Whole-kernel recovery is for the all-seats-lost case in the table, and rig up kernel --existing refuses a kernel with live sessions. A retained excluded_from_subset reason may come from an earlier subset restore; inspect its event before attributing it to the latest reboot.

When the kernel's seats all fail at the first start. A report on Oracle Linux 10 (#980) traced this to the distribution's packaged tmux, whose tmux -V prints next-3.4: its server exited on every capture-pane -p, also outside OpenRig. rig setup (its tmux step) and rig doctor (tmux_capture in rig doctor --json) run this check for you on a throwaway server and name the fix when capture fails; they test what tmux does, not its version. To run it by hand, without touching your own sessions:

tmux -L "openrig-check-$$" -f /dev/null new-session -d -s check
tmux -L "openrig-check-$$" capture-pane -p -t check >/dev/null && echo "capture-pane works"
tmux -L "openrig-check-$$" kill-server

If the second command fails because the server exited, put a tmux that passes this check first on your PATH; the reporter built tmux 3.5a into /usr/local/bin. Then, from a shell where tmux -V shows that tmux, restart the daemon and start the failed seats again, as the reporter did:

rig daemon stop
rig start --last
rig ps --nodes --rig kernel --full   # the failed seats show "failed" under STARTUP
rig up kernel --existing --fresh <failed seats> --yes

This recovery is for the case the reporter hit: the kernel's seats failed and none of them is still running. rig up kernel --existing refuses a kernel that still has a live session. Name the failed seats by their logical IDs, for example advisor.lead operator.agent operator.human queue.worker when all four failed. --fresh starts a new conversation for each seat you name. Seats you don't name follow their normal recovery policy and may remain awaiting a decision if their old conversation can't be resumed. A later rig daemon start doesn't retry the failed seats by itself: once a kernel exists, startup skips the built-in kernel boot and restores only a kernel whose seats were all lost, not seats that failed. rig status then reads Kernel: skipped unless some of its seats are running and ready, so check rig ps --nodes --rig kernel --full.

When every agent stops at once on Ubuntu 22.04. Ubuntu 22.04's packaged tmux, 3.2a, can exit its whole server when it's asked about a pane or session that has just closed. OpenRig checks each seat about once a second, so when a seat's session closes, the next check can stop every agent on that tmux server, and tmux reports "server exited unexpectedly". This was reproduced with Ubuntu 22.04's tmux 3.2a-4ubuntu0.3 for a closed pane, a closed session, and a closed pane in a window that stayed open. If tmux -V prints tmux 3.2a, put tmux 3.4 or later first on your PATH. Newer versions weren't tested against this crash; #980's reporter runs 3.5a, and none of OpenRig's own machines runs 3.2a. One way to get one is to build a current release from the tmux project, as that reporter did:

sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config bison libevent-dev libncurses-dev
# in the unpacked release tarball:
./configure && make && sudo make install   # installs into /usr/local/bin

Then restart the daemon from a shell where tmux -V shows the new tmux. A tmux server that's already running keeps its version until it exits, so the change applies to servers started afterwards. If a crash already stopped your agents, recover as for lost tmux sessions in the table above.

If a snapshot is unavailable, the startup view checks the selected seat's retained startup source and authoritative occupant relation. It reports a missing or ambiguous source instead of selecting an arbitrary historical row. Repair the named source, retry, or leave the seat stopped. Check the retained queue, project notes and observed result before continuing work.

rig setup prints the short form of this path after ready, incomplete and dry-run results; JSON output includes it as nextSteps. This guidance does not mean the kernel is ready: retain any named failures, check the actual seat state, then offer rig terminal open saved:kernel --window. If the person chooses a manual attachment after a failure, derive the exact command from the current operator binding above; not every failure prints one. Hand the goal and project folder to the ready operator rather than implementing the project during installation. rig status points back here while no rigs are registered.

Use the startup and work TUI

Type rig in an ordinary terminal to open the startup and work TUI. It shows the daemon address; d expands the selected instance path and diagnostics. If the daemon is stopped, press Enter to start that daemon, then choose the rigs and seats you want. Kernel is recommended first; selecting its operator does not start every kernel seat. The same view is available with S from ordinary TUI work. ? opens Help even while connection checks are pending. w skips startup; Esc goes back, or leaves startup from its first page. These choices do not start a daemon or a seat. L opens local reading before or after connecting: choose configured Specs, project intent, projects, or missions and slices, then select a directory or file. r reads the selected source again; Esc returns. Local reading uses this machine's configured workspace paths and file allowlist, including when the selected daemon address is remote. It shows disk provenance, missing or denied sources, binary files and the 1 MiB text truncation boundary. These disk snapshots may change after reading and do not supply live queue, execution or topology state. Once connected, the TUI opens the ordinary work views by itself unless you have already pressed a key; S returns to startup. A stalled live read does not prevent Help or local reading. When terminal transport is unavailable, t starts the empty terminal service so recovery choices can be inspected. It launches no seats.

For a previously occupied seat, Enter attempts its previous conversation. If history is unavailable, read the reason. f opens a separate fresh-start decision for that named seat; Esc declines without launching it. A confirmed fresh conversation receives the configured context and retains the old history, but does not resume that history. Authentication or runtime failures require repair of that prerequisite. o opens the existing native terminal here; detach to return (tmux defaults to Ctrl-b, then d). Decide native trust/auth prompts there. If a fresh start paused before context delivery, c finishes that delivery to the same occupant (from a shell, rig seat continue <seat> does the same). r reads actual state again; d expands details.

Kernel framing (what rig setup does and does not do)

Explicit CLI daemon startup retains its automatic kernel behavior. The TUI starts the daemon with kernel auto-boot disabled so the user can select seats:

• rig setup installs/verifies the runtime; it does not start the daemon or the kernel.
• Starting the daemon (rig daemon start, or implicitly via rig up or rig context add) is what boots the kernel rig in the background.
• Starting it from bare rig prepares no agents automatically. The TUI offers kernel setup and individual seat selection after connecting.
• Kernel readiness is a distinct signal from daemon health. The daemon's HTTP health binds early; the kernel can still be booting or a kernel agent can be unhealthy while the daemon is up. rig status surfaces kernel readiness separately (via /api/kernel/status); rig daemon start --wait-for-kernel polls it.

The scope <-> workflow bridge

Two related primitives, often confused by new operators:

• rig scope manages durable, on-disk artifacts - missions and slices (markdown/YAML files in your workspace). These are the persistent record of what work exists.
• rig workflow manages a runtime instance - when you rig workflow instantiate <name>, the daemon creates a workflow instance plus an entry qitem that routes the first step to an owner. This is the live coordination of who does the next step.

Scope files retain what the work is; workflow instances and their queue packets retain who acts next. Creating or editing a mission does not start work. You can instantiate a named workflow with rig workflow instantiate <name> --root-objective <text> --created-by <session> (both options are needed), or explicitly inspect an authored lifecycle with rig workflow compile and create its runtime with rig workflow instantiate-lifecycle. Compilation alone does not start work. OpenRig Software Factory shows a small reviewed example and how to retain custody through a genuine wait.

Have your agent configure permissions

For a team with no permission policy, your agent recommends keeping the team default, unless you already made an explicit choice for these harnesses and this scope. It offers additional remembered allowances only if you want them:

Remember these selected OpenRig commands in your native settings for this project? This is separate from the team launch default; stricter rules and Claude lifecycle asks remain. Yes / No — keep the team default

A remembered allowance can cover the whole rig family, but on Claude team seats lifecycle commands such as rig up and rig down still ask. It is not global YOLO or permission to invent work. The scope is your personal settings for this project unless you explicitly choose user-wide sessions, which can affect your other projects.

On an actual Yes, the agent backs up the relevant files, adds the existing native rules without duplicates, and preserves stricter rules and unrelated settings. It checks bare and actual absolute-path invocations, rule loading and repeated harmless reads in the target conversation. No or no answer leaves settings alone and keeps the team default. Unsupported scope or a managed restriction is reported; it is not permission to grant broader access.

The agent remembers an explicit choice, scope and exact additions in existing onboarding context, so setup does not ask again. You do not need to approve each routine edit separately. To undo, say “Undo the OpenRig command allowances added by this setup; keep my other rules.” The agent removes only its recorded additions, preserves earlier rules and later edits, and verifies reloading. Other pre-existing allowances may still permit commands after this undo.

Use the maintained Applying a permission policy procedure:

rig context get skills/applying-a-permission-policy/SKILL.md

In a source checkout, read its source. In an npm installation, the same file is under @openrig/cli/daemon/assets/plugins/openrig-core/skills/applying-a-permission-policy/SKILL.md below the matching npm root -g or local npm root. Use the version supplying your rig executable. It covers Codex/Claude command rules, actual config roots, preserving restrictions and verifying the target conversation. A missing guide or unsupported native version is a reported gap, not permission to silently bypass.

The broader launch-mode recipes below are optional. Command-family rules do not require changing the starter's sandbox or everyone else's defaults.

Opt-in permissive operation

Permissive operation lets agents act with your account's filesystem and network access with fewer permission stops. They can damage files or send data without another confirmation. Use it only for work and an environment you deliberately trust; it does not supply missing credentials or override organization policy.

Make changes in a user-owned spec before its first launch. To customize the starter, run rig specs show starter --kind rig and find its Path, ending in specs/rigs/launch/starter/rig.yaml. Copy that whole specs directory to ./openrig-specs in your repository, keeping its layout: copying only rig.yaml breaks its relative agent and culture references. Leave the installed copy alone. The examples below use ./openrig-specs/rigs/launch/starter/rig.yaml. If you already have a running starter, follow the existing-session advice below before changing it; this is not a live permission switch.

Codex: select sandbox and approvals together

For Codex versions supporting named .config.toml profiles, create ~/.codex/starter-permissive.config.toml (under CODEX_HOME instead if you set it for the daemon's launch environment):

sandbox_mode = "danger-full-access"
approval_policy = "never"

In the copied rig, add this field to each Codex member that should use it (in starter, that's dev.review); keep the member's existing profile: default:

codex_config_profile: starter-permissive

Leave permission_policy absent or set it to none, with no member-level YOLO override. OpenRig then passes -p starter-permissive instead of its default -s workspace-write, so the native profile supplies both settings. Higher-priority native project configuration or managed requirements can still change/refuse the result. Inspect native /status before assigning work.

rig policy current --spec ./openrig-specs/rigs/launch/starter/rig.yaml
rig up ./openrig-specs/rigs/launch/starter/rig.yaml --cwd . --plan
rig up ./openrig-specs/rigs/launch/starter/rig.yaml --cwd .

OpenRig's permission_policy: builtin:yolo setting selects -s danger-full-access -a never on fresh, resume and fork launches, replacing the named-profile argument. The profile recipe above remains useful when you want to maintain those choices in native configuration. The legacy environment-only OPENRIG_YOLO=1 path remains sandbox-only when no resolved policy is present. A standalone codex --yolo command is not an OpenRig setting. At full access, Codex can show its full-access and GPT-5.1 migration notices at first launch. When OpenRig itself selects full bypass for the seat (builtin:yolo, a full_bypass flag policy, or an explicit seat full_bypass), rig up <spec> --non-interruptive hides them with per-launch -c overrides (see non-interruptive mode). Full access chosen inside a native Codex profile, with permission_policy absent or none, doesn't qualify.

To return to a restricted next launch, change the selected profile to:

sandbox_mode = "workspace-write"
approval_policy = "on-request"

[sandbox_workspace_write]
network_access = false

Per-seat permission mode

Permission mode is the native execution choice; work posture is project guidance. For an existing managed seat, select future-launch permissions explicitly:

rig seat set-permissions dev-build@starter --mode full_bypass --reason "Operator selected broader access"
rig seat status dev-build@starter --json

This records the actor, reason and old/new choice on that seat. It does not relaunch it, alter native history, change sibling seats, or edit permission rules/hooks. A later lifecycle action remains a separate decision. The explicit seat choice overrides the inherited member/rig policy; --mode inherit clears it without changing that inherited policy. floor selects the existing normal launch path (including a Codex named profile when configured); it does not rewrite a native profile or force its approval settings. An explicit floor also replaces any team or kernel launch default with the plain floor flags; inherit brings the default back.

Codex and Claude accept floor and full_bypass. Additional Claude native modes, including auto, require support advertised by the managed executable's help. OpenRig resolves the first executable on its managed launch PATH at the seat's absolute working directory, then uses that exact path for discovery and launch. It does not use interactive shell aliases or a shell's modified PATH. Relative PATH entries and a relative CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR resolve from the seat directory.

In plan mode Claude Code answers with Sonnet when the seat's model is the alias haiku (a full Haiku model id, set with rig seat set-model, keeps Haiku), and the launch result and rig seat status say so for that pairing.

For these explicit native modes, fresh, resume, fork and legacy restore use the same managed environment: PATH, HOME, CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR (default HOME/.claude) and the configured classic-renderer setting. Other shell customizations are excluded. The existing managed identity and allowlisted provider-auth channel is retained by variable name; credentials are not copied into launch commands or capability evidence. Help runs without that credential channel. Existing login files remain under the managed home. Configure the daemon's managed launch environment deliberately before selecting a mode; this is not a probe of an arbitrary interactive shell.

Each selection and each later launch checks support again, without a cache. A changed node/occupant, binding, cwd, executable or capability environment refuses at the next check: after help, before selection/audit mutation, and immediately before paste and Enter. A failure after a valid paste is partial input, not a successful launch or a claim that earlier input was rolled back. An existing explicit selection is retained on refusal; no fallback is chosen. Ordinary and inherited launch paths are unchanged. The status response distinguishes desired settings, generation-bound launch arguments and an unverified native effect. Inspect the native session after an authorized launch before claiming its actual permission behavior.

The rig-level verbs are rig policy permissions list, show, current and apply. Existing rig policy list/show/current/apply remain compatibility aliases with the same JSON and exit behavior. Pi resource trust and the per-seat typing guard are separate controls. To retain automatic messages while you have an unfinished terminal input, opt that seat into draft-aware delivery. The same typing guard offers hold for a manual terminal (--enabled true) and off for ordinary automatic sends (--enabled false).

Claude Code: a different launch flag

In the shipped starter, dev-build runs Claude Code. For a Claude Code seat, OpenRig normally passes --permission-mode acceptEdits: edits can proceed, while other actions follow native rules and prompts. For a seat with no permission policy or per-seat choice it also passes the per-launch team default (--settings allowing ordinary rig commands, project reads and common tests, with a session hook asking for lifecycle commands while allowing literal help forms such as rig down --help); personal and project rules still apply. Nothing is written to your settings files. To explicitly select the bypass launch flag for that rig:

rig policy apply yolo --spec ./my-claude-rig/rig.yaml
rig policy current --spec ./my-claude-rig/rig.yaml

This records permission_policy: builtin:yolo; the next managed launch passes --dangerously-skip-permissions. Member-level policies take precedence.

On a machine where nobody has accepted it yet, Claude Code then shows its bypass-permissions warning in each new seat, and OpenRig reports the seat as needing attention without sending its startup context. Either accept the warning once beforehand (run claude --dangerously-skip-permissions in your repository, accept, then /exit; Claude Code remembers it), or accept it in the seat and run rig seat continue <seat>. Or launch with rig up <spec> --non-interruptive, which accepts it with a launch flag and writes nothing to your settings; see non-interruptive mode.

rig policy apply auto --spec ./my-claude-rig/rig.yaml (also rig setup --policy auto --spec ./my-claude-rig/rig.yaml) records builtin:auto instead: Claude seats launch with --permission-mode auto, and Codex and Pi seats, which have no auto mode, launch at the floor. To return future launches to the team default, remove permission_policy from the spec along with any member-level bypass override. rig policy apply none --spec ./my-claude-rig/rig.yaml instead records plain acceptEdits without the team allowances. Native rules and managed restrictions still matter; this flag is not a promise about sandbox or account access. See Claude permissions.

Already running: changing a file or running rig policy apply does not revoke a live agent's permissions, and a spec edit does not rewrite a stored rig's policy on restore: restore and resume read each seat's stored policy. To change that for an existing seat, run rig policy apply <name> --seat <seat> --reason <text>, adding --operator <address> outside a managed seat. Restore, resume and launches that read the seat's stored state then use it, unless an explicit native selection (rig seat set-permissions) takes precedence; the running process and the spec file are unchanged. rig up <rig name> uses it, while launching from a spec that declares a policy replaces it with the spec's policy, which later restores then use. --seat none is an explicit floor for that seat, not "no policy", and it does not inherit the rig's policy. After --seat, a rig launch --retry-startup-from file has to carry the new policy. Pause work and use the native permission controls for that conversation (current Codex and Claude CLIs expose /permissions); inspect the effective mode again. Keep the launch spec/profile consistent for subsequent launches. If the native version cannot apply the change in place, preserve the work and use the supported same-seat stop/resume path after checking its retained policy; do not erase the rig or start a duplicate to reset permissions. A resume can reapply the stored launch mode, so verify the native mode again before continuing work.

Optional Mac local-user check

On a Mac shared by multiple OS accounts, transport.local_user_guard can reduce accidental CLI routing to another account's local daemon. It is off by default. Enable it with rig config set transport.local_user_guard true, or set OPENRIG_TRANSPORT_LOCAL_USER_GUARD=true in the CLI's environment. Set it to false to turn it off; no daemon restart is needed for the CLI check.

When enabled, automatic local CLI data requests compare the daemon's reported /healthz PID and effective UID (euid) with two ps UID/start observations and a second health response, with at most one second of observation per check. Only stable agreement on a foreign effective UID stops the request. This does not require visibility into another user's socket descriptors. It does not stop the daemon, choose another port or retry. Diagnostic health/status checks remain available. Older daemons without euid remain unknown and are permitted. sudo rig … uses the caller's effective UID, so an enabled check against a user-owned daemon refuses when its reported/observed UID differs from root.

Explicit OPENRIG_URL/RIGGED_URL targets and registered remote hosts retain their selected routing, including tunnels. An internally resolved local URL is still checked. Default UI and TUI openings are checked before launch; this does not police later browser or TUI connections.

Missing, disagreeing, restricted or timed-out evidence continues today's behavior. This is a partial accidental-routing check, not authenticated user isolation: it trusts the daemon's PID/UID report and corroborates that process; it does not establish the socket's owner. Identity can change between observation and connection, and equal UIDs do not distinguish separate instances belonging to one account. The check does not add authentication to the daemon or protect direct HTTP clients.

Optional database-conflict stop

By default, daemon startup warns and continues when another live daemon is confirmed using the selected database. To stop before opening that database instead, run rig config set daemon.db_conflict stop (set it to warn for the default). The check requires an open-file holder, a matching daemon.json, and a listener reporting the same PID; missing or inconclusive evidence does not stop startup. When the check can't run (lsof is missing, fails or times out, or a recorded daemon's listener doesn't answer), startup warns that ownership is unknown rather than reporting no conflict, in either setting. Selecting a database outside OPENRIG_HOME alone only warns; a confirmed live-daemon conflict there still stops when daemon.db_conflict is stop.

To proceed deliberately for one start, use rig daemon start --allow-db-conflict with the original start options. The flag sets the override on that child only and does not change the setting. The underlying OPENRIG_ALLOW_DB_CONFLICT=1 environment override is also supported: exporting it applies to every later start from that shell, even after changing OPENRIG_HOME. An inherited copy can also bypass the stop in a later seat or test home. An inherited OPENRIG_DAEMON_DB_CONFLICT overrides that home's file setting; inspect or unset inherited overrides when changing homes. Separate instances should use separate databases; the check is a startup observation, not a lock against later concurrent starts. Changing the setting applies on the next daemon start.

Custom settings and precedence

• OpenRig: member permission_policy overrides rig permission_policy. Normal managed launches bind the default mode explicitly when neither is set; exporting OPENRIG_YOLO=1 in a client shell is not a reliable per-team recipe. A custom policy file is relative to the declaring rig spec, with no absolute path or ... surface: flag selects a launch mode. Config-surface policies (locked, standard, open, or custom) describe intent: recording one does not translate and enforce its rules. Apply and inspect the actual native settings separately. See RigSpec policy references.
• Codex: personal settings live in ~/.codex/config.toml or CODEX_HOME; trusted project settings live in .codex/config.toml. Current precedence is CLI overrides, trusted project settings, selected profile, user settings, cloud defaults when supplied, /etc/codex/config.toml on Unix, then built-in defaults, subject to managed requirements. OpenRig's explicit sandbox flag wins over a file's sandbox_mode; use codex_config_profile for a custom sandbox instead. For workspace edits with network access while retaining approvals, use a named profile with sandbox_mode = "workspace-write", approval_policy = "on-request" and [sandbox_workspace_write] network_access = true. That grants network access generally, not just to the local daemon. See Codex configuration and sandbox/approval controls.
• Claude Code: use ~/.claude/settings.json, shared project .claude/settings.json, or personal project .claude/settings.local.json. Managed settings precede launch flags, then project-local, project-shared and user settings. Permission-rule lists combine; a higher-level allow is not a way to defeat a deny. OpenRig's acceptEdits launch flag overrides a file's permissions.defaultMode; selected runtime resources may also merge into project-local settings. See Claude settings and precedence and OpenRig's runtime config disclosure.

These recipes do not establish every provider/version/config combination. Check the installed version and effective settings. Newer permission-profile or automatic review features are provider choices, not implicit OpenRig capabilities. Selecting rules or a broader mode does not change the shipped defaults.