The Dashcat app

Dashcat is the app for your own computer. It shows Dashcat Dashboard in its own window and carries Dashcat Agent and Dashcat Bridge, so the same computer can manage your nodes, be a node, and run Direct mode. Install it to get started.

First run

Dashcat asks what this computer is for. Pick any:

Choice	What it does
Manage my nodes	Always on. Sign in to see your nodes, add new ones, and see what your AI did.
Make this computer a node	Lets your AI agents work on this computer. Paste an invite link to join that account now, with no sign-in. Without one, Dashcat adds this computer to your own account once you sign in. Dashcat Agent then starts whenever you log in.
Use Direct mode here	Shows the command that connects an AI app on this computer to Dashcat Bridge. See Direct mode.

On Windows the installer asks the same questions, so the app skips them.

To make this computer a node later, choose Add This Computer as a Node… from the Dashcat icon (or the Dashcat menu on a Mac).

The Dashcat icon

When this computer is a node, Dashcat Agent puts the Dashcat cat silhouette in the notification area (Windows), the menu bar (macOS) or the system tray (Linux). It’s the one Dashcat icon: the app doesn’t add a second. The cat is amber while the node is connected, and grey otherwise. On a Mac, the menu bar sets its colour while idle. The menu always shows the connection status in words too.

Its menu shows the node’s name and status:

• Connected to Dashcat: your AI can reach it.
• Connecting to Dashcat… or Can’t reach Dashcat, retrying: check the internet connection.
• Not in a Dashcat account: it hasn’t joined one yet.

Bridges connected in Direct mode get a line each. The menu also has:

Item	What it does
Open Dashcat	Opens the Dashcat app, or your dashboard in the browser if the app isn’t installed
Pause remote access	Disconnects the node from the Dashcat connector and refuses every bridge until you untick it. It stays on across restarts.
Start at login	Starts Dashcat Agent whenever you log in
Pair a bridge (Direct mode)…	Makes a one-time pairing code. See Direct mode.
Use Direct mode on this computer…	Shows how to connect an AI app here through Dashcat Bridge
Quit Dashcat	Stops Dashcat Agent. The node goes offline.

On Linux the icon uses StatusNotifierItem, which KDE, Xfce, Cinnamon, MATE and most panels show. GNOME needs the AppIndicator extension (installed by default on Ubuntu). Without it, Dashcat Agent keeps running with no icon.

Over SSH, on machines with no display, or with dashcat-agent serve --no-tray, Dashcat Agent runs without an icon. On Windows, when started by double-click or at login, its console window closes once the icon appears; start it from a terminal to see its log.

Starting at login

Start at login, or dashcat-agent autostart enable, sets up:

OS	What it sets up
Windows	A Task Scheduler task, “Dashcat agent”, that runs at your logon without admin rights. Where policy forbids that, the Run key in your registry.
macOS	~/Library/LaunchAgents/dashcat-agent.plist. launchd restarts the agent if it crashes, but not after you quit it.
Linux	A systemd user unit, dashcat-agent.service, tied to your desktop session. On desktops not started by systemd, ~/.config/autostart/dashcat-agent.desktop. On machines with no desktop, the unit starts with your user’s services, and lingering is turned on so they start at boot without anyone logging in. Where the system doesn’t let you, it says to run sudo loginctl enable-linger $USER.

The entry runs dashcat-agent from where it is now. If you move it, turn Start at login on again. A desktop machine must be logged in for the agent to see its screen: set up auto-login on test machines and VMs.

Notifications

While the app is open, it tells you when a new node joins your account.