Where Vespin agents run: cloud or your Mac

An agent runs either in the cloud, in a sandbox of its own, or on a machine of yours. That can be This Mac, or a Linux server or another Mac you add. You choose with the Runs on chip under the message box when you start a task.

Differences

	Cloud	Your machine
Runs with your laptop closed	Yes	Only if the machine stays on and logged in
Access	Its sandbox. See How Vespin isolates coding agents.	Everything the machine's user can reach
Model login	The plan or key in Settings › Agents	Claude Code or Codex as signed in on the machine
GitHub	Your workspace's GitHub App or your token	The machine's gh login, Git credentials, and SSH keys
Checkout	In the sandbox	A worktree under ~/.vespin
Cloud environment variables and scripts	Yes	No
Browser, shared ports, run_on_mac	Yes	No
Automations	Yes	No

Run an agent on your machine when the work needs something only that machine has, like Xcode, a simulator, or a local database.

Move an agent

Choose Move to in the agent's menu. We stop the agent and continue it in the new place. Moving from the cloud brings uncommitted work along, but moving from your machine brings only what the agent pushed.

Run agents on this Mac

Turn on Run agents on this Mac in Settings › Machines. If macOS asks, allow Vespin in System Settings › General › Login Items.

To keep the Mac from sleeping while agents work, set Keep this Mac awake in Settings › This Mac. Closing the lid still puts it to sleep.

Add a machine

1. In Settings › Machines, open Add a machine.
2. Run the install command on the machine.
3. Open the link it prints and approve the code.

Before you start an agent there, sign in on that machine to Claude Code or Codex, and to GitHub with gh auth login or SSH. A machine only runs its owner's agents.