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Worktree isolation already keeps each lane’s files, branch, and git operations separate. Lane runtime isolation goes further: it makes a lane a complete parallel dev environment, so two agents can each run the app — with its own ports, its own preview URL, and its own auth — without colliding.
This is advanced and mostly automatic. ADE leases ports and routes previews for you; most users never open a single setting here. Reach for the manual pieces only when a lane needs custom environment setup.

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What’s isolated per lane

Port range

Each lane gets its own non-overlapping range of ports, leased automatically, so lanes never fight over 3000.

Preview URL

A <slug>.localhost hostname proxies to the lane’s dev server and opens as a clickable preview.

OAuth callbacks

A single callback URL is routed back to the correct lane, so multi-lane sign-in flows work side by side.

Env init

Optional per-lane setup — env files, Docker services, dependency installs, copy and mount paths.

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Ports and previews are automatic

When you create a lane, ADE leases it a port range and can route a <slug>.localhost hostname to whatever your dev server binds inside that range. Start your app in the Run tab or a lane terminal, and the preview URL resolves to that lane’s server. Because browsers scope cookies by hostname, feat-auth.localhost and bugfix.localhost never share a session — auth isolation comes for free. The Run tab’s lane runtime bar shows the live state at a glance: a health dot, the responding port, proxy and preview status, and the OAuth callback URL for the selected lane.
Stop a lane’s dev server when you’re done with it, or delete the lane — both return its leased ports to the pool. If a lane ever flaps unhealthy on a slow cold start, the health bar settles once the server finishes binding.

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Per-lane environment init

For lanes that need more than a running server, ADE can run an env-init sequence when the lane is created and show each step’s progress right inside the create dialog. Every step validates its paths against the worktree root, so setup can’t escape the lane.
Env init runs in order, and each step is optional:
StepWhat it does
Env filesCopy or template .env files with lane-specific substitutions (port, hostname, keys).
DockerStart lane-specific Docker Compose services.
DependenciesRun an install command from an allowlist (npm, yarn, pnpm, pip, bundle, cargo, go, bun, and a few more). Anything outside the list is rejected.
Mount pointsConfigure runtime mount points for agent profiles and context.
Copy pathsCopy non-template files from the project root into the worktree.
Each step reports pending → running → done (or failed) with a duration, so you can watch the lane bootstrap.
Rather than configure env init lane by lane, package it once as a template — a complete init recipe plus an optional setup script. Manage templates in Settings → Lane Templates, set a default, and new lanes pick it up. The setup script can carry platform-specific variants (Unix vs. Windows commands) and expose the primary worktree’s path to its commands.
  • Run tab — the lane runtime bar (health, port, proxy, preview, OAuth) and process dashboards.
  • Settings → Proxy & Preview — start/stop the proxy and configure OAuth redirect.
  • Settings → Lane Templates — manage reusable init recipes and the default template.
  • Settings → Diagnostics — the global health view across lanes.

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Health and fallback

ADE aggregates port, proxy, and process signals into a per-lane health status (healthy, degraded, unhealthy, unknown) and surfaces fixes — reassign a conflicting port, restart the proxy, re-init env. If isolation itself fails, ADE prompts you to enable fallback mode for that lane rather than switching silently, because fallback drops the per-hostname cookie isolation and that’s a contract worth opting into deliberately.
Never paste production secrets into lane env files or templates. Lane runtime is for local, disposable dev environments — point lanes at test databases and feature flags, not live credentials.

Run & processes

Start dev servers, run tests, and watch lane runtime health.

Lanes overview

How lanes isolate work and sync across surfaces.