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A remote machine lets you drive a repository that lives somewhere else — a Linux dev box, a beefy build server, a cloud VM — without copying the code to your laptop. ADE connects over SSH and runs the agents, builds, and tests on that box. Your desktop app stays local and stays in charge: it is the control plane, the remote is the workspace.

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When to use it

Code that lives elsewhere

The repository and its dev stack are on another machine and you would rather not clone or sync it locally.

Heavier compute

Builds, tests, and agents run on a box with more cores, more RAM, or the right GPU.

The right environment

Services, databases, and toolchains are already set up on the remote and you want agents to run against them.

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How it connects

ADE adds the remote over SSH using the same connection details you already use from a shell. The desktop spawns a lightweight ADE bridge on the far side and tunnels its control protocol back over the SSH channel — so lanes, chats, diffs, and PRs all behave exactly as they do locally, just backed by the remote’s filesystem and runtime.
Adding a remote machine to ADE over SSH
1

Add the machine

Give ADE the SSH target for the remote box. ADE bootstraps its runtime there on first connect.
2

Pick a project

Choose the repository on the remote you want to work in. It becomes a normal ADE project, backed by the remote filesystem.
3

Work as usual

Create lanes, run agents, review diffs, and open PRs from the desktop. Everything executes on the remote.

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The desktop still drives everything

Connecting a remote does not move ADE off your Mac. The desktop app remains the control plane: you compose prompts, approve diffs, and merge PRs locally, while the agent processes, builds, and tests live on the remote. The remote’s own GitHub, Linear, and provider credentials are used for work that happens there.
ade code can attach to the same saved remote machines from a terminal — useful when you are already SSH’d somewhere and want the TUI instead of the desktop window. See ade code.
ade code remote reads the same saved remote-machine registry as the desktop app:
ade code remote --list-targets                       # list saved remote machines
ade code remote --target mac --project ADE           # attach to a remote project
ade code remote session --target mac --project ADE --session chat-1
Run ade code remote --help to see every flag.

ade code (terminal)

Drive ADE from a fast terminal UI, locally or over SSH.

Architecture

How the control plane, runtime, and clients fit together.