CodeNomad/dev-docs/REMOTE_CONTROL.md

Remote Control

Remote Control reaches CodeNomad from another device without an inbound port. It is separate from direct --host access; neither falls back to the other.

browser ─TLS─▶ OpenTunnel relay (forwards ciphertext) ─▶ OpenTunnel SDK in the backend (TLS ends here)
        ─TCP─▶ remote-only loopback ingress ─▶ remote gate ─▶ the normal CodeNomad application

Transport

• packages/remote-tunnel wraps @opentunnel/client behind CodeNomad-owned types. The server build bundles it with its resolved Effect copy into dist/remote-control/tunnel-runtime.js; never give the published server a runtime dependency on the private workspace package.
• CodeNomad claims one random route (codenomad-<hex>, persisted) on the device's shared default identity. OpenCode's opencode pair --remote and the OpenTunnel CLI use the same identity with their own routes. Stopping closes CodeNomad's bridge only and never calls tunnel.remove().
• The relay can observe hostnames, connection timing and sizes. It cannot read traffic. Impersonating the host requires a misissued certificate for the tunnel hostname, which would appear in Certificate Transparency logs. opentunnel.xyz is on the Public Suffix List, so other users' tunnels are cross-site; OpenCode's route on the same device is same-site, so mutations check Origin rather than rely on SameSite.
• First use provisions the identity and its certificate (about 30 seconds); the start request waits up to five minutes.
• Start records the choice in the registry file and only Stop clears it. A launch after Start reconnects in the background (manager.resume()) and issues no pairing code; shutdown, a fatal tunnel stop and a failed resume keep the choice, so the next launch retries. Only one backend per config directory resumes (remote-control.owner, live-PID lease replaced after a crash): OpenTunnel gives a route to one bridge and a contender retries until it takes over, so a second backend would otherwise silently serve the paired devices. An explicit Start always proceeds. Settings polls the status only while the tunnel is (re)connecting, keeps paired devices listed while it is off and offers Stop after a failed resume.
• Keep OpenTunnel's per-route PROXY protocol off: the ingress expects plain HTTP.

Admission

server/src/remote-control/:

• ingress.ts marks every accepted socket as remote before any request is parsed and routes requests into the same Fastify application, with the local listener's timeouts (no request timeout, 72 s keep-alive). Upgrades are refused: the remote surface exposes no WebSocket endpoint.
• request-origin.ts is the only authority for local privileges: isLocalRequest() requires a loopback peer and a non-ingress socket.
• gate.ts runs before CORS, authentication and routing. It requires the exact tunnel Host and the public Origin on mutations, and strips forwarding headers. It accepts origin-form targets only (no absolute-form, leading // or fragment, which the router would reinterpret) and judges the path the router routes: percent-decoded and cut at ;. It denies host-only paths: login and token bootstrap, Remote Control management, remote windows/proxy, SideCars, previews and the automation bridge. Static UI bundle files stay public, as on local listeners, because browsers fetch the PWA manifest without cookies. Every other path requires a paired device. Refusals close the connection, because an unread body would otherwise break the client's next keep-alive request.
• A remote /api/auth/status without a valid device reports pairingRequired. The recovery dialog then explains how to pair again instead of offering password login, keeping the page and its drafts. Pairing from another tab restores it on the next check.
• devices.ts issues one five-minute, single-use pairing code. The link carries it in the fragment, never in the query or a log. It stores SHA-256 hashes of device credentials and expires devices after 30 days without use. __Host-codenomad_device is Secure; HttpOnly; SameSite=Lax. Revocation, and replacement of the least recently seen device at the 32-device limit, also destroy that device's open connections. The registry file is written only once Remote Control is used.
• Remote devices authenticate even with --dangerously-skip-auth, and the local session cookie is never accepted on the ingress.
• A desktop CodeNomad pairs as a device: pasting a pairing link into Add server saves only the tunnel origin and opens the remote window once on the link (lib/remote-pairing-link.ts). The profile keeps TLS verification on, since a Tauri TLS-proxy window uses an incognito store without the device cookie. The code is never stored with the server; re-pairing a saved server reuses its window storage, which keeps the device cookie across launches. Covered by tests/browser/remote-server-pairing.test.ts.

Validation

• remote-surface.test.ts drives the real createHttpServer through the ingress. It covers unpaired access, pairing, Origin/Host checks, host-only paths including encoded ones, loopback privileges, spoofed headers, upgrades, revocation of a live stream, skipped local auth and tunnel failure.
• manager.test.ts covers resuming after a restart, Stop, never-started installations, failed resumes and backends sharing a configuration; owner-lease.test.ts the lease; tests/browser/remote-control-settings.test.ts the settings panel after a failed, skipped or slow resume and across a reconnect.
• scripts/remote-control-live.test.ts (opt-in, CODENOMAD_REMOTE_CONTROL_LIVE=1) repeats the flow through the hosted relay, using a throwaway profile and data directory, and deletes that tunnel afterwards. It creates a public, certificate-logged hostname.
• The packaged smoke test imports the bundled runtime with the packaged Node.

Agent conventions

• Remote Access settings put Remote Control first. Direct/LAN access (listening mode, server password, reachable addresses) sits in one collapsed disclosure that opens by itself while the server listens beyond localhost. Its texts refer to direct connections only, because Remote Control pairs devices and needs neither a password nor an open port. It uses the shared .settings-disclosure (styles/components/settings-disclosure.css).
• The tunnel runtime (build:remote-tunnel) keeps its own backend-side Effect runtime, separate from OpenCode's native plugin graph. Ingress sockets are remote by membership: grant local privileges only through isLocalRequest()/isLoopbackRequest(), never peer addresses or headers. The resume lease lives in owner-lease.ts; never auto-start an installation that was not started. Run the Validation tests above when changing the transport.