Brennan Benson
8f7cbad07b
* feat(mobile): confirm host identity after pairing * refactor(mobile): unify host descriptor state * chore(i18n): translate the last-known host descriptor label The remote-host row's "Last known" label shipped in English only. Every other locale now carries it, worded as each catalog already words "last known". * fix(mobile): make the pairing naming step safe to abandon and show the machine live Pairing: - An unreadable status.get reply no longer strands the pairing race: the descriptor read ran inside the race's success handler and threw, so the candidate was never counted and a direct-only pairing sat on "Connecting..." until the timeout. The race now reads the status through a reader that returns null instead of throwing. - A pending pairing is now a small state machine: a save in flight owns the outcome (Cancel, back, or unmount no longer clear the journal under it), a failed save stays pending and the naming screen shows the error with Save still available, and Cancel never rejects. - When the desktop refuses relay provisioning, the journal is cleared before the naming step instead of at save, so an app kill on that screen no longer blocks every later scan with "recovery pending". - A pairing that resolves after the screen went away is cancelled rather than left with its journal. - The screens keep their root ref callbacks stable (the latest pending pairing is read from a ref) instead of re-creating them per pairing. - The label field's placeholder shows the name that an empty label saves. - "Is this an existing host" is derived from the id identity resolution hands back, so host-store and its tests go back to main's shape. Machine descriptor: - Mobile keeps the host-reported machine name and OS in memory only, filled by the status reads that already happen, and labels it "Last known" from the row's own connection state. This drops the per-host AsyncStorage copy, its web sibling and web-overrides entry, and the removal cleanup. It also fixes a latch: freshness used to stay true for the whole process once a host had answered. - Desktop reads the descriptor through lastVerifiedRuntimeStatus and marks it "Last known" using the same reachability verdict as the row's dot. - Drops the unused hostname/previousPlatform resolver inputs and moves the "OS · machine" formatting into the shared resolver. Also restores main's page-only Reconnect gate in the host header (#22326), undoes the no-op toStoredHostProfile reformat, and re-measures the web session route at 4222 modules (one fewer: the dropped web persistence file). * test(mobile): re-record RPC goldens for the deferred pairing save Repins baseline to the pairing fix commit and re-records every golden. Against main, 781 goldens move only in the header (baseline everywhere, adapterSha256 for the pairing adapter family). Six pairing goldens move in the body, and only in effect order: the pairing now resolves (closing its candidate sockets) before the naming step saves the host, and a refused relay provision clears its journal before the save rather than after. The set of effects and every outcome match main. This also removes the unhandled-rejection effects and the failed result-absent/result-null cells that the previous recording captured from the pairing race's throwing status read. * fix(mobile): keep the machine name out of the host header title while the label loads The host screen starts with an empty saved label and loads it asynchronously. With a descriptor already in memory, the resolver fell back to the machine name as the title for that window, so opening "Windows-Low Spec" briefly titled the header with the Mac's name. Read the descriptor only once the label is known. * test(mobile): build the pending-pairing status through its schema so the test typechecks The mobile tests typecheck ratchet rejected a partial status literal: the reply type keeps every optional field as a required key. Parsing the literal through the status schema yields that shape without a type assertion. * test(mobile-web): re-pin the session route closure after merging main #22301 added two src/shared modules this route reaches; its own CI never ran this suite, so the merged branch read 4224 against the 4222 pin. Measured on the merge. * feat(mobile): name each host by what its desktop reports Pairing saves the host immediately again and names it after the machine name the desktop publishes; every connection refreshes that name and OS, so a rename on the desktop reaches the phone. A name typed on the phone's Edit screen is kept as a phone-local override that wins; clearing it returns to the desktop's name. - Stored host profiles gain optional personalName, lastKnownMachineName and lastKnownHostPlatform; `name` stays the resolved value older builds read. Legacy records classify a generated "Host N" as desktop-named and any other name as a phone override. - The connection layer runs one retrying status probe per connected host and records the descriptor; the capability probe becomes a projection of it. - Rows and the header always show the OS, add the machine name under a phone override that hides it, and mark it "Last known" while the host is offline. - Removes the deferred-save naming screen and the one-shot home status fetch. - Name rules move to host-name-identity.ts and the host-list mutation queue to host-list-mutation-queue.ts; an unchanged mutation no longer rewrites storage. * test(mobile): restore the RPC recordings to main's Pairing saves the host back to back again and the recording adapter is main's, so every recording matches main byte for byte; the earlier deferred-save re-record and its baseline repin no longer apply. * fix(mobile): keep stored host name identity across snapshot saves and on the web page A connection re-saves its host profile snapshot on relay credential rotation or relay re-resolution. The re-pair merge let that snapshot's name identity win, so a phone rename cleared or changed since connect came back, and a newer desktop machine name rolled back. The stored record now keeps the name identity on every save; the save supplies the rest. The web page receives only the app's resolved host name, with no identity fields, so the docked host header treated a phone rename as "no override" and titled the host with the live machine name. The display hook now reads such a source the way storage reads a legacy record: a non-generated name is the user's label. * fix(mobile): hand the web page the host's stored name identity The page received only the app's resolved host name, so it had to guess whether that name was the phone's override or the desktop's name. It guessed "override" for any non-generated name, which froze a desktop-adopted name as the title after the desktop was renamed, and left an offline page header without the last-known OS and machine name. The shell now puts the stored personalName and last-known descriptor on the init host as optional fields. The page reads them exactly as the app does; a page handed its host by an older shell still falls back to classifying the name, and an older page ignores the fields. * fix(mobile): drop an unreadable host name field, not the whole host The stored host record and the page's init host checked the platform against a closed list and required non-empty names. A value this build does not know, such as a platform added in a later build, failed the whole record: the host list dropped the paired host and the next write persisted the list without it, and the page refused its init message. Those three optional fields are now salvaged, so an unreadable value drops only that field. Also states the one exception to the stored name rule (an OS reported without a machine name keeps the adopted name), and brings four mobile test files in line with the branch: the edit screen now saves `personalName`, and host opens now start a descriptor status probe. * refactor(mobile): name the shared host name fields for their role * fix(mobile): drop the "Last known" prefix from the host machine line The OS and machine name line under a host's name reads the same whether or not the host is connected; the connection status already says when it is offline, and a prefix that users could read as applying to the name added nothing. Removes the resolver's liveness input and the desktop row's translation key.
Orca Mobile
React Native companion app for Orca. Monitor worktrees, view terminal output, and send commands from your phone.
Local development uses two processes:
- Orca desktop/Electron from the repo root. This hosts the mobile WebSocket RPC server on port
6768. - Expo Metro from
mobile/. This serves the React Native app on port8081.
Unless a command says otherwise, run mobile app commands from the mobile/ directory.
Prerequisites
- Node.js 24+
- pnpm
- Xcode and/or Android Studio tooling for simulator or device builds
- Expo Go on your phone, or a development client build when native modules are needed
- Phone and desktop on the same LAN when testing a physical phone
Start Desktop Orca
From the repository root:
pnpm install
pnpm dev
Confirm the mobile RPC server is listening:
lsof -nP -iTCP:6768 -sTCP:LISTEN
Restart pnpm dev after changing Electron main-process code. Metro hot reload only applies to the mobile JavaScript bundle.
Start The Mobile App
cd mobile
pnpm install
pnpm start
Scan the Expo QR code with your phone's camera on iOS, or Expo Go on Android.
For a native dev-client build:
pnpm exec expo run:android
pnpm exec expo run:ios
pnpm start --dev-client
Pair With Desktop Orca
- Open Orca desktop.
- Go to Settings > Mobile.
- Scan the pairing QR code from the mobile app.
- Confirm the mobile host endpoint is
ws://<desktop-ip>:6768.
For the Android emulator, use ws://10.0.2.2:6768. For a physical phone, use the desktop LAN IP, for example ws://192.168.0.179:6768.
If the phone has a stale host entry, remove it from the app and pair again.
Development Paths
Android Phone
- Install Expo Go from Google Play
- Run
pnpm start, scan QR with Expo Go - For native modules:
pnpm exec expo run:android - Run with
pnpm start --dev-client
iOS Simulator
- Install Xcode from the App Store
- Run
pnpm start --iosto open in iOS Simulator
Physical Phone Debugging
The phone can be inspected through the connected device tooling:
orca snapshot --json
orca click --element @e3 --json
orca fill --element @e1 --value "ls" --json
orca screenshot --json
Use snapshot first to find the current element refs, then click/fill those refs. After mobile file edits, Metro usually hot reloads automatically, but navigating out of and back into the session screen can be useful because it re-runs terminal.subscribe.
Terminal Streaming Repro Without A Phone
Use this when terminal output does not render on device and you need to split server streaming bugs from WebView/UI bugs:
cd mobile
ORCA_MOBILE_WS_URL=ws://127.0.0.1:6768 pnpm exec tsx scripts/test-subscribe.ts <deviceToken> <serverPublicKeyB64>
You can pass a worktree selector as the third argument:
pnpm exec tsx scripts/test-subscribe.ts <deviceToken> <serverPublicKeyB64> "id:<worktreeId>"
pnpm exec tsx scripts/test-subscribe.ts <deviceToken> <serverPublicKeyB64> "path:/absolute/worktree/path"
pnpm exec tsx scripts/test-subscribe.ts <deviceToken> <serverPublicKeyB64> "name:my-worktree"
The expected result includes:
streamSawMarker: true
readSawMarker: true
If this repro fails, debug the desktop runtime/PTY path before the mobile WebView. If it passes but the phone is blank, debug the session screen or TerminalWebView readiness/queueing path.
Terminal Color Repro Without A Phone
Use this when terminal colors disappear after switching tabs. Open a Claude Code terminal and at least one other terminal in the target worktree, then run:
cd mobile
ORCA_MOBILE_WS_URL=ws://127.0.0.1:6768 pnpm exec tsx scripts/repro-terminal-colors.ts \
<deviceToken> <serverPublicKeyB64> "id:<worktreeId>"
The script captures terminal.subscribe snapshots in an A → B → A sequence and writes raw snapshots to mobile/terminal-color-repro/. If the two A snapshots have different sgrColor counts, the desktop snapshot changed during the switch. If they match, the ANSI color data is still present and the bug is in mobile replay/rendering.
Validation
Run these checks before committing mobile terminal changes:
cd mobile
pnpm exec tsc --noEmit
pnpm run check:tests-typecheck
pnpm lint
cd ..
pnpm typecheck:node
tsc --noEmit reads tsconfig.json, which excludes test files so Metro never bundles them.
tsconfig.test.json puts them back, and pnpm run typecheck:tests shows their errors in full.
check:tests-typecheck is the gate over it: a ratchet against tests-typecheck-baseline.txt, the
127 test files that do not typecheck yet. It fails when a file that checks today stops checking,
and when a baseline entry starts checking (prune it with
node scripts/check-tests-typecheck-ratchet.mjs --prune). The list may only shrink.
The same gate censuses the program first: every *.test.ts(x) on disk must be in it, or named in
the script's TESTS_OUTSIDE_PROGRAM with a reason. Without that, a test excluded from
tsconfig.test.json — or a Foo.test.tsx shadowed by a Foo.test.ts beside it, which a wildcard
include drops for the higher-priority extension — would leave the ratchet silently.
Protocol Version Compatibility
Mobile and desktop talk over a versioned protocol. Because mobile updates lag desktop by 24-48h via the App Store, both sides exchange version numbers on status.get so a genuinely incompatible combo can hard-block instead of silently misbehaving.
Constants live in two files (Metro can't resolve outside mobile/):
src/shared/protocol-version.ts—DESKTOP_PROTOCOL_VERSION,MIN_COMPATIBLE_MOBILE_VERSIONmobile/src/transport/protocol-version.ts—MOBILE_PROTOCOL_VERSION,MIN_COMPATIBLE_DESKTOP_VERSION
Today all four are set so evaluateCompat always returns { kind: 'ok' } — nothing blocks. The wire format is in place to flip a switch when needed.
When to bump
Bump DESKTOP_PROTOCOL_VERSION (and the mobile mirror MOBILE_PROTOCOL_VERSION when relevant) for breaking changes:
- Removed RPC method or required parameter that mobile uses
- Changed meaning (units, nullability) of an existing field mobile reads
- Changed encryption, framing, or auth handshake
Do not bump for additive changes:
- New RPC methods
- New optional fields on existing methods
- New event types in
terminal.subscribe
Set MIN_COMPATIBLE_MOBILE_VERSION (kill-switch) when desktop ships a change that requires a minimum mobile version to function safely. Same for MIN_COMPATIBLE_DESKTOP_VERSION from the mobile side.
When a verdict is blocked, mobile/src/components/ProtocolBlockScreen.tsx renders a screen pointing the user at either the App Store (mobile too old) or GitHub Releases (desktop too old).
To exercise the block screen locally: set MIN_COMPATIBLE_DESKTOP_VERSION = 999 in mobile/src/transport/protocol-version.ts, rebuild, pair to any desktop. Revert before merging.
Mock Server
Develop the mobile app without a running Orca desktop instance:
pnpm mock-server # starts mock WebSocket server on port 6768
Connect from the app using endpoint ws://localhost:6768 and token mock-device-token.
Environment variables
MOCK_NATIVE_CHAT=1— serve the native-chat scenario (one live agent tab, empty transcript, image upload) instead of the default terminal fixtures.MOCK_CHAT_AGENT=omp— withMOCK_NATIVE_CHAT=1, present an OMP tab and four decoded transcript messages, including a tool call and result, instead of the default Claude scenario. It deliberately omitstranscriptPathto exercise legacy-hook readability discovery; current OMP hooks may report a path.MOCK_SERVER_KEY_FILE— persist the server keypair across restarts so a paired device keeps its public-key pin. A missing or invalid file is re-keyed with a warning, which forces a re-pair.
Scenario control files
Read on every request, so behaviour can be flipped mid-session without a restart (a restart would re-key E2EE and force a re-pair). Write the mode into the file, or delete it for the default.
MOCK_SEND_MODE_FILE(defaultorca-mock-send-modein the system temporary directory) —accept(default) accepts the send,errorfails it withmobile_input_floor_unavailable, anything else reports the send as rejected.MOCK_TERMINAL_LIST_MODE_FILE(defaultorca-mock-terminal-list-modein the system temporary directory) —omitreturns an empty terminal list,otherreturns a list that omits the chat handle, anything else lists it.MOCK_TERMINAL_STREAM_MODE_FILE(defaultorca-mock-terminal-stream-modein the system temporary directory) —deadanswers a subscribe withsubscribedthenend(a gone PTY), which is what exercises the rearm bound and terminal prune; anything else streams normally.
Connecting to Real Orca
- Start Orca desktop with WebSocket transport enabled
- In Orca, go to Settings > Mobile and scan the QR code with this app
- The QR encodes the connection endpoint, device token, and TLS fingerprint
Project Structure
mobile/
├── app/ # Expo Router screens (file-based routing)
│ ├── _layout.tsx # Root layout with navigation stack
│ ├── index.tsx # Home screen — paired hosts list
│ └── pair-scan.tsx # QR code scanning screen
├── src/
│ ├── terminal/ # Terminal WebView and xterm bridge
│ └── transport/ # WebSocket RPC client
├── scripts/
│ ├── test-subscribe.ts # Desktop streaming repro without a phone
│ └── mock-server.ts # Standalone mock WebSocket server
└── assets/ # App icons and splash screen