orca/docs/reference/npm-server-design.md

npm server design

Summary

Orca should run as a remote host on a machine with Node.js without installing the Electron desktop application. The npm distribution reuses the desktop host runtime, pairing protocol, terminal daemon, and web client while omitting Electron-only capabilities such as browser panes.

The promoted stable first-run contract is:

npx @stablyai/orca@latest

On a headless machine this starts a foreground server, chooses a safe reachable address, and prints a web-client URL and pairing URL. A non-interactive serve command retains explicit listener, advertised-address, port, and JSON controls.

The package is not published yet, so that command does not resolve during development. Release candidate testing uses npx @stablyai/orca@rc; @latest becomes valid only after an exact validated candidate is promoted.

Problem

orca serve currently launches the packaged Electron executable. Linux hosts therefore need the full AppImage, Electron libraries, FUSE or AppImage extraction, Chromium sandbox support, and Xvfb. Pairing also requires operators to understand the difference between the bound listener and the address embedded in an access link.

The remote runtime already owns the product behavior needed by a server: E2EE pairing, device credentials, WebSocket transport, the web client, terminal persistence, workspaces, files, Git, agents, and orchestration. The missing boundary is the process environment around that runtime.

Goals

• Install and run the host through npm/npx without Electron, Chromium, Xvfb, or FUSE.
• Preserve the existing RPC, E2EE pairing, readiness, and persisted-state contracts.
• Keep one implementation of workspace, terminal, Git, file, agent, and orchestration behavior.
• Make zero-argument startup useful over SSH without exposing a public interface by accident.
• Keep desktop orca serve working during migration.
• Let the npm host and desktop app coexist safely as distinct hosts.
• Support folder workspaces and Git worktrees.
• Preserve macOS, Linux, Windows, SSH, WSL, Git 2.25, and glibc 2.31 compatibility.

Non-goals

• Hosting browser, emulator, computer-use, speech, or renderer-only features in the initial npm package.
• Replacing the remote wire protocol.
• Making a client-local fallback browser part of the remote host or giving it remote ownership.
• Automatically configuring a VPN, firewall, reverse proxy, or public network listener.
• Shipping an Electron binary inside an npm wrapper.
• Letting two processes write one profile or automatically handing an npm host to the desktop app in the initial release.

User experience

Guided foreground start

After stable promotion:

npx @stablyai/orca@latest

Before promotion, release-candidate operators use the non-default dist-tag:

npx @stablyai/orca@rc

Startup chooses an advertised address in this order:

1. an explicit operator value;
2. a detected Tailscale IPv4 address;
3. loopback with a copyable SSH-tunnel command.

LAN exposure remains explicit. Public addresses require an explicit advertised address. Discovery does not modify Tailscale or firewall configuration.

Human output distinguishes the two network roles:

Orca server ready
Bound endpoint: ws://127.0.0.1:6768
Advertised endpoint: ws://127.0.0.1:6768
Web client URL: http://127.0.0.1:6768/web-index.html#pairing=...
Pairing URL: orca://pair?code=...

Automation

orca-ide serve --port 6768 --pairing-address 100.64.1.20 --json

Existing serve flags and readiness schema version 1 remain valid. New fields must be optional.

Package and executable names

The public package is @stablyai/orca. The durable executable is orca-ide, avoiding conflicts with the Linux screen reader. The package also exposes orca so npm can select the expected bin for npx @stablyai/orca. The package is currently unpublished; source documentation must not describe @latest as available until registry promotion is complete.

Architecture

Electron entry ----+
                   +--> shared host runtime --> RPC / pairing / files / Git / PTY
Node server entry -+
       |                                   |
       +--> Node process environment       +--> optional capabilities
            paths, version, lifecycle           Electron browser backend
            networking, notifications           browserless Node backend

The Node distribution has three build outputs:

• the server CLI and composition root;
• the terminal daemon entry;
• the static web client.

Native packages remain npm dependencies so they target the host Node ABI. The npm package must not depend on or contain Electron, Electron Updater, browser tooling, emulator tooling, or speech models.

Transitional process boundary

Some shared modules still import Electron-owned process primitives. The Node build resolves those imports to a narrow process-environment facade. Every exposed member has either a Node implementation or a fail-closed unsupported result. Browser and renderer behavior is never emulated. The facade is a migration boundary; new host-runtime code must depend on concrete host interfaces rather than adding facade surface.

CI inspects the built package, dependency manifest, and bundle metadata so an Electron runtime dependency cannot enter transitively.

The package executable is the only process entry owner. Importing the reusable server composition must never start a listener by itself; this keeps --help, version, and non-server control commands from accidentally launching a second host.

Browserless service composition

The Node composition root owns the non-Electron services that desktop runtime setup normally wires. It installs Claude and Codex account services, rate-limit collection and settings sync, and the account subscription backing exposed by runtime RPCs. A durable agent-session claim signer is loaded from the server profile.

AgentHook supplies lifecycle and status snapshots, compatibility authority, PTY environment, and live Claude rate-limit observations. Headless PTY registration resolves managed Claude and Codex launch environments. The composition also installs orchestration transport and startup recovery, scheduled and manual headless automation dispatch, artifact cloud sharing, AI Vault Codex discovery and resume resolution, and commit-message agent environment resolution.

Capability behavior

The Node host publishes the existing runtime capabilities except those requiring a browser backend. In particular it omits:

• browser.screencast.v1;
• browser.headless.v1;
• browser.certificate-trust.v1.

Clients must treat the missing capability as unsupported on that host. A remote browser request must not fall back to the viewing computer.

No protocol version bump is required. The server uses existing message shapes and optional capabilities. Mixed-version testing covers an old client with the Node host and a new client with the Electron host.

Storage and security

The server stores state beneath an OS-standard Orca data directory. The directory is created with owner-only permissions where the platform supports POSIX modes. Pairing identity and device files reuse the current secure-file handling and survive package updates.

The npm host deliberately uses a different default profile from the desktop app: Orca Server under the platform application-data directory on macOS and Windows, and orca under the XDG state directory on Linux. An explicit --data-dir or ORCA_SERVER_DATA_DIR still selects one npm profile for service deployments. A process-incarnation-fenced lock prevents two npm processes from writing that profile concurrently; different npm profiles and the desktop default profile can remain live at the same time.

Foreground startup prints a pairing credential unless --no-pairing is set. Automation and service workflows that retain logs must either use that flag or treat readiness output as a secret. Pairing material stays in URL fragments for the web client so reverse proxies and referrer headers do not receive it.

The default listener is loopback unless the operator selects a private reachable interface. A detected Tailscale address is private but is not proof of authorization; E2EE pairing remains mandatory.

Native dependency policy

The supported package must install on Linux x64 and arm64 without a compiler. node-pty and file watcher binaries are checked in clean containers. Linux binaries must retain the Ubuntu 20.04 / glibc 2.31 floor. macOS and Windows receive package smoke tests before release support is claimed.

The initial Node engine remains aligned with the repository. Supporting an older active LTS can be considered only after the server build and native dependency matrix pass there.

Shutdown and persistence

SIGINT, SIGTERM, and startup failure join one sequential teardown: stop RPC listeners; cancel local or SSH prechecks, abort and drain headless automations, and wait for AgentHook shutdown through the composition root; disconnect from the terminal daemon; flush the store; then release the profile lock. A failed step is recorded while later steps still run. A normal server shutdown does not kill daemon-owned terminals. Startup reconnects to the same daemon and device identity.

Every listener, socket, timer, and signal handler installed by the Node composition root has a matching joined cleanup path before the process exits.

Desktop coexistence and handoff

The initial npm host and desktop app use separate default data directories. They can run on the same machine without sharing writable state, but they appear as separate Orca hosts and opening the desktop app does not take ownership of the npm host.

The intended follow-up is a coordinated handoff, not an attempt to turn the running Node process into Electron. Standalone-backend architectures keep the host process independent and let desktop clients attach to or supervise it. Orca can move toward that model while keeping browser panes desktop-local.

The current npm profile lock is only a same-profile single-writer guard. It does not let desktop discover the npm host, transfer ownership, reuse its identity, or reconnect clients, and therefore must not be presented as desktop takeover support.

A safe handoff requires:

1. one cross-process profile lease with an owner identity and generation;
2. an authenticated local request from the desktop app to the npm host;
3. a host checkpoint followed by listener shutdown and explicit lease release;
4. desktop acquisition of the next generation before it opens the profile;
5. reuse of the device registry, E2EE keypair, runtime metadata, and durable terminal daemon;
6. client reconnect without re-pairing and terminal input/output after daemon adoption;
7. bounded rollback to the npm host if desktop startup fails before readiness.

No implementation may copy a live profile, infer ownership from a PID file alone, or let both processes publish runtime metadata. A desktop-only browser backend must remain a capability of the desktop owner rather than silently executing remote browser work on a viewing client.

Packaging gates

The publishable tarball must:

• contain the server, daemon, web client, license, README, and package manifest;
• exclude Electron, desktop assets, source maps with local paths, test fixtures, and secrets;
• have no runtime dependency on electron or electron-updater;
• expose executable orca and orca-ide bins;
• report the exact package version in runtime status;
• pass npm pack --dry-run inventory and size assertions.

Validation topology

The deterministic integration oracle is:

1. start the built Node server with isolated state and port 0;
2. parse readiness schema version 1;
3. prove the web client is served;
4. decode the pairing offer and authenticate over the real WebSocket transport;
5. call status.get and assert browser capabilities are absent;
6. add and open a folder workspace;
7. spawn a terminal, send a unique marker, and observe it through the paired stream;
8. restart the server and prove device identity and terminal continuity;
9. stop the server and prove no listener or child-process leak.

Docker runs the same package on Ubuntu 20.04, 22.04, and 24.04 where images and Node availability permit. The test records host runtime identity, daemon PID, connection identity, PTY identity, and the terminal marker.

Rollout

1. Publish an immutable candidate with an explicit non-default tag, for example npm publish --tag rc; never let the first publication implicitly claim latest.
2. Verify the registry dist-tags, install @rc on the supported package matrix, and retain the exact version that passed.
3. Keep desktop orca serve as the documented stable path while collecting candidate install failures.
4. Promote that exact version with npm dist-tag add @stablyai/orca@<version> latest only after required gates pass. Ship UI and stable docs that recommend @latest no earlier than this step.
5. Move rc to later candidates independently; rollback latest to a previously validated exact version rather than republishing mutable bytes.
6. Add service installation, readiness-based immutable updates, and desktop-managed SSH bootstrap.
7. Consider an opt-in browser sidecar only after the browserless server is stable.

Implementation checklist

Design and boundaries

• Record goals, non-goals, security defaults, wire policy, and validation topology.
• Add the Node server composition root.
• Add the Node process-environment facade.
• Keep the desktop composition root behavior unchanged.
• Prohibit Electron runtime dependencies in the server build.
• Keep executable dispatch in the package entry so importing server composition has no startup side effect.

Runtime

• Initialize persistent state in an isolated server data directory.
• Initialize or adopt the durable terminal daemon.
• Register the headless PTY controller.
• Wire Claude and Codex accounts, rate limits, subscriptions, and runtime-target settings sync.
• Load the durable agent-session claim signer from the server profile.
• Wire AgentHook lifecycle, snapshots, compatibility authority, PTY environment, and rate-limit observations.
• Resolve account-aware Claude and Codex PTY launches.
• Wire orchestration transport plus prepare, refresh, and reconcile recovery.
• Dispatch scheduled and manual automations without a renderer.
• Wire artifact sharing, AI Vault Codex resume, and commit-message agent environments.
• Start local and WebSocket RPC transports.
• Serve the static web client.
• Publish readiness schema version 1.
• Generate runtime-scoped E2EE pairing offers.
• Omit browser capabilities and fail remote browser requests explicitly.
• Join RPC stop, composition drain, daemon disconnect, store flush, and lock release in order on signals and startup errors.

CLI and networking

• Support zero-argument guided startup.
• Retain serve, --port, --pairing-address, --no-pairing, and --json.
• Detect Tailscale without changing its configuration.
• Default to loopback and print an SSH-tunnel path when no private address is selected.
• Validate ports and advertised addresses before starting.
• Support credential-free automation with --no-pairing.

npm package

• Add @stablyai/orca package metadata and both executable names.
• Build the server and daemon as plain Node outputs.
• Include the built web client.
• Install native dependencies for the Node ABI.
• Add tarball inventory, size, executable, license, and dependency gates.
• Verify the tarball contains no Electron runtime.
• Publish the first immutable candidate under the non-default rc dist-tag.
• Promote the exact matrix-validated candidate to latest before stable onboarding ships.

Product onboarding

• Add the npm command to the remote-host connection UI.
• Explain Tailscale, SSH-tunnel, and explicit LAN choices.
• Link the shorter npm-server documentation from the existing Linux guide.
• Capture visual proof for the UI change.

Desktop coexistence

• Use separate npm and desktop profiles so both installations can run safely today.
• Fence one npm profile to one live writer without blocking different profiles.
• Document the ownership, identity, daemon, and rollback contract for a future handoff.

Future desktop handoff follow-up (not part of the initial release)

• Add a cross-process profile lease with generation fencing.
• Let desktop discover and authenticate to the local npm host.
• Checkpoint and transfer ownership without two live profile writers.
• Preserve pairing identity and daemon-backed terminal continuity across the handoff.
• Add failure-before-yield, failure-after-yield, mixed-version, and rollback oracles.
• Add packaged macOS, Linux, and Windows desktop-handoff journeys.

Tests

• Unit-test CLI parsing, address discovery, paths, readiness, and shutdown.
• Test the built package with the real WebSocket/E2EE transport.
• Test folder workspaces and Git worktrees.
• Test terminal marker delivery and daemon continuity across restart.
• Run the existing cross-version wire regression and verify no wire shape or opcode changed.
• Test missing browser capabilities, explicit rejection, and no local fallback in remote RPCs.
• Run clean Docker tests on Ubuntu 20.04, 22.04, and 24.04 amd64 and 20.04 arm64.
• Verify the glibc 2.31 floor and Node native ABI.
• Pass the installed-package runtime oracle on Windows Server 2022 x64; macOS arm64 passed locally.
• Prove both installed bins route zero-argument, serve, help/version, and non-server control commands exactly once without eagerly initializing the wrong runtime.
• Record installed CLI startup/readiness timing and subprocess counts on the final package.

Accepted platform follow-ups

• Run the installed-package runtime oracle inside WSL.
• Run the installed-package runtime oracle on Windows arm64 hardware.
• Add and validate nested SSH connection-manager lifecycle parity for the browserless host.

Release readiness

• Run typecheck, lint, focused tests, and the full relevant test suite.
• Audit network failure, retry, cleanup, and bounded resource behavior.
• Audit security, package contents, scripts, and dependency changes.
• Audit persisted-state and mobile/old-client compatibility.
• Audit macOS, Linux, Windows, WSL, SSH, and path behavior; retain runtime gaps below.
• Re-run the final-head focused selector and workflow contract suite and record their actual counts below.
• Attach package/Docker evidence and UI visual proof to the PR.
• Complete the PR description with validation commands and remaining platform gaps.

Validation record and residual gaps

The installed-tarball history covers its inventory, executable, license, dependency, web-client, real E2EE, workspace, Git, PTY, shutdown, and restart-continuity oracle on macOS; Ubuntu 20.04, 22.04, and 24.04 amd64; and Ubuntu 20.04 arm64. The final package was rerun on macOS arm64 and Ubuntu 20.04 amd64. The Ubuntu 20.04 runs used stock Git 2.25.1 and verified the active native PTY against glibc 2.31 without a compiler, Electron, Chromium, Xvfb, or FUSE installed.

The current focused selector passed 525 tests across 22 server, RPC, cross-version wire, onboarding, browserless composition, automation, precheck, profile-lock, readiness, installed-process, AgentHook, and shutdown files. The two workflow contract files passed 17 tests:

pnpm exec vitest run --config config/vitest.config.ts \
  config/scripts/node-server-installed-process-harness.test.ts \
  config/scripts/node-server-verifier-git-fixture.test.ts \
  config/scripts/node-server-verifier-host-path.test.ts \
  src/cli/runtime-client-deferral.test.ts \
  src/main/agent-hooks/server.test.ts \
  src/main/automations/headless-work-drain.test.ts \
  src/main/automations/precheck-runner.test.ts \
  src/main/automations/service-precheck.test.ts \
  src/main/automations/service.test.ts \
  src/main/runtime/pairing-endpoint.test.ts \
  src/main/runtime/runtime-rpc.test.ts \
  src/node-server/browserless-automation-dispatcher.test.ts \
  src/node-server/browserless-runtime-composition.test.ts \
  src/node-server/server-address-discovery.test.ts \
  src/node-server/server-cli-arguments.test.ts \
  src/node-server/server-paths.test.ts \
  src/node-server/server-profile-process-lock.test.ts \
  src/node-server/server-websocket-readiness.test.ts \
  src/node-server/server-window-graph.test.ts \
  src/renderer/src/components/settings/RuntimeHostAccessForm.test.tsx \
  src/renderer/src/components/sidebar/AddRemoteHostFields.test.tsx \
  tests/e2e/cross-version-wire/cross-version-terminal-wire.unit.test.ts
pnpm exec vitest run --config config/vitest.config.ts \
  config/scripts/pr-workflow-parallelism.test.mjs \
  config/scripts/node-server-package-workflow-contract.test.mjs

The final macOS arm64 installed-tarball oracle passed with 18,114,920 packed bytes and 55,066,757 unpacked bytes. Ubuntu 20.04, 22.04, and 24.04 amd64 passed the same installed runtime oracle in Docker; Ubuntu 20.04 also verified the glibc 2.31 and GLIBCXX_3.4.28 floors.

Ten fresh-profile installed-package trials on macOS arm64 reached the first schema-v1 readiness line in 352.705–748.323 ms, with a 369.474 ms median. Recursive process snapshots at one and three seconds were stable in every trial: one server, one daemon, no daemon PTY children, and no other subprocesses. Every measured server and daemon exited cleanly after its trial.

The exact code candidate 8946cc3cc8ba80f48f95266b47552da217a6f261 also passed on the paired Windows host: 3 focused fixture/path/address files with 9 tests, Node typecheck, the node-server build, clean pack/install, and the full runtime oracle. The platform package measured 18,146,521 packed bytes and 55,066,730 unpacked bytes, and left no server or daemon process behind.

As an overlapping final packaging subset, the installed-process harness passed 2 tests and the package-workflow contract passed 4 tests. These six tests are already included in the focused and workflow counts above rather than added to them.

The required Windows Server 2022 x64 lane is pending on the current worktree, so Windows support is not yet claimed. Once that lane passes the full clean-install, E2EE, workspace, native PTY, restart, and cleanup journey, the explicit untested platform gaps remain WSL, Windows arm64, and nested SSH connection-manager parity in the browserless host. The PTY dependency contains Windows x64 and arm64 prebuilds, but a present binary is not runtime evidence for an untested target.

The package remains unpublished: the registry currently has neither rc nor latest. The PTY package also retains a deprecated transitive prebuild-install fallback; clean installs select the bundled prebuild before that downloader, but the dependency should be replaced when an equally portable maintained package is available.