Running the whole stack locally

Most changes are covered faster by bun test: test/end-to-end.test.ts already starts a real relay, a real agent channel and hook, a stand-in for Claude Code and a socket playing the app. Reach for the manual setup below only when you need the real app or a real claude.

Keep everything in a temporary directory. Never run tonton install or tonton uninstall here: the installer edits the real ~/.claude/settings.json, shell profiles and login items.

1. Relay

export TONTON_DEV=$(mktemp -d)
PORT=7777 TONTON_DATA_DIR=$TONTON_DEV/relay bun run relay

Accounts are open by default.

2. Account and token

The app creates both (Settings › Relay, then Settings › Machines). Without the app:

ACCOUNT=$(curl -s -X POST http://127.0.0.1:7777/api/accounts)     # { accountId, token }
TOKEN=$(ACCOUNT="$ACCOUNT" bun -e '
import { encodeAccountToken } from "./shared/account-token"
import { newAccountKey } from "./shared/crypto"
const relay = "http://127.0.0.1:7777"
const { accountId, token } = JSON.parse(process.env.ACCOUNT)
const response = await fetch(`${relay}/api/account/token`, {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { authorization: `Bearer ${token}`, "content-type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({ regenerate: false }),
})
const { secret } = await response.json()
const key = newAccountKey()
console.log(encodeAccountToken({ relay, account: accountId, secret, key }))')

The key is random, so only this agent can read what it seals: to see its sessions in the app, use the token the app shows instead.

3. Agent

Always with an isolated home and without the login item:

export TONTON_HOME=$TONTON_DEV/agent TONTON_SERVICE=off
bun agent/src/main.ts token "$TOKEN"      # joins the relay
bun agent/src/main.ts service             # keeps the machine online (Ctrl+C to stop)
bun agent/src/main.ts status

status warns that the launcher and the service are missing: expected, since nothing was installed.

To drive a real claude from the notch, it has to be started with the channel and the hooks pointing at this agent, which is what the installer sets up. Ask the developer before doing that on their machine.

4. App

cd app && ./scripts/build-app.sh && open build/TontonClaude.app

It shares its settings and account with an installed Tonton Claude: tell the developer before you point it to the local relay (Settings › Relay › Self-hosted, http://127.0.0.1:7777), since that replaces their current account in the app.

Clean up

Stop the relay and the service, then rm -rf "$TONTON_DEV".