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A teammate works on a computer: it runs the real Claude Code or Codex there, with a browser, your repositories and the previews of the apps it builds. The computer is linked to your workspace by a small program, the runner. You can use your own computer for free, Brigade’s cloud computer, or both. Teammates, threads and members are unlimited in both.

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Your own computer

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On a Mac: Brigade.app

  1. In onboarding, or in Settings → Computers, choose Download Brigade for Mac (macOS 14 or later).
  2. Open it, then choose Open in Brigade on the page. Brigade.app asks before it installs anything, links the Mac to your workspace and keeps the runner going. It lives in the menu bar and updates itself.
  3. Follow Set up Brigade… in its menu: move it to Applications, open it at login, and, for computer use, allow Screen Recording and Accessibility.
Computer use. On your Mac, teammates can read the screen, click and type in any app. macOS gives those permissions to a separate helper, Brigade Computer Use, not to the teammate. While a teammate acts, a pill on the screen shows its name and a Stop button. Some command-line tools a teammate runs, such as a screen recorder or osascript with System Events, need those permissions too. The teammate runs them through Brigade Computer Use, under the same pill: you never need to give Accessibility to Brigade itself.
Teammates work only while your Mac is awake. Keep screen awake in Brigade’s menu stops it from sleeping.

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On Linux, or a Mac from the terminal

In Settings → Computers, choose Link your machine and run the command it shows. It looks like this:
  • It needs curl and tar, and no root access. It installs Node.js 24 if the machine has no recent one, and puts everything in ~/.brigade.
  • It works on Linux (x86_64, arm64) and macOS (Apple silicon, Intel). Windows isn’t supported.
  • The code works once, for 10 minutes. Linking the same machine again replaces it rather than adding a second one.
  • Only one runner runs per machine.

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Your AI login stays on your computer

Sign in with Sign in with Claude or Sign in with ChatGPT (Codex) on the computer’s card, or keep the claude or codex login you already have in your terminal: it shows up by itself. The runner removes API keys such as ANTHROPIC_API_KEY and OPENAI_API_KEY from what the teammate sees, so the work always runs on your plan, never on a key that bills per use. A computer you link is yours alone: other members of the workspace can’t start threads on it.

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Brigade Cloud

Subscribe in Settings → Billing → Subscribe (owners and admins), or with Get Brigade Cloud in onboarding. Payment goes through Stripe. The cloud computer appears in Settings → Computers within a few minutes; sign it in to your Claude or ChatGPT account there.
  • Always on, when needed. It sleeps after 30 idle minutes and wakes on the next message, routine or trigger.
  • Shared by the workspace. Every member’s threads can run on it, on the AI accounts signed in there.
  • Teammates kept apart. Each teammate runs as its own Linux user with a private home folder, and each thread has its own network, temporary files and processes. Each teammate has its own Docker, without root.
  • Backed up. Every 10 minutes and before each sleep: thread folders (encrypted), each teammate’s scheduled jobs and services, and browser sign-ins. Replace cloud computer in its menu builds a new one and restores all of it. Docker images, previews and tool caches are not backed up.
  • Take control. Open the computer’s desktop in a thread and choose Take control to use it yourself, for example to solve a CAPTCHA. The teammate waits; choose Hand back, with an optional note, when you are done.
  • Teach a task. In the composer’s + menu, record yourself doing a task on the cloud computer (up to 10 minutes, in Chrome, Edge or Firefox on a desktop). The teammate writes the steps down as a skill, and does the task on its own once an admin adds it.

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Cancel

Choose Manage billing in Settings → Billing to update your card, read invoices or cancel. Cloud stops at the end of the month you paid for. Your workspace stays; the cloud computer stops but keeps its disk until you subscribe again, and your teammates can keep working for free on your own computer.

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Move a thread between computers

Pick the computer when you start a thread (Run on). To move one later, choose Continue on… in the composer’s + menu. When a thread’s computer is offline, the thread offers Continue on the cloud computer.
A thread picks up on another computer from what is on GitHub and in the thread. Files that exist only on the first computer stay there, so commit and push what matters.