CoderFlow Link

CoderFlow Link is a small desktop app that connects folders on your own computer to the tasks you start. The agent in the task container works with those folders through CoderFlow, and Link checks every operation against what your computer shares. When an administrator allows them, the agent can also:

• run commands on your computer;
• use services you share in Link: an app on your computer, such as a local website, or a server your computer can reach, such as a database;
• see and control your screen.

Files the agent changes can be undone for up to 30 days. Command and service side effects, and screen clicks and typing, cannot.

Availability

• CoderFlow Link is part of the Full edition. It is off until an administrator turns it on (see Turn on CoderFlow Link).
• The app runs on Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit). It installs for your user only, without administrator rights, and starts when you sign in. Folders inside WSL can be shared too.
• Screen control needs Windows 11 (build 22000 or later) on a workstation. It is refused on Windows 10 and Windows Server.
• Installing the CoderFlow server does not install Link. Each user installs and pairs it on their own computer.

Turn on CoderFlow Link (administrators)

Open Server Settings → Local Devices. Changing these settings needs permission to manage Server Settings. The Paired Devices list below them needs full Server Admin.

Setting	Default	What it does
Allow local devices	Off	Lets users pair their computers. Turning it off disconnects every computer.
Files	On	Lets the agent read and, where users allow it, change files in shared folders. Users must also turn on Files in Link.
Run commands	Off	Lets the agent run commands on users' computers. Users also turn it on in Link and for each task. Commands run as the user and can't be undone.
Services	Off	Lets the agent use services users share in Link: an app on their computer, or a server their computer can reach, such as a database. Changes made through them can't be undone. It needs an HTTPS address for this server that task containers can reach; if one is missing, the setting says why it is unavailable.
Screen control	Off	Lets the agent see and control the screen on users' Windows computers. Users also turn it on in Link, choose it for a task and allow each task on the computer. Clicks and typing can't be undone.
Who can pair devices	Anyone who can create tasks	Or Only selected roles (at least one). Pairing always needs permission to create tasks. Roles held through a team count.
Require MFA to pair	Off	Users enter a code from their authenticator app before a computer is paired. Turn on MFA for the server first.
Devices per user	3	The most computers one user can pair, from 1 to 20.
Remove idle devices after (days)	90	Removes computers that haven't connected for this many days. 0 never removes them. A connected computer is never idle.

Under CoderFlow Link version and download:

• Minimum CoderFlow Link version, for example 1.2.0, disconnects older apps until their owners update. Leave it empty to allow any version.
• CoderFlow Link download address is where users get the app. Leave it empty to hide the download button.

If the CODERFLOW_LOCAL_DEVICES environment variable is set on the server, Allow local devices is locked to its value. Unset it and restart to manage the switch here.

Saving a change (other than the download address) cuts off current access straight away. Changing only Services or only Screen control cuts off just that capability.

Paired Devices lists every computer paired on this server: owner, device, OS, Link version, status and last seen. Only a full Server Admin sees this list and can remove another user's computer. Remove disconnects a computer from every task at once, and Link on it stops working until its owner pairs it again. It does not touch files or the undo history on the computer. Administrators see which computers are paired, never their files, and cannot connect a computer to a task, browse it or undo changes on it.

Install and pair your computer

1. In CoderFlow, open Profile Settings → Devices and choose Add a device. The dialog offers Download CoderFlow Link and this server's address with Copy.
2. Install and open CoderFlow Link. Enter the CoderFlow server address and choose Continue.
3. Link shows a code (XXXX-XXXX) and opens your browser at Connect a device. If the browser doesn't open, use Browser didn't open? Enter the code here.
4. Check that the code matches the one in the app. If your administrator requires it, enter your Authenticator code. Then choose Connect device, or Deny if you didn't start this.

You must be signed in, and the computer belongs to the account you approve it with. A code expires after 10 minutes and works once. Pairing does not share anything yet:

• tasks can use only folders you share in Link;
• they can use them only after you connect the computer to a task.

Pairing is refused if:

• you can't create tasks, or your role isn't allowed to pair;
• you already have the maximum number of devices (remove one first);
• MFA is required and you haven't set it up (Profile Settings → Security).

Choose what your computer shares (in the Link app)

What a task may use is decided on your computer, in CoderFlow Link. The browser can only narrow it.

• Share a folder…: pick a folder, give it a Share name, and set Access to Read only (the default) or Read and write.

  • Hide files matching keeps files out of reach. It defaults to .env*, *.pem, *.key, id_rsa*, id_ed25519* and node_modules.
  • Link refuses folders such as your whole user folder, system folders, its own folder, and folders holding credentials (.ssh, .aws, cloud and Windows credential stores), keychains or browser profiles.

• Change or Stop sharing a folder. Narrowing applies at the task's next operation.

• Files turns file access on or off for this computer.

• Run commands (in Settings…) lets tasks run commands. Commands can start in chooses the read/write shared folders a command may start in. A starting folder is not a sandbox: commands run as you and can reach more than that folder.

• Services (in Settings…) shares a service with tasks. Give it a Name and an Address, then choose Share. Turn off or Remove it later. The address can be:

  • localhost and a port, for something running on this computer;
  • a server name and port your computer can reach, such as db.example.com:5432.

  Only share what you want the agent to use as you.

• Screen control lets tasks ask to use the whole display. Each task must still be allowed on the computer. An on-screen bar shows when a task is using the screen.

  • The bar's Stop (labelled Turn off when no task is in control) ends control and turns Screen control off in Link. Turn it back on before any task can ask again.
  • Ctrl+Alt+F9 stops only the current task's control and leaves Screen control on.

• Pause access for 15 min, 1 hour or Until I resume, then Resume access.

• Keep this computer awake while a task is using it (in Settings…, off by default).

• Activity… lists Changes and All operations, with Undo for each change.

• Unpair removes the pairing from this computer only. Also remove the computer in Profile Settings → Devices, where it is still listed.

Connect a task

Only the person who started a task can connect their computer to it.

When you launch a task:

1. On the dashboard, open Quick Actions → Connect my computer.... It appears once you have a paired computer.
2. Choose what the task may use (see The connection dialog), then launch.

If the computer is offline or paused, CoderFlow warns you first and offers Launch anyway. The agent is told your computer is unavailable. Nothing retries automatically: once your computer is back, send a follow-up and the agent can use it.

On a task page:

• The Your computer row shows the computer the task would use.
  • Before it is connected, choose More options (or Choose computer when you have several).
  • Once connected, the row has Pause, Resume, More options and Disconnect.
  • Its switches (Screen control, Run commands, Services and one per folder) save on click.
• The reply bar shows a Connect computer chip, or your computer's name once it is connected.

The connection dialog

The dialog is Connect my computer, or Change computer access when the task is already connected.

• Device: the computer to use. An offline computer can still be connected.
• Folders: every folder the computer shares starts ticked, at the access it is shared with, so a folder shared read/write starts as Read/write. Untick the folders the task shouldn't use, or choose Read only to narrow one. A folder shared read-only in Link stays read-only.
• Run commands, Services (up to 8 per task) and Screen control: offered only when the server, Link on your computer and this kind of task allow them. Not available yet says what to do first; Check again refreshes it.
• Under Screen control, tick Let the agent see and control the screen (or one window) on your computer, or Let the agent see … (view only) when the access is view only. On a task page, Connect from next message saves your choices (Save changes once the task is connected); when you launch, Connect.
• Several agents: all variants can read the folders, but only one can change files, run commands, use services or use screen control. Choose which one under Full access goes to.
• Privacy: Make this task private (recommended) is ticked by default. Files the agent reads appear in the task's activity, and people who can view any task can still see private tasks. On a task page, turning on any access also makes a shared task private.

Which tasks can connect

• Judge and review tasks, terminal tasks and objectives cannot connect a computer. Test, deploy, documentation-publish and Portal tasks don't offer it either.
• Run commands, Services and Screen control are also unavailable to child tasks and automated tasks.
• A fork never inherits a connection. Connect the fork again if you need it.

While the task runs

• Access starts with your next message. A computer you connect when launching a task is used from the first turn. On a task that already exists, a first connection, an added folder or a new capability waits until you send your next message to it; the dialog says Applies from your next message.

• Narrowing applies at once: fewer folders, read/write to read-only, or Disconnect. The next operation on your computer is refused.

• Messages in your name use your computer. A turn can use your computer when its message was sent as you. That includes:

  • follow-ups you send yourself, including through Ask CoderFlow, Slack or Microsoft Teams;
  • MCP clients using your API key;
  • follow-ups an agent in one of your tasks sends or schedules through CoderFlow, such as a lead task's messages to its child tasks or a task's scheduled wake-up, because a task's agent acts as the person who started the task.

  When a teammate sends a follow-up, the agent works without your computer for that turn, and the activity feed says so.

• Pause stops access for a while, and Resume restores it (screen control asks you to allow it on the computer again). You can pause from the task page, Profile Settings → Devices or Link.

• Offline: if the computer goes offline, the task page says when. Nothing retries; send a follow-up once it is back.

• Commands appear in the task's activity with Output, which anyone who can view the task can open, and Stop, which only you have. Stopping needs the computer to confirm, and what a command already did can't be undone.

• Screen control: if the result of an earlier screen action is unknown, the task page shows Screen control is paused. The last screen action may not have finished. Check your screen, then continue. Check your screen, then choose Continue. Refresh reads the screen control status again.

• Who sees what: anyone who can view the task sees its operations on your computer:

  • each file operation as its path and outcome;
  • each command's output, which can include file contents if the command prints them;
  • what the agent reads from your files, which appears in the task's activity like any other agent output.

  Screen control activity is shown only to you. Files the agent reads are also sent to the AI provider the task uses.

Undo changes on your computer

The task page's Changes on your computer card lists the file changes the task applied directly to your computer. These are separate from the repository changes below it, which wait for your review.

• Undo reverses one change. Undo all reverses every change still in place, newest first.
• If a file was edited on the computer since, undoing it is a conflict: choose Undo anyway to overwrite it, or keep it. A folder conflict can't be forced.
• Undo needs the computer online, with access not paused and Files on in Link. Otherwise the change is kept: resume access (or turn Files back on), then undo it. You can also undo from Link's Activity….
• Undo stops commands. Before the task page restores any file, even for a single Undo, CoderFlow cuts off the task's Run commands access while any of its commands is still running, and asks the computer to stop them.
  • Stopping needs the computer to confirm.
  • Until the computer confirms the stop, file undo is blocked and the changes are kept: Command termination is not confirmed. File undo is blocked; command effects cannot be undone. This also blocks undo from Link's Activity…. Undo again once the stop is confirmed.
  • What the commands already did is not undone.
• Changes can be undone for up to 30 days. Link keeps the undo history on the computer, up to 2 GB in total: when it is full, the oldest undo copies are removed sooner. CoderFlow stores no file contents.
• Not undoable: what commands did, anything changed through a service, and screen clicks and typing.

Delete or reject a task

Deleting a task never touches your computer on its own.

• Delete Task on the task page: tick Also undo the changes this task made on your computer to undo them first.
  • The option is shown only to the task's owner while changes are still in place.
  • It is unavailable when every computer holding the changes is offline or paused.
  • Deleting from the dashboard never undoes them: the changes stay, and only Link's Activity… can undo them afterwards.
• Reject (CLI): coder reject <task-id> --undo-device-changes does the same when rejecting a task. See the CLI.

Either way, the task loses access to your computer first. Changes that can't be undone, for example because the computer is offline or a file changed there since, are kept and listed, and the task is still removed or rejected. You can undo kept changes later from Link's Activity…, while their undo history lasts (up to 30 days).

Manage your paired computers

Profile Settings → Devices lists your computers, each with its status (Online, Offline or Paused), OS, Link version, number of shared folders and when it was last seen.

• Pause (15 minutes, 1 hour or Until I resume) and Resume. Pausing works even while the computer is offline; Link is told when it reconnects.
• Manage:
  • Name with Save name: renames the computer in CoderFlow only.
  • Shared folders: Make read-only or Stop sharing. This needs the computer online.
  • Connected tasks and Recent activity: what tasks did on the computer, as paths and outcomes, never file contents.
• Remove: disconnects the computer from every task, and Link stops working until you pair it again. Files and undo history on the computer are not touched.

Ask CoderFlow

Ask CoderFlow can explain CoderFlow Link and point at its controls on a task page: the Your computer row (Pause, Resume, Disconnect, More options, screen control's Continue), Undo all or one change's Undo, a command's Output or Stop, and Connect my computer in the reply box. It does not pair computers, connect them to tasks, change what a task may use, undo changes or run anything on your computer: those choices stay with you, on the task page and on your computer.

Limits

• Up to 50 folders and 8 services per task. Files of up to 16 MiB.
• Run commands and Services need the computer online and not paused when you choose them. Files can be connected while it is offline.
• Screen control is Windows only.
  • It needs Windows 11 (build 22000 or later) on a workstation, not Windows 10 or Windows Server.
  • It needs the computer's own unlocked session: a locked computer or a Remote Desktop session is refused.
  • The shared display must be:
    • a physical screen (HDMI, DVI, DisplayPort, or a laptop's built-in screen), not a mirrored, virtual or wireless display;
    • not rotated to portrait, and not interlaced;
    • 8 bits per color channel, without HDR (advanced color);
    • at most 8,192 pixels per side.
  • The display scale must be the same horizontally and vertically, from 100% to 500%.
  • When Link refuses, it shows a reason with a code. For an unsupported Windows version it shows only Screen control could not start. with the code unsupported.
• Link does not update itself yet. Install new versions as your administrator provides them.