FAQ

What is Hexdeck?

Hexdeck is a local, open-source control plane for AI coding operators. It prevents collisions, provides shared awareness, and helps multiple agents execute in parallel with aligned context. It includes a CLI with a full browser dashboard and a macOS menu bar app for at-a-glance status.

What is Hexcore?

Hexcore is a cloud relay service that connects multiple Hexdeck instances across different machines. It enables real-time team coordination — shared presence, cross-machine conflict detection, and a cloud dashboard — without transmitting any source code. See What is Hexcore? for details.

Do I need Hexcore to use Hexdeck?

No. Hexdeck works entirely offline. Hexcore is only needed when you want to coordinate operators across multiple machines or with teammates.

What AI operators does Hexdeck support?

Hexdeck currently supports Claude Code and Codex. It discovers active sessions by reading their respective session transcript files (~/.claude/projects/ for Claude Code, ~/.codex/sessions/ for Codex).

Does Hexdeck read my source code?

Hexdeck does not open or read files in your project directory directly. It reads operator session transcripts, which may contain file contents as part of recorded tool results. Hexdeck processes these transcripts to extract file paths and operator intent. See Hexdeck Privacy for full details.

Is Hexdeck open source?

The CLI and server are open source under the MIT license.

How much does Hexcore cost?

Hexcore is currently free during the beta period.

What happens if the cloud relay goes down?

Your Hexdeck instance continues to work normally. You lose cross-machine coordination until the connection is restored, but local operator monitoring is unaffected. The client automatically reconnects with exponential backoff when the relay comes back.

What's the difference between the CLI and the menu bar app?

The CLI (@hexdeck/cli) runs the Hexdeck server and serves a full browser dashboard at localhost:3002 with detailed views of workstreams, risk analytics, session inspection, and a live feed.

The menu bar app is a lightweight macOS companion that sits in your tray. It shows a color-coded icon (blue/green/yellow/red/grey) reflecting overall agent health and lets you glance at active agents and alerts without switching to a browser. It connects to the same Hexdeck server — you need both if you want the tray icon.

How do I install via Homebrew?

The menu bar app is available as a Homebrew cask:

brew tap wagmint/hexdeck
brew install --cask hexdeck

The CLI is installed separately via npm. The Homebrew cask installs only the menu bar app.

How do I uninstall?

Hexdeck CLI:

npm uninstall -g @hexdeck/cli
rm -rf ~/.hexdeck

Hexdeck menu bar app:

brew uninstall --cask hexdeck

Hexcore: To disconnect from Hexcore, run hex relay remove <hexcoreId>. To delete your Hexcore workspace, use the cloud dashboard. Your Hexdeck instance continues to work offline after disconnecting.