Using Modem

Connecting tools

Authenticate GitHub and your agents once, on the computer.

The command

$ modem connect github
$ modem connect claude
$ modem connect codex

Each one opens the tool's own login flow in a temporary session on your computer. Follow it, then press Ctrl+Q.

Why the browser opens here

The agent runs on a machine with no screen, so its login URL would be useless there. The CLI watches the stream, recognises the authentication URL, and opens it in your browser. You authorise, copy the short code the page gives you, and paste it back into the terminal.

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Paste the code, not the URL. The URL goes in the browser; the code: a short string, goes in the terminal prompt.

GitHub

Choose Login with a web browser when gh asks. Once connected, every agent and job on that computer can clone, commit, push and open pull requests as you.

$ modem connect github
$ modem run --shell "git clone https://github.com/you/project && cd project && npm install"

Agent accounts

Claude and Codex each have their own flow, subscription account or API key, as you prefer. The credentials are written to the computer's disk, exactly as they would be on your laptop, and survive suspend, wake and reboot.

Secrets and environment

Application secrets are not credentials: put them where your code expects them. modem push sends a whole folder including its .env files, so a project arrives configured.

$ modem push ./billing-api      # .env included, node_modules skipped
$ modem run --in billing-api "run the test suite and fix what fails"

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Anything you send is readable by the agents running on that computer. Send what the work needs, and keep unrelated production secrets out.

Checking what is connected

$ modem doctor

Reports the computer's state and which tools answer on it.