manycode - multiplayer coding agents

manycode.vercel.app

manycode was called ccshare until July 2026 - same tool, wider name. The ccshare command keeps working, and existing installs update in place.

Share your live Claude Code session with friends using a short code, AirDrop-style. The host runs your agent in a PTY and mirrors the terminal; everyone who joins sees the same screen and (unless you say otherwise) can type into the same session. Works in both directions - you host and they join, or they host and you join.

Claude Code is the default, but any terminal agent works - name it after host:

manycode host              # claude
manycode host codex        # openai codex cli
manycode host opencode     # opencode
manycode host kimi         # kimi cli
manycode host aider --model gpt-5   # args pass straight through

Install (and update)

curl -fsSL https://manycode.vercel.app/install.sh | sh

One command for everything: fresh install, and re-run it any time to update (it clones to ~/manycode, or hard-updates the existing clone when it's clean). Prefer doing it by hand? git clone, npm i, npm link works too - and manycode update pulls the latest once you're installed. If manycode isn't found after npm link (homebrew's node links into the Cellar, which isn't on PATH), the installer handles it; manually it's ln -sf "$PWD/bin/manycode.js" /opt/homebrew/bin/manycode.

Then run manycode setup (or just manycode host - it onboards you the first time): a 30-second interactive wizard that asks your display name, detects which coding agents you have installed and sets your default, and picks tunnel + menu bar preferences. Everything lands in ~/.manycode/config.json; per-session flags always win over it, and rerunning manycode setup changes it any time.

node-pty ships prebuilt binaries, but npm strips the exec bit off its spawn-helper - the postinstall script in this package restores it. If claude ever fails to start with posix_spawnp failed, run npm rebuild here.

Same Wi-Fi (the AirDrop case)

# you, in your project directory
manycode host
#   code:  7KQ 2FM

# your friend, anywhere on the same network
manycode join 7KQ2FM

Discovery is a UDP broadcast carrying a hash of the code, so join finds the host automatically - no IPs. Ctrl-] detaches a joiner without touching the session.

Different networks

Three options, easiest first:

• Tunnel (on by default): hosting opens a free Cloudflare quick tunnel in the background - cloudflared comes bundled via npm, so there is nothing to install and no account needed. A few seconds later the remote join command - like manycode join 7KQ2FM --host wss://random-words.trycloudflare.com - appears in the menu bar ("copy remote join command") and in manycode code. That command works from any network. The URL is random, unguessable, and dies with your session. --tunnel waits at startup so the link prints in the banner instead; --no-tunnel keeps the session off the internet entirely. Join falls back to resolving fresh tunnel hostnames via 1.1.1.1 when the OS resolver has a stale negative answer.

  Note for friends who cloned early: joining a wss:// URL needs the current version, so have them git pull in their manycode checkout.

• Tailscale (or any reachable IP): the host banner prints a direct line like manycode join 7KQ2FM --host 192.168.1.4:42518 - swap in the tailnet IP and it connects straight through, no extra server.

• Relay: one of you runs manycode relay on any box with a public address (a $0 Fly/Railway/Render instance works - it respects PORT). Then everyone puts export MANYCODE_RELAY=wss://your-relay in their shell profile. With that set, manycode host registers with the relay automatically and manycode join CODE falls back to it when LAN discovery finds nothing. The relay is a dumb pipe; it never sees your code in plaintext discovery, just relays frames for paired rooms.

Join from a browser - nothing to install

The host also serves a terminal web page on the same port, so every session has a browser link like https://random-words.trycloudflare.com/#7KQ2FM (or http://192.168.1.4:42518/#7KQ2FM on the same network). Send it to a friend and they're in the live session from any browser - phone included - with the code prefilled; no git clone, no node, nothing. It's a full xterm.js terminal speaking the same protocol as the CLI joiner, so they see the same screen and can type unless the session is --read-only. The link shows in the host banner, the menu bar ("copy browser link"), and manycode code.

The code scrolled away?

Claude's UI takes over the screen right after the banner, so two things bring the code back:

• macOS menu bar - hosting auto-starts a tiny status bar helper showing your live code (and how many friends are on). Click it to copy the code, join commands, or the browser link; open the anywhere-tunnel on a lan-only session; end the session; and get notifications when friends join or leave. It compiles itself from menubar/menubar.swift on first run (needs the Xcode command line tools) and quits when your sessions end. manycode host --no-menubar opts out; manycode menubar starts it by hand and keeps it running.
• manycode code - prints the code, project, and joiner list for every active session, on any platform. manycode stop [code] ends a session from any terminal without switching back to the one hosting it.

Group sessions and late invites

Up to 5 friends can be in one session (--max changes that); everyone sees the same screen and everyone can type. Nobody has to be there at the start - the code works for the whole session, and late joiners get the recent scrollback replayed plus a fresh repaint. Started lan-only and now want someone remote? manycode tunnel opens the anywhere-link on the running session and prints the join command - no restart.

Talk on the side

Every session has a chat channel that never touches the shared prompt, so you can sort out who's driving without typing over each other. In the browser it's a sidebar with an unread badge; in the CLI, Ctrl-T opens a chat line (Enter sends, Esc cancels); the host sends from any terminal with manycode say "message" and gets a macOS notification when someone writes. Late joiners get the recent chat replayed, and names are stamped by the host - nobody can impersonate anyone.

Useful flags

• manycode host --read-only - friends can watch but not type.
• manycode host --approve - each joiner waits until you click Allow in a macOS dialog; manycode setup can make that the default, --no-approve skips it for one session.
• manycode host --record - saves the whole session as an asciinema .cast file in the project directory; play it back with asciinema play or upload it to asciinema.org.
• manycode host --share-secrets - hosting a folder with .env files asks what joiners should see; the default masks the values with •••••• in the live stream, the scrollback replay, and recordings (your own screen stays raw). --redact-secrets skips the question, --share-secrets shares real values.
• manycode host -- --resume - everything after -- goes to claude itself.
• manycode host <anything> - share any terminal program, agents or otherwise.
• manycode join CODE --name dev-priya - how you appear on the host's side.
• manycode host --max 2 - cap joiners (default 5).

How it behaves

• The PTY runs at the smallest connected terminal, tmux-style, so everyone sees the same frame. When someone joins, resize + a repaint jiggle gives them a fresh screen; they also get the recent scrollback (last 256KB) replayed.
• New joiners ring a bell on the host and the terminal title shows manycode CODE · N connected.
• The session dies when claude exits on the host; joiners are told and dropped.

Security, plainly

The code is the only auth, and anyone who has it can type into a real terminal on the host's machine - that means running arbitrary commands. Only share codes with people you'd hand your laptop to. Codes die with the session, direct/LAN traffic is plain ws:// on your local network, and the relay sees terminal bytes, so put the relay behind TLS (wss://) if you deploy one.

Hosting a folder that contains .env files masks their values in everything joiners see (and in recordings) unless you explicitly --share-secrets - so a stray cat .env on stream shows dots, not credentials. It's a literal byte match: values also visible through some other encoding still leak, so treat it as a seatbelt, not a vault.

--approve adds a second gate: a joiner with the right code still waits until you click Allow. That's enforced by the host for direct, LAN, and tunnel joiners (their input is dropped until admitted). Over a self-hosted relay it's best-effort - relay input frames aren't attributed per joiner, so treat approval there as protection against accidental joins, not hostile ones.