> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://ade-app.dev/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Machines and clients

> A machine runs the brain. The desktop app, terminal, web, and phone are clients that attach to it.

A **machine** is a computer running the ADE **brain**: the always-on process that owns projects, lanes, chats, terminals, Git state, and proof. A **client** is any surface that attaches to a brain.

That split is why the computer in front of you does not have to be the computer doing the work. Your laptop can drive a desktop at home running three lanes, or a headless Linux box running tests.

```mermaid theme={null}
flowchart LR
  subgraph Machine A
    BrainA[brain] --> StoreA[(".ade project state")]
  end
  subgraph Machine B
    BrainB[brain] --> StoreB[(".ade project state")]
  end
  Desktop[desktop app] --> BrainA
  Phone[iOS app] --> BrainA
  Web[web client] --> BrainA
  Desktop -. remote .-> BrainB
```

## Clients

| Client | Runs on | What it is |
| - | - | - |
| Desktop app | macOS, Windows | The full control plane: Work, Lanes, Files, PRs, CTO, Settings. |
| `ade` CLI | macOS, Linux, Windows | Typed commands for agents and scripts over the same lanes and chats. |
| Web client | Any browser | Owner-only hosted view over the sync connection. |
| iOS app | iPhone | Follow chats, review, and answer questions from anywhere. |
| SSH-attached desktop | Any host | A desktop window attached to a brain on another machine. |

A client never owns a chat. Sessions live on the machine's runtime, so the same conversation appears on every client attached to it.

## Account and pairing

Signing in with the same account links your machines into one list. `ade connect` adds a machine; a machine with no browser shows a QR code you scan from the phone. You can also skip the account and use one machine locally — you just cannot reach it from anywhere else.

## Where state lives

Each project keeps its ADE state in `.ade/` inside the repository: the local database, worktrees, artifacts, and caches. Your source tree stays under Git's control. Machine-wide state (accounts, machine list, provider credentials) lives in the ADE home directory, not in the repository.

## What follows from this

* **A lane belongs to its machine.** Chats and terminals for that lane run there and only there.
* **A chat can still borrow another machine.** It can run a command or a simulator on another of your machines in a hidden work copy there, without moving the chat or making a lane; see [use another machine from the chat](https://ade-app.dev/docs/tools/remote-machines.md#use-another-machine-from-the-chat-you-are-in).
* **Remote actions are scoped.** The app passes the target machine with every action; see [remote machines](https://ade-app.dev/docs/tools/remote-machines.md).
* **Killing a client does not kill the work.** The brain keeps running, and a chat can be resumed from another client.

> [card] [Connect a machine](https://ade-app.dev/docs/getting-started/connect-machine.md)
>
> Add a laptop, desktop, or headless server to your account.

> [card] [Architecture](https://ade-app.dev/docs/architecture.md)
>
> How the brain, clients, and data plane fit together.


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