Docs/Tutorials/More than one machine
Tutorials

Using more than one machine

6 min read

One machine runs out before you do. A long build blocks everything else, or you want agents working overnight on a spare desktop while your laptop travels with you. DevThrottle was built for a fleet rather than a computer, and adding the second machine is the point where that starts to show.

This is a walk-through of the idea and the order to do it in. You need DevThrottle working on one machine first.

  1. Understand what is shared and what is not

    One thing is shared: the Gateway. It is the part that knows what every session is doing, holds your settings and your dictionary, and answers your phone. Everything else - the Directors, the agents, your code - stays on the machine it belongs to.

    So adding a machine does not mean copying your work anywhere. It means telling a second computer to report to the same Gateway.

  2. Install on the second machine and point it at the same Gateway

    Install DevThrottle there as you did the first time, and when it asks which Gateway to use, give it the one you already have rather than letting it start its own. That single choice is what joins the two machines into one fleet.

    The exact steps, including what the second machine needs to be able to reach, are on Running more than one machine.

  3. Check the fleet map

    Open the Cockpit and go to the fleet map. The new machine appears as its own node with its own sessions hanging off it. If it does not appear, it has not reached the Gateway - that is a connection problem, not a DevThrottle one, and the network page walks it through.

  4. Start something on the far machine, from where you are

    From the fleet map, start a session on the other machine and give it work. You do not need to be sitting at it. That is the whole payoff: the second computer becomes somewhere you send work rather than somewhere you go.

Note
Each machine works on its own copy of your code. Two machines are not two agents sharing one checkout - if you want several agents in one repository on one machine, that is a different problem, solved by worktrees.
Tip
A machine that is asleep is not a machine in your fleet. If you want overnight work, the spare desktop has to stay awake - which is worth settling before you rely on it.

Next

For the setup detail see Running more than one machine, and network speed and diagnostics when something cannot be reached. To make the far machine work while you sleep, see Work that runs without you.