What it is
The grid
Each cell is its own PTY, configured by a layout you control. Sessions stay alive across moves; scrollback persists to disk.
State, not just output
Every cell is in one of five states — streaming, waiting, idle, question, dead — visible in the header. Auto-approve and timers are built on top.
HiveDesk
Terminals and remote desktops in the same grid. VNC, RDP, SSH, and iDRAC sessions render in cells exactly like agent terminals do.
Web dashboard
Monitor every session from any browser. Live xterm.js terminal viewer, state badges, cost and resource charts. Toggle into interactive mode to send input without opening the desktop app.
Architecture
Electron app ─┬─► Hive server ──► PTY sessions ──► Claude / shell processes
│ (scrollback, ▲
│ IPC, state) └── NATS JetStream transport (Quanta)
│
├─► Web dashboard ──► WebSocket ──► same Hive server
│ (browser, zero install, live terminal + charts
│ Zitadel JWT auth)
│
└─► QuantaProxy ──► guacd ──► VNC / RDP / iDRAC
(HiveDesk) remote desktops in-grid
Security layer: Zitadel OIDC ──► JWT/JWKS validation ──► read/write/admin
Vault-service ──► E2EE credentials at rest (device-key-wrapped)
TLS everywhere ──► Caddy reverse proxy (auto-HTTPS)
The Electron renderer and web dashboard are two views into the same Hive server. The server owns process lifecycle, scrollback retention, and state detection. NATS JetStream provides the secure transport layer for multi-node deployments. Zitadel handles identity; vault-service keeps credentials encrypted at rest.
For developers
Hive is a TypeScript codebase: an Electron renderer, a Node server, and a small set of native bridges. Read the source, run it locally, open issues.
git clone https://github.com/paxinos/hive
cd hive
npm install
npm run dev
- Electron
- 41.x
- xterm.js
- 6.x
- Node
- 20+
- Language
- TypeScript
- Platform
- macOS-first
For ops & teams
Hive runs as a server, not just a desktop app. The standalone daemon keeps sessions alive across reboots, exposes a web dashboard for browser-based monitoring, and integrates with enterprise identity and secrets infrastructure.
- · Web dashboard — monitor any session from a browser, take interactive control without the desktop app.
- · Scrollback retained on disk; sessions survive crashes and restarts.
- · Multi-machine — connect from another host without losing state.
- · Remote desktops via SSH, RDP, VNC, and iDRAC in the same grid.
- · Zitadel OIDC — SSO login for the web dashboard; per-user read/write/admin roles.
- · NATS JetStream transport — at-least-once delivery, JWT/NKey credentials per client, TLS everywhere.
- · Vault-service integration — remote desktop credentials stored E2EE at rest, never plaintext on disk.
Status
What works, what's rough, and what's planned. Kept honest.
Mature
Used daily, stable surface area.
- · Cell grid + custom layouts
- · Per-cell state machine (idle / waiting / streaming / question / dead)
- · Scrollback retention to disk
- · Auto-approve with pattern matching
- · Web dashboard — live terminal viewer, state badges, cost charts
- · API key authentication for web access
Experimental
Working but rough; details may change.
- · HiveDesk on non-macOS hosts
- · iDRAC6 KVM bridge (IVTP protocol)
- · Inline image rendering (xterm OSC 1337)
- · Multi-machine session reattach
Planned
Designed; not yet shipping.
- · Zitadel OIDC — SSO login, per-user roles enforced server-side
- · NATS JetStream transport — Quanta-level security, multi-node
- · Vault-service — E2EE credentials at rest
- · Session recording & playback with state annotations
- · Guacamole cells in web dashboard (no Electron required)
- · Public open-source release
- · Linux desktop build
- · Packaged installer for non-developers