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Before the Electron rewrite this was my whole workflow: AO running on a headless Mac mini, and I'd reach the dashboard in a browser from my MacBook over Tailscale (so I could close the laptop without stopping anything). I can't find a way to do that in the current build.
What I've found:
- The daemon binds 127.0.0.1:3001 and serves only /api/v1 — a browser just gets JSON.
- The "Connect Mobile" listener (:3011) is an API bridge for the RN app and rejects browsers with BAD_PASSWORD.
- The desktop app's API base URL looks compiled-in to loopback, and the CLI has no --host flag — so neither seems pointable at a remote daemon.
Did I miss something? Is there any supported way to point the desktop app or CLI at a daemon on another host, or to reach the dashboard from another machine on the same Tailnet — or is the mobile app the only remote client now?
Latest desktop build, macOS (Apple silicon). Thanks!
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Replies: 2 comments 1 reply
You didn’t miss anything as far as I can tell. Based on the current architecture and documentation, the workflow you described - running AO on a headless Mac mini and accessing the dashboard remotely from a MacBook over Tailscale - does not appear to be supported by the current desktop/CLI build.
The primary AO daemon binds to 127.0.0.1, and I couldn’t find a supported --host or remote-daemon option for pointing the CLI or desktop app at an AO instance running on another machine.
The 3011 listener also seems to be a different case. It is the LAN listener used by Connect Mobile, rather than a general-purpose remote web/dashboard endpoint. So using 3011 from a normal browser doesn't appear to provide the old remote-dashboard workflow.
For the setup you described, my understanding is currently:
Headless Mac mini + local AO daemon: supported
MacBook → Mac mini dashboard over Tailscale: not currently supported by the desktop app
CLI → remote AO daemon: I couldn't find a supported configuration for this
Browser → 3011: not intended as a desktop dashboard interface
Mobile app → remote AO: currently appears to be the supported remote-client workflow
The architecture documentation also describes the daemon's loopback binding as an intentional constraint, so this doesn't look like something you simply missed in the UI.
That said, the Mac mini + Tailscale workflow is a very useful use case, especially for people who want AO running continuously on a headless machine. A configurable remote endpoint for the desktop app/CLI, with proper authentication, would be a useful feature.
So unless there is an undocumented configuration I'm missing, I don't think there is currently a supported way to reproduce the old Mac mini → Tailscale → MacBook dashboard workflow with the latest desktop build.
If anyone from the maintainers can confirm whether remote daemon support is planned or whether there is an existing workaround, that would be really helpful.
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I whole heartedly agree with @Eklavya-11 - I just wanted to jump into AO as a Controller for Qwen-Code, but not being able to run it on my homelab server and simultaneously steering it from my desktop (or myself with a laptop via vpn to my home network) is a constraint that keeps me from being able to go that route.
It seems like an unnecessary limitation. Even if unsupported in the name of security - there should be an advanced option that allows expert users to work around this.
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(saying do not expose it as it is unsafe should be enough IMO - no need to remove the configurability)