Settings and keys

Everything is configurable from Settings; no file editing is needed.

Changing the time zone here does not change the server clock: run timedatectl set-timezone <Zone> && systemctl restart cron too, so scheduled jobs follow (see Crons).

Install the app

Harness Maxxing installs like an app (its own window, an icon in the Dock, the taskbar or the home screen, full screen on a phone). Two places: Install app in the account menu (the person icon at the bottom of the sidebar; on a phone, in the ⊞ menu) and Settings -> General -> App.

• Chrome, Edge (computer or Android): one click when the browser offers it; otherwise the button shows the steps (the install icon at the end of the address bar, or the browser menu).
• Safari on a Mac (macOS 14 or later): File -> Add to Dock.
• iPhone / iPad: Safari's Share button -> Add to Home Screen.
• Firefox cannot install web apps on a computer: use Chrome, Edge or Safari.
• The App card shows a QR code of the address: scan it with the phone, sign in, then add it to the home screen.
• Installing needs the https address (domain access). Through Tailscale (http://100.x.y.z:8787) browsers do not offer it.

On a phone or a tablet

Phones and tablets get the touch layout (Settings -> General -> Layout changes it per device): no sidebar, no bar at the bottom, the conversation fills the screen. Two buttons sit at the top of every screen: - ☰ (top left) opens your sessions - see Sessions. Its counter shows the unread answers. - ⊞ (top right) opens everything else: a search field (the same as ⌘K), every page (Dashboard, Sessions, Files, Tasks, Crons, Notifications, Git and Infra when turned on, Extensions and pinned pages), the update waiting, the server health, your Claude plan usage, the theme, presentation mode, Settings, Help (tour, tutorial, docs) and Sign out. A dot on ⊞ means an update is waiting or the server needs attention.

Also: - In the installed app, swipe from the left edge to open the sessions, from the right edge to open the menu; swipe a drawer back towards its edge to close it. - Panels that slide up from the bottom close with a swipe down (from their handle, their title, or their content when it is scrolled to the top), or a tap on the dimmed area above them. - The microphone and send buttons are bigger; while you type, panels stay above the keyboard. - The page does not zoom (no pinch, no double tap), like a native app; fields never make the iPhone zoom in.

Claude authentication

Three ways, best first: 1. Long-lived token: run claude setup-token on any computer with a browser, paste the token. 2. API key from the Anthropic console (billed per use). 3. CLI login done on the server (claude, then /login): detected automatically.

Test makes a real one-line call and shows the model and the latency.

Turns start Claude without its update check, telemetry and feature-flag download (faster start, shorter prompt); "claude_quiet_start": false in config.json turns that off.

Claude Code updates

Update Claude Code automatically (off by default): every 6 hours the server looks for a newer stable Claude Code release (the one Anthropic marks stable: already used for some days, not the very latest). When there is one, it installs that version itself - but only when nothing is running: no conversation turn, no message waiting in a queue, no scheduled job, and the last turn ended more than 10 minutes ago. Otherwise it waits and tries again a few minutes later, so an update never cuts a turn, and a turn that starts during the update waits for it (the conversation says so; at most 7 minutes). Only the installed server does it: a second Harness Maxxing started on the same machine for development or tests never updates the machine's Claude Code. It works for the official installer and for a global npm install (another kind of install is left alone). If the new version does not start, the previous one is put back.

Each update shows in the notifications ("Claude Code updated to 2.1.5"), and the switch shows the last one (2.1.4 -> 2.1.5 and its date). A failure is also notified, once per version, with the reason; the server tries again 6 hours later. Leave the switch off to update by hand (claude update in a terminal); maxxing doctor then lists Claude Code under claude_version when it is behind.

Permission mode

A topic can have its own mode (session list -> topic menu -> Permissions), and so can a scheduled Claude job (Permission mode in the job editor): use a stricter mode where Claude reads content from outside - web pages, e-mails, forwarded messages - so instructions hidden in that content cannot make it do just anything. Order: the job's mode, else the topic's, else this global one.

Protect the secrets (on by default): in every mode, Claude's tools refuse to read or edit the server's secrets (secrets.json) and the SSH keys (~/.ssh). It stops a hidden instruction from simply reading them; a script written on purpose to open the file is not stopped, so it does not replace a stricter mode. More rules: claude_deny in config.json (Claude Code rule syntax, for example "Bash(rm -rf:*)").

See Security.

Keys (secrets vault)

Store API keys and tokens your projects need (for example OPENAI_API_KEY, SHOP_TOKEN):

• names are UPPER_CASE (A-Z, digits, _), values are hidden and shown only on Reveal;
• add a note (what it is for, where it comes from);
• Expose makes the secret available as an environment variable to every Claude session and every shell cron job – handy for scripts, and Claude never needs to see the value in a chat;
• some names are reserved (system variables, variables that make shells, Node, Python or git load code - NODE_OPTIONS, BASH_ENV, GIT_SSH_COMMAND... -, ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL, anything starting with MAXXING_); an existing key with such a name is kept but no longer exposed.

From scripts and sessions: maxxing keys list|get|set|delete (the value of set is read from stdin) - a script that renews a token writes the new value back this way. Scripts read keys from the environment (os.environ["NAME"]), never from a file of their own.

Write only the key name in memory files ("Shop API: key SHOP_TOKEN"). Extensions read keys with ctx["secret"]("NAME").

Keys live in /var/lib/claude-maxxing/secrets.json (mode 600) and are not included in the backup.