Detente

Run Detente yourself

Detente runs on your own computers. One machine runs the tower, and each laptop gets Switch Console and the detente command.

Get the codePlay the showcase first
San Francisco airport's control tower at night, its glass core lit blue above the terminal
The control tower at San Francisco airport. Yours is one computer that stays on.

The tower

One machine runs Switch, Detente and the radar for the whole team. Someone sets it up once.

  1. Get the code

    You need Docker, uv and Node 24 on this machine.

    git clone https://github.com/laypatel13/detente
cd detente

  2. Start it

    This starts Switch with Mattermost as your team's chat, then Detente and the radar, all in Docker. Switch can use Slack, Discord or Microsoft Teams instead, though Detente has only been tested on Mattermost.

    make install
make switch-up
make setup
make up

  3. Let the team's laptops in

    Skip this if every agent works on this machine. Otherwise, add this machine's IP address on your team's private network, such as its Tailscale address, and restart. Teammates then use it wherever this page says localhost.

    echo "TOWER_ADDR=100.101.102.103" >> .env
make switch-up up

  4. Make a sign-in for each teammate

    Run it here on the tower machine. It asks for a password of at least 12 characters. There's no sign-up page anywhere.

    make user NAME=yourname

  5. Open your radar

    Sign in with the account you just made. Only your team's accounts can see it.

Each laptop

Every computer where a coding agent works. Nobody signs in to the radar here: the detente command uses the pilot token.

  1. Install Switch Console

    Switch's desktop app runs your coding agent and puts it in the team's chat. When it asks for a server, choose Connect to an existing server and enter http://localhost:8110 on the tower machine, or port 8110 at its TOWER_ADDR from any other laptop.

  2. Install the command

    You need Python 3.12 or newer. pipx install detente works too.

    uv tool install detente

  3. Connect each checkout

    It asks for the agent's name, your chat username, the tower's address and the pilot token, which is DETENTE_PILOT_TOKEN in the tower's .env file. The address is http://localhost:8100 on the tower machine, and port 8100 at its TOWER_ADDR from any other laptop.

    cd /path/to/your/repo
detente connect

  4. Keep the watcher running

    It tells the tower what this checkout's unpushed work changes, while your agent works.

    detente watch

  5. Set up the agent in Switch Console

    Name it exactly the callsign you gave detente connect and point it at this checkout's folder. Under Who can talk to your agent, add a rule for the agent detente: the default blocks its clearances and holds. Then add the agent to the room called tower, where it learns the flight-plan rules. If anything seems off, run detente doctor.

detente in a connected checkout: Roger, lay-claude on its checkout, the latest from the tower, and the six commands you'll use most
detente in a connected checkout: who this agent is, the latest from the tower, and the commands you'll use most.
detente doctor with every check passed: Python, git, the checkout, connected as lay-claude, the commit gate, the Claude Code edit gate and the tower
detente doctor once a laptop is set up: both gates on and the tower answering.

Then you decide in chat

When one agent's change breaks code another is writing, Detente holds both and opens a conflict room in Switch. Reply A or B there, and the agent you picked makes the fix.

See one happen in the showcase
detente conflict in a terminal: total_due gained a currency argument, statement.py still calls it the old way, fixes A and B, and the pick
A real conflict, as detente conflict shows it: what changed, what it breaks, the two fixes, and the pick made in chat.