Automate

A desktop app that deploys LLM-powered automations to any SSH-accessible VM.

How It Works

• Desktop app (Tauri 2.x) manages VM connections, automation configs, and deployment over SSH
• Daemon (Rust binary) runs on your VM via systemd, handling cron jobs, webhooks, log watchers, and chat triggers autonomously
• Agent runtimes (Claude Code, Codex) are spawned by the daemon to execute prompts with minimum-scoped credentials
• .automate.yml checked into your repo defines automations declaratively -- no credentials, safe to commit

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Rust toolchain (stable)
• Node.js 18+
• A Linux VM with SSH access (key-based auth)
• An agent runtime installed on the VM (claude or codex)

Setup

git clone https://github.com/user/automate.git
cd automate
cargo build --workspace
cd frontend && npm install && cd ..

Run

cd crates/automate-desktop
cargo tauri dev

First Use

1. Add a VM in the Connection Manager (host, port, SSH key path)
2. Click "Test Connection" to verify access
3. Deploy the daemon -- the app handles binary download, systemd setup, and nginx config
4. Create an automation or point the app at a repo with .automate.yml

.automate.yml

automations:
  - name: daily-digest
    trigger: cron(0 9 * * *)
    auth_profile: personal-sub
    prompt: "Summarize open PRs and post to Slack #dev"

  - name: on-push
    trigger: webhook
    auth_profile: work-bedrock
    prompt: "Review the diff and open a PR with fixes. Payload: $WEBHOOK_BODY"

  - name: watch-errors
    trigger: log_pattern("ERROR")
    file: /var/log/app.log
    auth_profile: codex-sub
    prompt: "Diagnose this error and create a GitHub issue. Context: $LOG_MATCH"

  - name: run-on-demand
    trigger: manual
    auth_profile: personal-sub
    prompt: "Run the test suite and report failures"

Trigger types: cron(...), webhook, log_pattern(...), manual

Interpolation variables: $WEBHOOK_BODY, $LOG_MATCH, $TIMESTAMP

Auth Profiles

Credentials live in ~/.automate/profiles.yml on your machine (gitignored). .automate.yml references profiles by name only.

# ~/.automate/profiles.yml
auth_profiles:
  personal-sub:
    runtime: claude-code
    mode: subscription
  work-bedrock:
    runtime: claude-code
    mode: bedrock
    aws_region: us-east-1
    aws_model: anthropic.claude-sonnet-4-6-20251001-v2:0
  codex-sub:
    runtime: codex
    mode: subscription

Supported Runtimes

Runtime	Auth Modes
claude-code	subscription, bedrock, api-key
codex	subscription, api-key

Channels

Slack -- Uses Socket Mode (outbound WebSocket, no public IP needed). Configure a Slack app with bot + app tokens, set allowed channels and user IDs. Messages from allowlisted users trigger ad-hoc jobs.

WhatsApp -- Uses a whatsapp-web.js Node.js bridge spawned by the daemon. Scan a QR code in the desktop app to link your number. Set allowlisted phone numbers. Suitable for personal/low-volume use. Requires Node.js on the VM. No Meta Business account required.

Development

cargo build --workspace          # build all crates
cargo test --workspace           # run all tests
cargo fmt --all --check          # check formatting
cargo clippy --workspace         # lint Rust
cd frontend && npm run lint      # lint frontend
cargo tauri dev                  # full dev server (from crates/automate-desktop/)

Workspace has 3 crates: automate-shared (types), automate-daemon (VM binary), automate-desktop (Tauri app), plus frontend/ (React/TypeScript). See CLAUDE.md for conventions.

License

BSD 2-Clause. See LICENSE.