The Waired app

On a computer with a screen, the Waired app is Waired. Nearly everything on this site can be done from it, without typing a command.

Where to find it

Click the Waired icon:

macOS	In the menu bar, along the top of the screen
Windows	Next to the clock, at the right end of the taskbar. If you don’t see it, click the ^ arrow to show hidden icons
Linux	Next to the clock, in the top or bottom bar

screenshot pendingThe Waired app menu open, showing the connected status at the top, the signed-in account below it, and the model, sharing and coding-tool sections underneath.public/img/app-ready.png

The whole app is this one menu.

The icon is not the whole of Waired

Waired runs as a background service, started when your computer starts. The icon is how you talk to it. Quitting the icon does not stop Waired — see Quit at the bottom of this page.

Reading the top line

The first line tells you the state of everything else. If it is not Connected, nothing below it will work as described.

Top line	What it means	What to do
● Connected	Signed in and reachable.	Nothing.
◐ Connecting…	Working on it, just after you sign in or wake the computer.	Wait a few seconds.
○ Not signed in	Waired is installed but has no account yet.	Choose Log in… below it.
◐ Signing in… / ◐ Activating…	A sign-in you started is in progress.	Finish it in the browser window that opened.
○ Disconnected	Signed in, but not reaching the network right now.	Choose Connect. If that does not help, see Troubleshooting.
⚠ Waired agent is not running	The background service has stopped.	See Waired is not running.

Signing in and connecting

The item under the status line changes with the state:

• Log in… — starts sign-in. Your browser opens for a Google account.
• Disconnect — takes this computer off your private network, without signing out. Requests stop being routed. Use it when you want your tools to go back to the cloud for a while.
• Connect — puts it back.

Signing in here does not finish a first-time setup

On a brand-new computer, installing the AI software needs administrator rights, which the app cannot grant on its own. If you sign in from the icon on a computer that has never been set up, setup will stop and ask you to run waired init in a terminal. On a first install, follow the Quickstart instead — the installer takes you through it in one pass.

Models — change which AI runs

Right under the status you see the model that is running now, and a Models submenu listing what this computer can run. Pick one to switch to it.

The change applies live: the AI reloads in a few seconds and keeps serving. If that model has not been downloaded yet, the download starts and the old model keeps answering until the new one is ready.

Full guidance — when to go bigger, when smaller — is on Choose which AI model runs.

Inference — the AI engine itself

Inference holds the controls for the AI running on this computer.

Item	What it does
Enable / Disable inference engine	Whether this computer runs AI at all. Disabled, it can still use your other computers.
Start / Stop inference engine	Stops the engine right now to free memory (several GB), without changing any setting. Starting it again reloads the model.
Install Ollama…	Appears when the AI software is not installed yet.
Share engine to mesh	Whether your other computers may use this one’s AI. Off, you can still use it yourself.
Engine: ready / loading / disabled	The engine’s current state, and the model it has loaded.
Reachable	How many of your other computers this one can currently talk to.
Inference worker	Where this computer’s requests go — see below.

Where answers come from

Inference worker decides which machine answers when you ask something on this one:

Choice	Meaning
Auto (Waired-first)	Use this computer’s own AI when it has one; otherwise ask one of your others. The default.
Local only	Never use another computer.
Peer preferred	Prefer another computer even when this one could answer — useful on a laptop sitting next to a much faster desktop.
Pin to peer	Always use one specific computer. Pick it from the list; (clear pin) undoes it.

Stopping the engine is the memory fix

If your computer feels short of memory while you are doing something else, Stop inference engine frees it immediately and nothing else breaks — requests go to your other computers, or wait until you start it again.

Public share — lending and borrowing spare computers

Public share is off unless you turn it on. It covers two separate things:

• Share this computer publicly — other Waired users may run work on it.
• Use public computers — you may run work on theirs. Choices are use automatically when better than my own, only when I ask, or off.

Read Public share before turning either on. The short version: the owner of a public computer can read what you send it, so do not send anything private through one. The Privacy & safety… item in the submenu opens that page.

Claude Code — where your coding agent runs

Two independent switches:

• Main conversation — the route for what you type.
• Subagents — the route for Claude Code’s bulk file-reading helpers.

Each can be Waired (your own AI only), Anthropic (the real API), or Auto (prefer yours, fall back to the cloud if it cannot serve). Splitting them is genuinely useful: keep the main conversation on Anthropic for quality while the high-volume subagent reads stay on your own hardware.

The submenu also shows when the chosen route last could not serve and something else answered instead. Details on Use it from Claude Code.

Open Coding Agent…

Opens a coding agent in your browser, running on your real project and answered by your own AI — nothing to install. It runs as you, and only you can use it. See Use it from OpenCode.

This device

Your computer’s name on the network, its Waired address (click to copy), the network it belongs to, and the list of your other computers with what each one is running.

Open Admin Console…

Opens the web console — your device list, setup pages, public-share settings and account, from any browser.

Settings

Item	What it does
OpenCode / OpenClaw	Whether each coding tool is configured to use Waired, and where its config file is. Reconfigure re-applies the setup after a confirmation prompt.
Recent activity	Times in the last 10 minutes when a request could not be served the way you asked and something else answered. Empty is normal and good.
About Waired	Version information.
Start Waired on login	Whether the icon appears when you sign in to your computer. A tick means yes. Turning it off does not stop the background service.
Log out…	Signs this computer out and removes its identity. It leaves your network. To use it again you sign in from scratch.

Log out… is not the same as Disconnect

Disconnect is temporary and reversible in one click. Log out… removes this computer’s identity — the next sign-in enrolls it as a new device. If you only want to stop using your own AI for a while, use Disconnect, or pause routing.

When an update is available

A line appears near the top of the menu offering to install it. Clicking it asks for administrator rights and updates in place; see Update Waired.

Notify me about updates turns off the pop-up notification. The line in the menu stays either way, so you never lose the ability to update — you just stop being interrupted about it.

Quit

Quit closes the icon only. Waired keeps running in the background, your other computers can still reach this one, and your coding tools keep working.

To bring the icon back, start Waired from your applications list, or sign out and back in to your computer (when Start Waired on login is ticked).

The icon is missing entirely

Waired is installed but the icon is not showing. On Windows, check the ^ hidden-icons arrow first. Otherwise start the Waired app from your applications list. On Linux, a desktop with no system-tray support needs an extension — see Install on Linux.

The background service is unaffected either way: waired status in a terminal still reports a working setup.

Choose which AI model runsBigger for quality, smaller for speed — without breaking it.

The web consoleThe same controls from any browser, plus your device list.

Run a health checkOne command that checks every part and repairs most of it.

Every commandThe terminal equivalent of everything on this page.