Use remote hosts only

Turn off the local daemon if you want to use HumanLayer on your desktop while your sessions run on remote hosts. You can still create tasks, review the agent's work, and send messages from the desktop app.

Before you turn it off

Connect a remote host using the remote daemon guide. Check that it appears online in Settings -> Hosts.

Finish any active work on this device before stopping its daemon. Turning off the local daemon interrupts sessions that it runs. It does not move those sessions to a remote host.

You need an online host to run sessions. You can queue work on a registered offline host, but it cannot start until that host's daemon is running again.

Turn off the local daemon

1. Open Settings -> Hosts in the desktop app.
2. Find Advanced.
3. Turn off Local daemon.
4. Confirm Stop daemon.

HumanLayer stops the daemons that this desktop app started, including those for organizations you used earlier. It also stops starting or restarting them while the setting is off.

Each daemon stops its active sessions as part of shutting down, before it exits. You don't need to stop each session yourself. Shutdown does not wait for the agent to finish its work, so finish any work you want to keep running before you turn off the setting.

Your tasks and session history stay saved. Remote daemons and their sessions keep running.

The setting stays off when you close and reopen the desktop app. It applies to this desktop app's saved settings, not to your account on other devices. The browser does not offer this control.

Choose a remote host

When you create a task, choose the remote host that should run it. Changing the local daemon setting does not change the host for an existing draft or session.

The stopped local host stays in the host list and becomes offline after its status updates. Turning off the setting does not delete the host or its history. If you select that offline host, queued work waits until its daemon runs again.

Run sessions on this device again

Open Settings -> Hosts -> Advanced and turn on Local daemon. HumanLayer starts a daemon for your signed-in account and selected organization.

Wait for this device to appear online, then choose it when you create a task. Turning the setting back on does not automatically resume work that shutdown interrupted.

If the local host stays online

The setting controls only daemons that this desktop app started. It does not stop a daemon you launched from the CLI or another copy of HumanLayer. A separate daemon can keep this device online even when the setting is off.

Stop a separately launched daemon where you started it. For a daemon running as a service, stop or disable that service; see keep the daemon running.

You can also ask a local CLI agent of your choice to clean up daemon processes on this host:

Stop all HumanLayer daemon / riptided processes on this host.

This stops all local daemons, not just those started by the desktop app, and interrupts their active sessions. A service that restarts its daemon must also be stopped or disabled.

Host status can also take time to update after shutdown, especially if the device cannot reach HumanLayer.

If stopping fails

If HumanLayer shows Could not stop the local daemon, automatic startup stays off, but a local daemon may still be running. Use the retry action to stop it again.

Do not assume the process has stopped just because the switch is off. Check the stop result and the host's status before leaving work unattended.