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Remote Agent Workstation — Mac Studio Setup

KindoKindo
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Remote Agent Workstation — Mac Studio

Goal: an always-on box I connect to, kick off many AI agents, then disconnect — and it keeps running overnight while my laptop is closed. Not a screen I remote into; a workhorse server.

What I'm actually getting: a pair of Mac Studios linked by Thunderbolt at 80Gbps with RDMA, 1TB each, isolated as a dev workstation on its own IP. Access via Tailscale (proposed) with a home-IP allowlist as the day-one fallback. The pair + fast interconnect means real parallel headroom — I can spread agents across both and treat them as one pool.

Access — credentials & contacts

  • Kindo IT contact: Adib — adib@networkgears.com

  • My public key path: ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

  • Key fingerprint: SHA256:UdxNLzsBqNjs4m2hHEHFlMQ2suzhoYgBSbBfniSRSLw

  • Access route: Tailscale (free WireGuard mesh) proposed as the durable path; home-IP allowlist (73.253.6.87) as the temporary day-one fallback. IP is dynamic — roams between home + coffee shops.

  • Host IP / username: TBD — fill in once Adib provisions.

  • Never store the private key or any passphrase here — those stay on the Mac + in a password manager only.

The ask for Adib (kept simple)

What makes the multi-agent / overnight workflow work:

  • SSH access, key-only — public key sent (no passwords).

  • Never sleep + auto-recover after a reboot — so overnight jobs don't die.

  • Tailscale for access — both ends install it, the Studio joins my private net, I SSH in over a stable address from anywhere. Home-IP allowlist fine to start.

  • Screen Sharing over the SSH tunnel only — not exposed directly.

  • Isolated on its own IP — confirmed.

My side — once the box is live

1. SSH key (done)

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "daniel-kindo-studio"
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub   # send the PUBLIC one to Adib — never the private key

2. One-word connect — add to ~/.ssh/config

Host studio
    HostName <tailscale-address-or-ip>
    User <my-username>
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
    ServerAliveInterval 60

Then just ssh studio.

3. tmux — the key to persistent + parallel work

Runs keep going after I disconnect. Close the laptop, reconnect tomorrow, it's all still there.

ssh studio
tmux new -s agents     # start a session
# launch agents here — one pane each
# detach: Ctrl-b then d → close laptop, work keeps running
ssh studio
tmux attach -t agents  # reattach, see everything

One pane per agent = "more Cursors at once." Split: Ctrl-b " / Ctrl-b %, move with Ctrl-b <arrow>. With the pair, I can run agents on both machines and ssh between them over the Thunderbolt link.

4. Running the agents

  • Headless CLIs (Claude Code, aider, etc.) in tmux panes = the real overnight/AFK path. Fire off several, detach, wake up to finished work.

  • Cursor: run it locally, point it at the Studio with Remote-SSH — heavy lifting runs remote, laptop stays light.

  • GUI moments (Xcode, desktop): VNC over the tunnel — ssh -L 5900:localhost:5900 studio, then connect Screen Sharing to localhost:5900.

5. Quick one-offs without tmux

caffeinate -i <command>   # keep it awake for the job
nohup <command> &         # detach from the session
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