Quickstart

partyline is the operating system for your team and its coding agents — multiplayer, on your own models, with humans in command. Shape an idea into a plan, let your agents build it in isolated sandboxes on your own hardware, and merge only the changes that pass your tests and an independent review. A software assembly line: ideas in — PRs out.

The loop:

  • Shape a plan — pick a project and the agent interviews your idea into a tree of bounded, buildable tasks with readiness scores (the project's context thread is created for you on first use).
  • Build & Ship — agents build each task in its own git worktree off the project's base branch; finished work lands in the board's Review column for your Accept.
  • Trust gates — every change runs your tests and an independent reviewer; failures are quarantined for a human, not shipped.

Around the loop, the same tool gives you a session manager for your Claude Code / Codex / Gemini / Antigravity sessions, Context Threads (a shared memory your agents keep), a multiplayer terminal to watch or pair, and Parties where humans and agents coordinate.

New here? Read How it works for the whole loop, or install below and start with ptln shape (ptln describe in older releases).

Install

Pick whichever you trust most — every release ships a checksums.txt, the installer verifies the SHA-256 before installing, and macOS builds are Apple-signed & notarized.

macOS

Homebrew (recommended):

$ brew install partyline-sh/tap/partyline

Or the installer:

$ curl -fsSL https://partyline.sh/install.sh | sh

Linux

The installer downloads the latest release for your arch and verifies its SHA-256 before installing:

$ curl -fsSL https://partyline.sh/install.sh | sh

Rather read it first? curl -fsSL https://partyline.sh/install.sh | less

Debian / Ubuntu — download the .deb from Releases, then:

$ sudo dpkg -i partyline_*_linux_amd64.deb

Fedora / RHEL — download the .rpm, then:

$ sudo rpm -i partyline_*_linux_amd64.rpm

Any platform — download the binary

Grab a prebuilt, checksummed binary straight from github.com/partyline-sh/cli/releases (amd64 / arm64), verify it against checksums.txt, and put it on your PATH.

Sign in (once)

$ ptln login

Approve the code in your browser. Your token is saved to ~/.partyline/token.

Start a session

$ ptln start

This shares your $SHELL. partyline prints an encrypted join link — the encryption key rides in the link's # fragment, and the relay that connects you never sees it. (How encryption works →)

Running ptln on its own opens your session manager instead — a local browser for your claude / codex / gemini / antigravity CLI sessions. ptln new claude starts a fresh one; ptln --resume reopens your last set. Hosting a shared shell is always ptln start.

Share & join

Send the link. Anyone joins with:

$ ptln join 'https://partyline.sh/j/<code>#k=<key>'

Joiners are view-only until you grant typing. Treat the link like a password — anyone who has it can join and decrypt the session.

Controls inside a session

Typed commands (work at a shell prompt):

  • /pwho — who's on the session
  • /phud [on|off] — show the session HUD (who's on, each person's role, who's driving); /phud on keeps it refreshing as people join, leave, or take the keyboard
  • /pgrant [name] — grant/revoke typing (host)
  • /plock — stop new joiners (host)
  • /pinvite <email> — invite someone
  • /pexit — leave (host: end the session)
  • /phelp — show help

The ctrl-\ prefix (press ctrl-\, then a key) — works even inside full-screen apps like vim or claude, where typed /p commands can't:

  • w who's on · g grant/open typing (host) · r request control
  • h session HUD · l lock new joiners (host)
  • d leave · q end (host) · ? this cheat-sheet

Ctrl-C does not quit — the session runs in raw mode (like ssh), so Ctrl-C goes to your shell. Quit with /pexit, ctrl-\ q, or exit.

Dropped connection? partyline reconnects automatically. If your wifi blips or the relay restarts, both host and joiners re-establish the link (same session, same key) within a few seconds — no need to restart. After ~3 minutes of failed retries it gives up and tells you to start a fresh session.

Next: How it works · Shape a plan · Build & Ship · Trust gates · Sessions · Parties (agents) · Context Threads · Team & members · Security · CLI reference.