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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Commandeck free?

The free edition is free to use: unlimited local commands and buttons, no account, no expiry. Pro is a $29 one-time purchase (no subscription — buy once, yours for good) that adds SSH machines, multi-machine buttons, themes, backup/restore, and the MCP server. Every Pro build includes an automatic 14-day trial — no card, no email. See Pro & pricing.

I bought Pro — how do I activate it?

Free and Pro are two separate downloads. Your license key activates in the Pro edition: download it, open Preferences, click Activate Pro and paste your key. If you were using the free edition, don't worry — both editions share the same configuration, so your buttons and settings carry over automatically.

Why not just shell aliases or a script?

If you live in the terminal and your aliases work, you may not need Commandeck. It shines in two cases: the commands you don't run often enough to remember (the once-a-month maintenance stuff, or that command an AI gave you three weeks ago), and people who want a button, not a prompt. Buttons are visible and organized, output opens in a window, SSH targets are picked at click time, and risky commands get an "are you sure?" dialog — that's the part history | grep doesn't do.

How is this different from a self-hosted web panel?

Some tools solve a similar problem as a web service you install on a server (a container to run, a YAML file to configure, a port to expose, a browser to reach it). Commandeck takes the opposite shape: a desktop app on your own machine. Nothing to host, no open port, no config files — you edit buttons in a GUI and they're stored as plain TOML on your disk. Several people can still act on the same server: each one runs Commandeck on their own device and keeps their own buttons for that machine — so everyone under the same roof can drive the family server. The only real difference is where the buttons live: on each person's computer or phone, not on a central server you have to set up and maintain.

Does it send any data out? Telemetry? Account?

No telemetry, no account, no cloud, no network listener. Buttons and machines are plain TOML files on your disk; SSH keys stay where they are (Commandeck stores the path, never the key). The only network traffic is the SSH connections you configure. See Security.

Isn't letting an AI run shell commands dangerous?

It would be if it were on by default — it isn't. AI execution sits behind three separate opt-ins: a global setting (off by default), a per-button "AI may run this" flag, and, for buttons with confirmation enabled, an explicit confirm round-trip. Terminal-mode buttons can't be AI-run at all, and every AI execution is written to an audit log. The MCP server is local-only (stdio) — nothing is exposed on the network. Details in AI Integration (MCP).

Is it Electron? How heavy is it?

No — Commandeck is Python + Qt (PySide6) with native widgets, not a bundled browser. Linux ships as an AppImage, macOS as a .dmg, Windows as an installer. SSH uses Paramiko, so there's no dependency on a system OpenSSH.

Does it work on Wayland?

Yes. A couple of window-manager niceties are honestly gated: always-on-top works on X11 and is disabled-with-a-reason on Wayland, because the compositor owns that decision.

When is the Android app coming? iOS?

A native Android app (a full app with SSH and themes — not a web wrapper) is in closed testing and headed for the Play Store. iOS follows Android (same codebase), no date yet.

What does the Android app do differently?

The Android app is the remote control: it runs your buttons on your machines, over SSH. Most of the computer app is there — machines (by key or password, or found by scanning your network), buttons that run on one or several machines, the free button packs, saved "Run as", command variables, the six button themes, and backups that move between phone and computer.

What stays on the computer:

  • Running commands on the device itself. The phone is the remote, not the machine.
  • Typing into a program. A button in Open in terminal mode opens a read-only live view on the phone: you watch a log or htop as it runs, but a program you drive with keys — a file browser like ncdu, a shell — needs a computer.
  • Creating an SSH key. The computer app generates one and copies it to the server. On the phone you paste an existing private key, pick the key file, or connect with a password.
  • AI integration (MCP), multi-select, custom CSS and the search bar.
  • A few button-editor options: text color, hiding the label or the icon, and the tooltip.

The rest of this wiki describes the computer app; the pages of the features above say what changes on Android.

What happens if the project stops?

Your app keeps working. Pro is a one-time purchase with offline-friendly licensing — no subscription to lapse, no server your buttons depend on. Your config is plain TOML on your own disk — nothing is locked to a server or an account.

Where is my configuration stored?

Platform Location
Linux ~/.config/commandeck/
macOS ~/Library/Application Support/Commandeck/
Windows %APPDATA%\Commandeck\

buttons.toml is human-readable — you can read, back up or version it however you like. Pro adds one-click backup & restore.

Can I use it without any servers?

Absolutely — the free tier is exactly that: a local launcher for the commands you run on your own machine. SSH only matters when you add remote machines (Pro).

I found a bug / I have an idea. Where do I go?

GitHub Issues for bugs, Discussions for ideas and for sharing useful buttons. Every report is read, and bugs get fixed.