For AI agents: The documentation index is at https://docs.digitalocean.com/llms.txt. Markdown versions of pages use the same URL with index.html.md in place of the HTML page (for example, append index.html.md to the directory path instead of opening the HTML document).

Herdr 1-Click Application

Deploy Herdr, the terminal runtime coding agents run in, with Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Grok Build, Kilo Code CLI, and Cursor Agent CLI already installed. SSH in, run herdr, and start an agent in a pane. You do not install those CLIs yourself.

What is Herdr?

Herdr is a terminal multiplexer for coding agents. Each agent keeps its own pane. You can detach, close the laptop, or drop the SSH session, and the agents keep working. Reattach later with herdr.

This image installs Herdr as a systemd service and preinstalls six agent CLIs Herdr already knows how to run:

Herdr integrations for those agents are installed too, so Herdr can restore their sessions after the server restarts.

Key Features

• Herdr server starts on boot and survives SSH disconnects
• Six coding-agent CLIs on PATH from the first login
• Session-restore integrations for Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Grok Build, Kilo Code, and Cursor Agent CLI
• SSH only — there is no web interface
• Helper scripts to start, stop, restart, and update Herdr and the agents

System Requirements

The agents do most of their work at the model provider. The Droplet needs enough memory to run Herdr plus one or more agent processes.

Included System Components

• Ubuntu 24.04 LTS — Base operating system
• Herdr 0.9.3 — Terminal runtime for coding agents (herdr.service)
• Claude Code 2.1.289 — Anthropic coding agent
• Codex CLI 0.165.0 — OpenAI coding agent
• OpenCode 1.18.34 — Open-source coding agent
• Grok Build 1.0.46 — xAI coding agent
• Kilo Code CLI 7.8.3 — Kilo coding agent
• Cursor Agent CLI 2026.10.01-e373342 — Cursor coding agent (cursor-agent)
• Node.js 22 — Used to install Kilo Code CLI
• Git, ripgrep, curl, jq, unzip, build-essential — Development utilities
• UFW Firewall — SSH only, rate-limited

Software Included

Creating an App using the Control Panel

Click the Deploy to DigitalOcean button to create a Droplet based on this 1-Click App. If you aren’t logged in, this link will prompt you to log in with your DigitalOcean account.

Creating an App using the API

In addition to creating a Droplet from the Herdr 1-Click App using the control panel, you can also use the DigitalOcean API. As an example, to create a 4GB Herdr Droplet in the SFO2 region, you can use the following curl command. You need to either save your API access token to an environment variable or substitute it in the command below.

curl -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
         -H 'Authorization: Bearer '$TOKEN'' -d \
        '{"name":"choose_a_name","region":"sfo2","size":"s-2vcpu-4gb","image":"herdr"}' \
        "https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/droplets"

Getting Started After Deploying Herdr

Getting Started

1. Deploy the Droplet

1. Select this 1-Click App from the DigitalOcean Marketplace
2. Choose a Droplet size (4 GB RAM minimum; 8 GB recommended)
3. Add your SSH key
4. Create the Droplet

2. SSH In

ssh root@your-droplet-ip

3. Attach on the Droplet

The Herdr server is already running.

herdr

Detach with Ctrl-b then q. Agents keep running. Run herdr again to reattach.

4. Attach from your laptop

Install Herdr on the laptop, then point an SSH config entry at the Droplet. Herdr uses that host name with --remote, so the local client draws the UI and the Droplet keeps the panes.

On the laptop:

curl -fsSL https://herdr.dev/install.sh | sh

Add this to ~/.ssh/config. Use the SSH key you added when you created the Droplet. Host is the name you will pass to Herdr.

Host herdr-droplet
  HostName your-droplet-ip
  User root
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Confirm the host alias from the laptop, then exit that shell and attach:

ssh herdr-droplet
exit
herdr --remote herdr-droplet

Without an SSH config entry, the same attach is:

herdr --remote ssh://root@your-droplet-ip

Detach from the laptop with Ctrl-b then q. The agents stay on the Droplet. Run herdr --remote herdr-droplet again to come back. Remote attach uses your laptop’s Herdr keybindings.

5. Start an Agent

Inside a Herdr pane:

cd /root/workspace
claude

The same pane can run codex, opencode, grok, kilo, or cursor-agent. Each CLI is already installed.

6. Sign In Once Per Agent

The binaries are on the image. Each product still needs your own account or API key the first time you launch it:

Grok Build can also use an API key in the environment (XAI_API_KEY, or the key its CLI documents) instead of device login.

Managing Herdr

Herdr runs as herdr.service.

The same actions through systemd:

systemctl start herdr
systemctl stop herdr
systemctl restart herdr
systemctl status herdr

Stopping the server ends live panes. Herdr restores the saved layout on the next start, and the preinstalled integrations let it resume agent sessions.

Configuration

• Herdr binary: /usr/local/bin/herdr
• systemd unit: /etc/systemd/system/herdr.service
• Agent binaries: /usr/local/bin/claude, codex, opencode, grok, cursor-agent (Kilo Code CLI: /usr/bin/kilo)
• Getting started guide: cat /root/herdr_info.txt
• Workspace directory: /root/workspace

Troubleshooting

herdr does not attach

Check the service, then start it:

/opt/status-herdr.sh
/opt/start-herdr.sh

An agent command is not found

Open a new login shell, or run the binary directly:

/usr/local/bin/claude --version
/usr/local/bin/codex --version
/usr/local/bin/opencode --version
/usr/local/bin/grok --version
/usr/bin/kilo --version
/usr/local/bin/cursor-agent --version

An agent asks to sign in

That is expected on first launch. Use the sign-in command in the table above. The CLI is already installed.

Additional Resources

• Herdr docs: https://herdr.dev/docs/
• Remote attach: https://herdr.dev/docs/how-to-work/
• Supported agents: https://herdr.dev/docs/agents/
• Integrations: https://herdr.dev/docs/integrations/

Support

For Herdr issues, see https://herdr.dev/docs/ and https://github.com/herdrdev/herdr.

For DigitalOcean Droplet issues:

• DigitalOcean Support: https://www.digitalocean.com/support
• Community Tutorials: https://www.digitalocean.com/community