Away server: Pinchy keeps going while your computer is off

An away server is a second Pinchy without a screen, on a small machine that is always on: a home server, a mini PC or a rented server. It shares Pinchy’s memory. While your computer is asleep or off, it keeps your agents’ schedules going, runs your server agents, and answers your Telegram bot and your phone.

What to ask for

“Set up an away server.” Pinchy walks you through it: one line to paste on the other machine.
“Move my agents to another machine” or “bring my agents back to this computer.” That is “Change…” on the same card.
“Is the away server working?” He tells you whether it answers, when it last synced and what runs there.
“Run my price watcher on the server.” An agent can live on the server so it works while this computer is off.
“What happened while I was away?” He shows what the server did and what it wants to tell you.

What works while your computer is off

The scheduled runs of your agents and the heartbeat this computer would have run. They never run twice: the server only takes them over when this computer has been away for a few minutes.
Agents that live on the server keep working all the time, also while this computer is on.
Telegram: with “Keep answering while this PC is off” switched on, Pinchy on the server answers your messages. See the page “Telegram”.
The phone app shows the server’s agents and what is waiting for you, and lets you answer them.
A swarm working on the server is not interrupted by the server updating itself; after a restart it carries on by itself.

What waits for your computer

Anything that needs this computer’s screen, mouse, files or apps.
Your wallet and your passwords never go to the server.
Voice notes: speech is turned into text on your computer.

Setting it up

Settings → Agents & automation → Agents → “Keep working while this computer is off?” → Yes. The same question is at the top of the Agents window, in the form when you create an agent, and in the welcome.
Pinchy asks which machine: a computer at home that stays on, or a free cloud server. Then he shows ONE line. Paste it in that machine’s terminal: it installs him there, and this computer finds and connects it by itself. No address to type.
“This machine is only for Pinchy” gives him his own screen and browser there, so a sign-in or a captcha can be finished from your phone. Without it he works in a closed box with text and files only.
If his brain is not signed in there yet, the card shows the one command for it. Without a sign-in the other machine can receive a message but cannot think, and it tells you so.
If the machine sits on your home network, your phone only reaches it at home. The Phone screen (Settings → Agents & automation → Phone) says in words whether your phone reaches Pinchy away from home and what the next step is.

Changing it later

On the same card, once a machine is set: “Runs on a computer at home / a cloud server · Change…”.
“Another machine” runs the same short setup and moves your agents there, with their notebooks. “Only this computer” brings them back here; they then work only while this computer is on.
While you set up the new machine your agents wait on this computer. Nothing runs twice, and nothing is deleted on this computer.
At the end you choose what happens to the old machine: “Clean it” (everything of Pinchy’s is deleted from it; you get one line to remove the program itself) or “Leave it as it is” (he stops working there, its copy of his memory stays on its disk).
An agent that comes back to this computer loses the powers only you can give (working without asking, the wallet); the card names them.

How it works

The brain folder (memory, skills, tasks, what he made) is synced to the server every few minutes.
This computer tells the server it is awake. When that stops, the server waits a minute or two and then takes over the scheduled work and the Telegram bot. When this computer is back, it hands them back.
On the other machine Pinchy lives in a closed box, unless you gave him the whole machine. What he may do there is your choice: work freely in his own space, or skip anything risky and tell you.
When something on the server needs you (a question, a captcha, a sign-in), it reaches your phone and your Telegram chat. A screen step is opened from the phone app.
What an agent on the server wants to tell you (a result, a question): while this computer is on, it asks the server every few seconds and shows it at once here, on your phone and in your chat apps. While it is off, the server’s own bot sends it, if “Keep answering while this PC is off” is on; without that switch you find it under “While you were away” when the computer is back.
Restarting or updating the server only cuts the round that is running; the agents start again by themselves.

Settings

Settings → Agents & automation → Agents → While this computer is off: the question (No / Yes) and “Runs on … · Change…”; under it What he may do there, Sync the brain every, Keep Pinchy there up to date.
Settings → Agents & automation → Telegram & chat apps: Keep answering while this PC is off.
Settings → Agents & automation → Phone: whether the phone reaches Pinchy away from home.

Limits

The server uses your Claude plan like this computer does.
A server on your home network is not reachable from outside unless you add a way in (Tailscale, or Pinchy’s own encrypted link when it is switched on).
After this computer goes to sleep there can be a pause of a few minutes before the server takes over.
If your server agents show “Stopped” after updating to 2.5, resume them once. Older versions stopped them on every server restart; that is fixed.

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