---
title: Connect a server
description: Connect a Linux server to the Mac app over SSH. Dray installs itself there, and your agents run there, not on your laptop.
sidebar:
  order: 10
---

All you need is a Linux server you can reach over SSH with a key. The Mac app does the rest.

1. **Add the server**

    In the Mac app, open Settings → Servers → Add server and paste the SSH line, like `ssh root@1.2.3.4`.

    <img src="/docs/blume-assets/content/content/images/server-add-light.png" alt="The Add server dialog with an SSH line pasted in" width="400" className="dark:hidden" />
    <img src="/docs/blume-assets/content/content/images/server-add.png" alt="The Add server dialog with an SSH line pasted in" width="400" className="hidden dark:block" />

    The app connects with your Mac's own `ssh`. No port is opened, no password is stored, and Dray never sees your key. If SSH asks for a password, the app shows the `ssh-copy-id` line that sets up a key.

2. **Install Dray there**

    If Dray is not on the server yet, the app offers to install it. Pick what else to install: Claude Code, Codex, pi, fx and Grok Build, plus git, the GitHub CLI, ffmpeg and a browser for your agents.

    <img src="/docs/blume-assets/content/content/images/server-install-light.png" alt="The install dialog, listing what is already on the server and what to add" width="400" className="dark:hidden" />
    <img src="/docs/blume-assets/content/content/images/server-install.png" alt="The install dialog, listing what is already on the server and what to add" width="400" className="hidden dark:block" />

    Dray runs as a systemd user service, so it keeps running after you log out and comes back after a reboot. That needs linger on your user; if setup cannot turn it on, it says so, and `sudo loginctl enable-linger <user>` fixes it. If Dray is installed but stopped, the app starts it.

3. **Sign in**

    Each agent needs its own login on the server, and so does `gh`. Once Dray is running there, the app shows that server's accounts, the same list as Settings → Accounts. Sign in opens Terminal on the server, running that login.

    <img src="/docs/blume-assets/content/content/images/server-sign-in-light.png" alt="The sign-in dialog, listing each login the server still needs" width="400" className="dark:hidden" />
    <img src="/docs/blume-assets/content/content/images/server-sign-in.png" alt="The sign-in dialog, listing each login the server still needs" width="400" className="hidden dark:block" />

4. **Attach a project**

    Attach a project, pick the server, and choose one of your GitHub repos, read through `gh` on that server. Dray clones it to `~/dray/<repo>` there. A path to a folder already on the server works too.

    <img src="/docs/blume-assets/content/content/images/server-attach-light.png" alt="The Attach project dialog listing GitHub repos on the server" width="511" className="dark:hidden" />
    <img src="/docs/blume-assets/content/content/images/server-attach.png" alt="The Attach project dialog listing GitHub repos on the server" width="512" className="hidden dark:block" />

    Then start a session like any other.

## Install from the server instead

If you would rather install by hand, log in to the server and run:

```bash
curl -fsSL https://www.drayhq.com/install.sh | sh
```

This installs `dray` and `dray-serve` into `~/.local/bin`, then `dray setup` asks the same questions as the app and starts the service. It ends by printing the SSH line to paste into Add server.

## What works today

- Linux on x86_64 and arm64.
- You use it through the Mac app. There is no browser version and no phone app yet.
- A Mac cannot be set up over SSH like this. To reach one Mac's sessions from another, use [Remote access](/docs/reference/remote-access).