Desktop App

The desktop app is a thin local wrapper around the web app with access to your machine.

What it adds

The desktop app provides local capabilities that a browser cannot:

  • direct connection to your local terminal
  • linking Overlord projects to repository folders on your machine
  • launching agents into those repositories
  • embedded terminal sessions with configurable tmux profiles (local and server)
  • AI-assisted Git commit messages and push from the Current Changes view
  • per-user agent configuration (flags, default model, permissions) synced through Overlord
  • local notifications

The main use case

This is the surface that makes Overlord useful for real repository work instead of only abstract planning.

Local agent connectors

The desktop app is also where Overlord manages durable local agent integrations.

For Codex, the desktop app can install the Overlord plugin into:

  • ~/.codex/plugins/overlord
  • ~/.agents/plugins/marketplace.json
  • ~/.codex/rules/default.rules

That local plugin bundles the Overlord Codex workflow skill and the MCP bridge that shells into the installed ovld CLI.

If you already installed the npm CLI, you can install the same local Codex plugin with ovld setup codex. Cursor has an equivalent local plugin connector installable with ovld setup cursor, and Claude Code, OpenCode, and Gemini integrations follow the same ovld setup <agent> pattern.

Change Viewer

The desktop app also includes a built-in diff browser for linked repositories.

It lets you:

  1. open the project's Current Changes view
  2. inspect uncommitted files and their status
  3. view the unified diff for any file
  4. inspect the rationale attached to changed hunks

That rationale comes from agent deliveries and helps explain why a change was made.

Related pages