Starbridge · Docs

Compared with other tools

How is it different from ntfy, Pushover or a webhook?

Those deliver a notification, and you still walk to the terminal to answer. With Starbridge, your answer comes back as the session's next prompt. ntfy can still deliver Starbridge's notifications, through UnifiedPush on a self-hosted server.

Why not the harnesses' own mobile apps?

Each covers one harness. Starbridge puts the questions of every session, machine and harness in one inbox.

How is it different from Happy or Omnara?

Those mirror the whole session so you drive it from the phone. Starbridge carries only the decisions the agent asks you for and the runs it reports.

Privacy and security

What does the server see?

Every question, answer, permission prompt, run, quota snapshot, image and link is signed (Ed25519) and sealed with libsodium's crypto_box_seal to each of your devices' keys. Keys are made on your devices and machines, and the server holds none that opens the items.

The device list is a signed hash chain that every client pins, so the server can't add a key of its own or roll back a revocation unseen.

The server sees your GitHub numeric id, device and machine ids, public keys, the names you give devices and machines, and push tokens. For each item, it sees its kind, id, sender, recipients, the item it answers, its size and times, and when a snoozed question comes back. It can hold items back or drop them.

The limits:

The web app is code the server sends on each load, and the Mac app shows that same page. A compromised server could send a page that reads that browser's keys, approves permission prompts, or uses a pairing code or recovery key typed into it (what such a page could do). The Android app and the CLI are installed code. Where this matters, use the Android app and no browser, scan machines' QR codes with the app, or host your own server.
A self-hosted server still sends pushes through starbridge.run's relay unless it has its own VAPID keys and uses UnifiedPush (Notifications).
A compromised machine can post anything as itself until you remove it.
Whoever holds the recovery key can take over the account.
No forward secrecy: whoever later gets a device's or machine's private key and the server's stored items opens the items still stored for it.
Anyone signed in to your GitHub account can ask to join, so approve only a join you started.
No independent security review yet. The audits so far were by AI models and by the author.

PROTOCOL.md has the formats, pairing, the device list and the permission security model.

What's kept, and for how long?

The server deletes:

answered questions and their answers 7 days after the answer;
permission prompts 7 days after they arrive;
runs a day after their last update;
unanswered questions and quota snapshots after 30 days, or unanswered questions after 7 days once an account holds more than 1000.

Delete account, in Settings, deletes everything the server holds for your account at once and signs out every device and machine. Backups keep deleted data for up to 2 weeks (privacy page).

The server then stores no password or email, only the numeric GitHub id. A self-hosted server can use an owner token instead.

Setup

Which harnesses, and how well?

Starbridge installs in Claude Code, Codex, Pi, opencode, Cursor and Antigravity (What each harness supports). Any other harness can run starbridge ask and starbridge wait.

Do I restart my harnesses after setup?

Yes. A session started before setup doesn't have Starbridge: resume it (Sessions already running).

Does it work with open models?

Yes. Starbridge works through the harness's plugin or skill, so the model doesn't matter. With no AI plan, starbridge setup --no-quota skips quotas and CodexBar.

Which platforms?

The CLI runs on Linux, macOS and Windows, x64 and arm64. Quotas need CodexBar, which has no Windows build, so a Windows machine uploads none. Start lists the apps.

Why does Starbridge use CodexBar?

A quota window that empties mid-task stalls the agent like an unanswered question, so Starbridge warns before a window runs out, and before one resets with quota unused.

CodexBar, by Peter Steinberger, is open source and already reads more than a dozen providers' plans, so Starbridge uses it instead of writing its own reader.

Do you trust CodexBar's code?

Starbridge checks that CodexBar's output still reads right, but doesn't vouch for its code. Your plan credentials stay on the machine, and only the encrypted snapshot goes up.

On Linux and macOS, setup installs CodexBar with Homebrew where it is present, else from CodexBar's GitHub release. Each Starbridge release names one CodexBar release and the SHA-256 of its files, and setup and starbridge update install only that file. A newer CodexBar release reaches you only with a Starbridge release, unless you pick one with starbridge update --codexbar <version>.

FAQ