Pi pod runs the Pi coding agent in a sandbox on a server you run, with iOS and Android clients to attach from anywhere

Leaving a coding agent running overnight ties the session to the one laptop it started on, and to whatever credentials that laptop happens to carry. Pi pod, a new open-source project at pi-pod/pipod on GitHub, keeps the session on a server the developer runs, and attaches to it from the command line, an iOS app, or an Android app.

The project is for Pi, Earendil's coding agent. It was created on 2026-10-01, is published under AGPL-3.0, and reached 88 stars in three days. The Show HN discussion is at 87 points. The author is Evan at Billzo, LLC.

What is in the repository

The repository holds six components: a command-line client called pipod, a server that owns pod lifecycle through a REST API, session gateway, lifecycle workers and Postgres, a sandbox service that runs many isolated pods inside one container on the same host, an iOS app in Swift and SwiftUI, an Android app in Kotlin and Compose, and a self-host directory with one Docker Compose project installed and upgraded with a single script. Inside each pod the server runs Pi behind a small shim, and clients drive the session over the server's gateway. Identity is handled by Zitadel over OIDC and the server stores no passwords.

What it needs to run

The self-host guide calls for a Linux host with 8 GB of RAM, Docker with the Compose plugin, git, openssl and Node 22.19 or later. Installation is one selfhost/upgrade command that generates secrets, builds the images and starts the stack. An upgrade is git pull and the same script again. The command-line client is published to npm as @pipod/cli and needs Node 22.19 or later; the server refuses a client newer than itself and prints a message to say so.

Why the shape matters

A coding agent that runs for hours needs somewhere to keep its working state across pauses, resumes and forks, needs to reach a repository and its secrets from more than one device, and needs an isolated environment so it cannot read anything the operator did not grant. Pi pod puts those three pieces on the same server. Sessions pause when the agent is idle, which saves compute while the agent waits for the operator. Sessions can be launched in parallel, which the project describes as divide and conquer across repositories and tasks. The web of client apps means the operator can start a run from a laptop, check it on a phone during a meeting, and finish it at home.

A hosted service at pipod.dev is described on the landing page as coming later, and the author says it will run the same code with an extension that adds per-user hosts, metering and billing. Those parts are not in the repository, and the server runs without them.

The project is one developer's answer to a question many Pi users were already asking, which is where to put the agent. The AGPL licence means a company that modifies the server for its own hosted product has to publish the modifications. Self-hosting avoids that, and keeps the code and credentials inside the organisation that owns them.

Source

Primary source: pi pod on pipod.dev and the pi-pod/pipod repository on GitHub. Discussion: Show HN at news.ycombinator.com.