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jackin'

Quick Start

Two ways to drive jackin’

Section titled “Two ways to drive jackin’”

jackin’ has two surfaces and you’ll use both — but very differently:

  • jackin console — the interactive operator console (TUI). The simplest and most convenient surface, and the one most operators stay on day-to-day. Today it covers launching agents (the load flow), managing workspaces (workspace), and editing the per-workspace auth and env tables (config for those scopes). The remaining CLI subcommands — hardline, eject, exile, purge, global mounts and global env, multi-session preview — are not in the console yet and live on the CLI for now; they will land in the console as the TUI grows feature by feature.
  • jackin load and the rest of the CLI — the advanced, scriptable surface. Use it when you want a saved one-liner, an automation script, a specific niche flag the console doesn’t expose, or a feature the console doesn’t yet have. There is no feature parity between the two on purpose: new flags land on the CLI first.

The expectation is most people use the TUI, and reach for the CLI only when they need it.

The walkthrough below starts with jackin load because it is the shortest one-shot demonstration of jackin’ isolation model — install, load, see for yourself that the agent is now running in an isolated world it can’t escape. Once that shape clicks, the operator console is where you stay for daily work.

Load your first agent (CLI)

Section titled “Load your first agent (CLI)”

In jackin’, the first thing you choose is usually a role. That is the tool profile you want to run. agent-smith is the default starter role included by this project.

  1. Navigate to your project directory

    Terminal window
    cd ~/Projects/my-app

  2. Load an agent

    Terminal window
    jackin load agent-smith

    The first time you run this, jackin’ will:

    • Pull the construct base image
    • Clone the agent-smith role repository
    • Build a derived Docker image with Claude Code installed
    • Create an isolated Docker network
    • Launch the container with your current directory mounted

  3. You’re inside

    Claude Code starts automatically with full permissions inside the container. Your project directory is mounted at the same path, so the agent sees the same file layout you do.

  4. Exit when done

    Press Ctrl+C or type /exit in Claude Code to leave. The container stops, but its state is persisted for next time.

If you already know you want a more specialized role, swap agent-smith for something else such as the-architect.

Move to the operator console for daily use

Section titled “Move to the operator console for daily use”

Once you’ve seen jackin load work end-to-end, switch to the console for everyday work:

Terminal window
jackin console

This opens the operator console — a TUI where you can:

  • Pick from saved workspaces or use the current directory
  • Preview the final directory mounts for the highlighted role before loading it
  • Choose which role and agent to load
  • Manage saved workspaces, env vars, and auth without remembering flag syntax

See jackin console for the full reference, including the bare-jackin shortcut.

Reconnect to a running agent

Section titled “Reconnect to a running agent”

If you close your terminal but the agent is still running:

Terminal window
jackin hardline agent-smith

This reattaches your terminal to the running container’s session. hardline is a CLI-only flow today.

Stop an agent

Section titled “Stop an agent”
Terminal window
# Stop a specific agent
jackin eject agent-smith


# Stop ALL running agents
jackin exile

Common workflows

Section titled “Common workflows”
Terminal window
# Open the console once
jackin console


# Pick a workspace, pick a role, press Enter — you're inside.
# Eject from the same console row when you're done.

The console is the default surface for this flow. The CLI tabs below show the equivalent one-liners for scripts and automation.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”