# Use a Prized box with the herdr app

> Add a Prized box to the herdr app as an SSH machine, so its Claude Code and Codex run on a cloud Linux machine that keeps working while your laptop sleeps: what herdr installs on the box, putting the agents on its path, and what a paused box looks like.

URL: https://prized.dev/docs/herdr-app
Updated: 2026-10-30

[herdr](https://herdr.dev) is a desktop app for running coding agents. It adds any machine you reach over SSH to its sidebar, so a Prized box's agents run on the box and keep going when you close herdr or your laptop sleeps ([herdr's docs](https://github.com/herdrdev/herdr-app#work-on-another-machine)).

## 1. Get a box in your SSH config [#1-get-a-box-in-your-ssh-config]

Sign up at [prized.dev](https://prized.dev/sign-in): the tour starts a box on $30 of free credit with no card, then shows one command (a `curl` line on macOS and Linux) that installs the CLI, signs this machine in, and adds the box to your SSH config ([Quickstart](https://prized.dev/docs/quickstart)). Use your box's name in place of `mango` below (`prized box ls` lists them), and check that plain ssh reaches it:

```bash
ssh mango echo ok
# ok
```

## 2. Add the box in herdr [#2-add-the-box-in-herdr]

[Install herdr](https://herdr.dev/download), then use **Add machine** in the sidebar (or **Settings › Machines**), type `mango`, and press Enter. Type the name rather than picking from herdr's host list: the list reads only `~/.ssh/config` itself, and Prized's entry sits in a file that config includes.

The first time, herdr opens a small terminal and asks before it copies its `herdr-core` program to `~/.local/bin` on the box; say yes.

## 3. Put Claude Code and Codex on the path [#3-put-claude-code-and-codex-on-the-path]

herdr's terminals on the box get the system's default `PATH`, which leaves out `~/.local/bin`, where the box's Claude Code and Codex live. Until they are on it, herdr's **+** menu lists them as not installed. Link them into `/usr/local/bin` once (boxes have passwordless `sudo`); the menu can take a minute to notice:

```bash
ssh mango 'sudo ln -sf ~/.local/bin/claude /usr/local/bin/claude && sudo ln -sf ~/.local/bin/codex /usr/local/bin/codex'
```

Then sign the agents in on the box, with your GitHub identity for git:

```bash
prized agents handoff claude codex --gh
```

It copies the sign-ins this computer has. For one it doesn't have, run `claude` or `codex` on the box and sign in there.

## 4. Start an agent on the box [#4-start-an-agent-on-the-box]

In herdr's sidebar, click the **+** on the `mango` row (or **New space there**) to open a space on the box, then start Claude Code or Codex from the **+** in the tab bar. Don't use the tab bar menu's **New space**, which opens one on your computer. The space's terminals run on the box, and its agents join the same list as your computer's.

> If herdr's terminals on a box created before October 6, 2026 end when you disconnect, run `sudo loginctl enable-linger $USER` on it (`prized ssh mango` first).

## When you close herdr or the laptop sleeps [#when-you-close-herdr-or-the-laptop-sleeps]

The terminals live on the box, so agents keep running. Open herdr again and it reconnects to them.

## When the box sleeps [#when-the-box-sleeps]

A paused box is out of reach until it wakes, and herdr's sidebar shows `mango` as unreachable. On macOS and Windows, a box that paused itself after sitting idle may wake when herdr reconnects; a box you paused stays paused ([Auto-pause](https://prized.dev/docs/boxes#auto-pause)). To wake it yourself (herdr then reconnects by itself):

```bash
prized box resume mango --wait
```

On a Nano through Small box, the terminals and agents resume where they were, unless the box stayed paused for more than 3 days. A Medium or larger restarts on waking, so agents running in herdr stop ([Pause and resume](https://prized.dev/docs/boxes#pause-and-resume)).

On the free credit, a box pauses after 2 hours idle, never in its first 24 hours. To keep it up while agents work:

```bash
prized box auto-pause mango off
```

## Troubleshooting [#troubleshooting]

| Symptom | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| Claude Code or Codex shows as not installed in the **+** menu | Step 3. |
| herdr can't reach `mango` | Run `ssh mango echo ok`. If it says the box is paused, resume it as above; otherwise run `prized doctor` ([Troubleshooting](https://prized.dev/docs/troubleshooting)). |

## Related [#related]

* [Land in herdr instead of tmux](https://prized.dev/docs/herdr): `prized herdr` opens herdr's terminal app on a box, with no desktop app.
* [Keep Claude Code running with your laptop closed](https://prized.dev/docs/keep-claude-code-running)
* [Run multiple Claude Code and Codex agents in parallel](https://prized.dev/docs/parallel-agents)