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On your machines

Files and the clipboard

Copy files and folders between any two of your machines, and share the clipboard with their desktops.

Moving a build from one machine to another usually means scp through a third, or setting up keys so the two can talk. In Muxen the two machines don’t need to reach each other at all: the files go through Muxen, which already talks to both.

Copy files

Copy files on a machine’s page (or its right-click menu) opens two panes: where the files are on the left, where they go on the right. Each is a folder you can browse.

  1. Pick the machine and folder to copy from, and tick the files and folders you want. Hidden files shows the dotfiles.
  2. Pick the machine and folder to copy into. The arrow between the panes swaps them, to copy the other way.
  3. Click Copy to ….
The Copy files dialog: a docs folder and README.md picked in ~/code/checkout on Forge, to be copied into the home folder on Beacon. The Copy files dialog: a docs folder and README.md picked in ~/code/checkout on Forge, to be copied into the home folder on Beacon.
Two files picked on Forge, going to Beacon’s home folder.

The copy runs in the background. Its progress, speed and Stop are in Activity (⌘J).

How it travels

  • The files go as one stream from the agent on the first machine, through Muxen, to the agent on the second. The machines never need to reach each other or share ssh keys.
  • Folders come whole, with their permissions and links.
  • Both ends hold back to what the other can take, so a slow machine doesn’t pile data up anywhere.
  • Your Mac is a machine like the others, so the same dialog uploads and downloads.

Files with the same names in the destination folder are replaced. The dialog says how many before you copy.

Drop from the Finder

Drag files from the Finder onto a machine in the sidebar. The Copy files dialog opens with them picked, ready to send to that machine; choose the folder and copy.

The shared clipboard

Text you copy on your Mac can be pasted on your machines’ desktops (Linux and other Macs), and what you copy there lands on your Mac and on the other machines.

  • It works for machines with a desktop that Muxen is connected to. Settings shows which ones are sharing right now.
  • Passwords copied from a password manager (marked private on the clipboard) stay on your Mac.
  • Turn it off in Settings › General › Clipboard.

The clipboard is for text you’re typing between screens. To move files, use Copy files.

From a terminal and from agents

muxen files beacon:~/build                               # what’s in a folder
muxen cp beacon:~/build/app.tar.gz forge:~/Downloads
muxen cp forge:~/Projects/site beacon:~/www --no-wait

Agents use list_files and copy_files. They’re told to list the destination first and to ask you before replacing anything. See MCP for your agents.