Direct mode

In Direct mode your AI talks to nodes through Dashcat Bridge (dashcat-bridge), which you run on the same machine as your AI. The bridge and the node connect with mutual TLS 1.3 and pinned keys, so Dashcat’s cloud never sees the requests. Use it where nothing may pass through a third party. Most people want the Dashcat connector instead, which works from any AI app, on any device.

Your machineYour AI appRuns Dashcat Bridge over stdio

MCP (stdio)

Your machineDashcat Bridgedashcat-bridge mcp

Mutual TLS 1.3

NodeDashcat AgentListens on port 7420

The bridge connects straight to the node, end to end encrypted with keys pinned at pairing. Dashcat's cloud is not in the path.

Binary	Runs on	Purpose
dashcat-agent	Each node	Executes requests from the Dashcat connector and paired bridges, as the user who started it. Idles at about 5 MB RAM.
dashcat-bridge	Your machine	Pairs nodes (CLI) and serves the MCP tools your AI uses (dashcat-bridge mcp).

Dashcat Bridge comes inside the Dashcat app: choose Use Direct mode on this computer… from the Dashcat icon (or Set Up Direct Mode… in the Dashcat menu on a Mac) for the command that connects your AI app to it. It also comes with every Dashcat Agent download. See Install.

A node keeps its Dashcat connector setting while it also takes bridges. To keep Dashcat’s cloud out of a node entirely, join it with dashcat-agent join --hosted deny "<link>", or choose Direct only on the invite page.

The bridge reaches the node directly, so the node listens on all interfaces, port 7420. Allow inbound TCP 7420 through the node’s firewall (Windows usually prompts on first run).

1. Pair

On the target, choose Pair a bridge (Direct mode)… in the tray menu, or in a second terminal run:

dashcat-agent pair

Both create a one-time pairing code and show the command to run on your machine. The tray also shows the code in its menu until it is used or expires.

Pairing code: 7KQ2-M9XD  (single use, valid for 5 minutes)

On the machine running your AI, run:
  dashcat-bridge nodes add build-box <this-node-address>:7420 --code 7KQ2-M9XD

On your machine, run that command with the target’s IP address or hostname:

dashcat-bridge nodes add build-box 192.168.1.50 --code 7KQ2-M9XD

The code is never sent over the network. Both sides prove they know it, and that they see each other’s real keys, so pairing fails if anyone intercepts the connection. A code expires after 5 minutes or 3 wrong attempts. On success, dashcat-bridge prints the node’s fingerprint; to verify it, compare it with dashcat-agent identity on the node.

Check the connection:

dashcat-bridge info build-box

2. Connect your AI client

Claude Code:

claude mcp add dashcat -- /absolute/path/to/dashcat-bridge mcp

Codex (~/.codex/config.toml):

[mcp_servers.dashcat]
command = "/absolute/path/to/dashcat-bridge"
args = ["mcp"]

Other MCP clients: run dashcat-bridge mcp as a stdio server.

Then ask your AI something like “run the test suite on build-box and show me any failures”.