Ene Documentation

Web UI

Ene's Web UI turns ene hub into a standalone entry point: start the hub, then create, attach to, and detach from live sessions entirely in the browser.

Architecture

The Web UI uses a hub + live worker design:

  • One ene hub process owns the HTTP port, serves the UI, authenticates browsers, and manages live sessions.
  • Each session runs in its own detached worker process and working directory, exactly as it does for the terminal.
  • The hub attaches to a worker the same way a terminal does. A session has one owner at a time: either a terminal or the hub, never both.
  • Every attached session appears as a separate browser tab. Sessions owned by a terminal, or not attached at all, are listed separately in the sidebar.

The hub binds to 0.0.0.0, so devices on the same network can reach it using the machine's hostname or IP address.

Start the hub

Choose a private access token in ~/.ene.yaml:

ene_web_token: replace-with-a-long-random-secret
yaml

Start the hub in a dedicated terminal:

ene hub --web-port 8765
bash

The command prints browser URLs using both the machine's local IPv4 address and fully qualified domain name (FQDN), followed by the access token. If ene_web_token is absent, Ene generates a temporary token for that hub process. Starting a second hub on a port that already has one is refused.

Open either printed URL—such as http://192.168.1.25:8765 or http://ene.example.com:8765—and enter the token. A successful login creates an httponly browser session cookie. Signing out or reaching the login's expiry closes all WebSocket connections for that login, including those in other tabs; separately authenticated browsers remain signed in. Keep the hub terminal running while using the Web UI.

Create a session

Select + New session in the sidebar to open the session dialog:

  • Working directory — type a path or browse the filesystem. Recently used workspaces are offered as shortcuts, and hidden directories can be shown with a toggle.
  • Name — an optional live-session name, as with ene new NAME.
  • Model, Persona, Reasoning effort — the same choices as the corresponding command-line flags. Personas are read from the selected workspace, so its project personas are included.
  • Resume conversation — optionally continue a saved conversation from that workspace instead of starting a new one. Conversations that are already live cannot be selected twice.

The hub starts the worker, attaches to it, and focuses the new tab. Failures—an unknown model, a duplicate session name—are reported in the dialog.

Attach and detach

The sidebar lists every live session on the machine:

  • Sessions owned by this hub appear as tabs with a state dot and a × control.
  • Detached sessions can be attached with a single click.
  • Sessions attached in a terminal are marked terminal and cannot be selected. Detach them there first (/detach, or Ctrl+D).

Selecting × detaches the session: the worker keeps running and the tab disappears, leaving the session available to a terminal or another browser. Detaching never stops a session.

To stop a session, send /exit (or /quit) in the composer. The worker shuts down and the session leaves the list.

Attaching from a terminal to a session the hub owns is refused immediately with a message pointing back to the Web UI; run × in the browser first.

Browser behavior

The browser shows the conversation, tool activity, interactive selections, queued message, and process status of every attached session. Live agent activity is docked above the composer, so it stays visible while the conversation scrolls. Each running background process gets its own row with its managed ID, label, runtime, and latest output; long process lists scroll within the dock. Only one message can be queued while a round is active; a message the agent refuses is reported rather than silently dropped.

Typing / at the start of an empty composer opens slash-command suggestions, including discovered skills. Continue typing to filter them, use Up/Down to select, and press Tab or Enter to complete; press Enter again to run the completed command. Typing @ at the start of a word similarly searches paths and filenames relative to the session workspace. When no completion menu is open, Up/Down recalls previously submitted messages for that browser session and restores the unfinished draft after the newest entry.

If the browser loses its hub connection, it shows a reconnecting state, preserves draft input, and disables actions until the connection recovers. Reloading the page or closing the tab does not detach a session—only × does. Stopping the hub releases its attachments, leaving every session running and available to a terminal.

Network and remote access

The hub listens on all network interfaces for access from trusted devices on the same network. Browser access requires the Ene token, but a signed-in browser can browse the filesystem and start agents in any directory, so treat the token as equivalent to shell access. Use a long random token and only run the hub on trusted networks.

For access beyond the local network, use a tunnel or reverse proxy and protect it as well.

For example, with Cloudflare Tunnel:

# One-time authentication and tunnel creation.
cloudflared tunnel login
cloudflared tunnel create ene
cloudflared tunnel route dns ene ene.example.com
bash

Run the hub and tunnel in separate terminals:

ene hub --web-port 8765
bash
cloudflared tunnel run --url http://127.0.0.1:8765 ene
bash

Then open https://ene.example.com and sign in with the Ene Web UI token.

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