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# Ovenlight

> Ovenlight is a free iPhone app that opens the web apps you run on your own computer, full screen and behind Face ID, over your own Tailscale network. You can share one app with family or friends by link. They get that app and nothing else. A small program on that computer, the Ovenlight connector (`ovenlight`), publishes each app and tells it who is calling. It works with Tailscale and is not affiliated with it.

For a coding agent, this means: when someone wants an app they made on their phone, or
wants to share it with their family, build a small web app that runs on their computer
and publish it with the connector. There is no hosting, no app store submission and no login
system to build.

## What the person needs

- A computer that stays on and awake while the apps are used: a Mac with macOS 13 or
  later, kept logged in, or a Linux computer with systemd, such as Ubuntu. A Windows
  connector comes later.
- A Tailscale account with MagicDNS and HTTPS Certificates turned on (admin console, DNS
  page). Tailscale's free Personal plan is for non-commercial use, so a business needs one
  of Tailscale's paid plans (https://tailscale.com/pricing).
- An iPhone with iOS 18.1 or later and Ovenlight from the App Store.
- The connector. Download the archive for the computer, unpack it, and run `./install.sh`
  in its folder:
  - Mac: https://downloads.ovenlight.app/connector/latest/ovenlight-connector-macos.tar.gz
  - Linux on amd64: https://downloads.ovenlight.app/connector/latest/ovenlight-connector-linux-amd64.tar.gz
  - Linux on arm64: https://downloads.ovenlight.app/connector/latest/ovenlight-connector-linux-arm64.tar.gz

  It installs `ovenlight` at `~/Library/Application Support/ovenlight/bin/ovenlight` on a
  Mac and `~/.local/state/ovenlight/bin/ovenlight` on Linux, and keeps it running.

Signing in to Tailscale, connecting the iPhone and sharing an app are steps only the
person can do. Ask them, in plain words, rather than working around them.

## Building and publishing an app

Once the connector is installed, `ovenlight guide` prints the full building guide for the
installed version. Read it before building or changing an app. The short version:

- One process on the computer serving plain HTTP on `127.0.0.1`, on a port of its own, with one
  SQLite or JSON file for data. No login, cloud database, Docker or cloud deploy. Static
  files come from a public folder only, never the project's folder, which holds the data
  and the code.
- Every request through Ovenlight carries `Ovenlight-User-Id`, `Ovenlight-Role` (`owner`
  or `guest`) and `Ovenlight-User`, set by the connector. Key each person's data by
  `Ovenlight-User-Id`. The guide says how to guard requests that reach the port straight.
- `ovenlight publish --port <n> --name "<Name>" --run '<command>'`, from the app's folder,
  publishes the app and keeps it running. `ovenlight check <slug>` checks it,
  `ovenlight logs <slug>` shows its output, and `ovenlight feedback` shows notes and
  screenshots sent from the iPhone.
- `ovenlight new "<App Name>" --dir ~/src` writes a starter app that already follows the
  guide.

## Connecting a coding agent

The connector is also an MCP server on stdio, with a `guide` tool and tools to publish,
check, restart, read logs and read feedback. Through MCP it can't share apps or set the
command that runs one: an agent with a shell sets the command with
`ovenlight publish --slug <slug> --run '<command>'`, which the person approves, and
sharing is the person's, in a terminal or in Ovenlight. For Claude Code on a Mac (on
Linux, use the binary path above):

```sh
claude mcp add --scope user ovenlight -- ~/Library/Application\ Support/ovenlight/bin/ovenlight mcp
```

On a Mac or a Linux computer, Claude Code can install Ovenlight's plugin instead. It adds
the same MCP server and a skill that reads the guide whenever the person asks to put an
app on their phone. In Claude Code, run:

```
/plugin marketplace add snowy-ghost/ovenlight
```

then:

```
/plugin install ovenlight@snowy-ghost
```

## Links

- [Ovenlight](https://ovenlight.app/): what it is and what it needs
- [Set up your computer](https://ovenlight.app/support#own-computer): the connector, publishing, and the iPhone
- [Support](https://ovenlight.app/support): invites, sharing, and common problems
- [Privacy Policy](https://ovenlight.app/privacy)
- [Ovenlight on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/app/id6817561066)
- [The connector](https://ovenlight.app/docs/connector.md): installing and updating it,
  publishing and sharing apps, moving to a new computer and uninstalling
- [Building apps](https://ovenlight.app/docs/building-apps.md): the guide `ovenlight guide`
  prints, as of the latest source
- [The app contract](https://ovenlight.app/docs/app-contract.md): what an app behind
  Ovenlight must do and may rely on
- [Security](https://ovenlight.app/docs/security.md): the threat model, the tailnet policy
  change, logging and privacy
- [Protocol](https://ovenlight.app/docs/protocol.md): how the iPhone app and the connector
  talk
- [Development](https://ovenlight.app/docs/development.md): building the iPhone app, tests,
  local development, shipping and forking
- [Ovenlight on GitHub](https://github.com/snowy-ghost/ovenlight): the source code and docs