ManyClaws

Move a computer to the new release of ManyClaws

From plugin 6.0.0 the ManyClaws plugin carries the agent, and the signed list of every file it was released with, and both are kept up to date from your page: you approve each update there, for each computer. And there is no passphrase any more: your account's key is made of random bytes, kept on your phone or browser under a passkey, and given to each computer as it is connected with a code. A computer whose plugin or agent is from before knows nothing of either, so the first time is done on the computer, once, by this guide. After that it is never needed again.

First, on your page: sign in on your phone, or in a browser with passkeys. Your account's key of before was made from your passphrase, and is not carried over: no device has a key of the new kind yet, so open I have no other device with it on the page and start afresh with a new key, made there and kept under its passkey. Your stored sessions on the server go (your computers still have them), and every computer is disconnected, to be connected again with the new key, as below.

The short way: on the computer, start Claude Code in a terminal, in VS Code or in the desktop app (not a session you started from your ManyClaws page, which the old agent itself is running) and say

Read https://manyclaws.dev/upgrade.md and move ManyClaws on this computer to the new release.

Claude updates the plugin and hands the agent over to the copy the new plugin carries. Where that would end sessions your page started there, it asks you first. Then, in a new Claude Code session, the plugin shows a code that connects the computer again: type it under Connect a computer (https://manyclaws.dev/app#/connect) where you are signed in to ManyClaws, on your phone or in a browser that has your new key, press Connect and give your passkey (as the set-up guide's step 3 has it).

1Look first

claude plugin list
claude plugin marketplace list
sed -n "s/^export const VERSION = '\(.*\)'$/\1/p" ~/.manyclaws/agent/service.mjs
ls ~/.manyclaws/agent/release.json

The first says which plugin the computer has, the second where its marketplace comes from (redimaker/manyclaws on GitHub, or ManyClaws's server), the third which agent it has, and the fourth whether that agent was installed from a signed release. A computer with no ~/.manyclaws has no agent: only the plugin is moved, and the agent is set up afterwards from your page.

2Where the plugin comes from GitHub, and the agent is 5.1.0 or later

  1. The plugin.
    claude plugin marketplace update manyclaws
claude plugin update manyclaws@manyclaws
    The API token and the key the plugin has stay as they are.
  2. The agent, handed over to the copy the new plugin carries. claude plugin list --json says where the plugin is installed (its installPath):
    bash <the plugin's folder>/agent/install.sh --update --from <the plugin's folder>
    It checks every file of the agent against the signed list the plugin carries, and the list's signature, before anything is replaced, and keeps everything the computer was set up with: which computer it is, its name, its folders, its token and its key. Where the agent is running sessions started from your page, it does nothing and says how many: starting the agent again ends them. Run it again with --end-sessions to end them; a reply on your page resumes each one.
  3. Connect the computer again. Start a new Claude Code session: the plugin, whose token was taken back as your account started afresh, shows a code of nine digits. Type it under Connect a computer (https://manyclaws.dev/app#/connect) where you are signed in to ManyClaws, press Connect and give your passkey. The plugin gives the agent the new token and key.
  4. Check: node ~/.manyclaws/agent/agent.mjs verify --here says the agent and the plugin are each as their release lists them.

New Claude Code sessions use the new plugin; sessions already open keep the old one until they are started again.

3Where the computer was set up before 9 October 2026

Its marketplace comes from ManyClaws's server, or its agent is older than 5.1.0 and cannot check what it installs. Where the marketplace is ManyClaws's server and the agent is 6.0.0 or later, section 4 is the shorter way.

  1. The plugin, where its marketplace is not redimaker/manyclaws:
    claude plugin marketplace remove manyclaws
claude plugin marketplace add redimaker/manyclaws
claude plugin install manyclaws@manyclaws
    The first removes the old plugin with the marketplace it came from, and with them the API token and the passphrase it was given: here that is meant, and step 3 gives it a token and the key again. Where the marketplace is redimaker/manyclaws already, update the plugin as section 2 has it instead.
  2. The agent, removed and installed again from the copy the new plugin carries:
    bash <the plugin's folder>/agent/install.sh --reinstall --end-sessions --from <the plugin's folder>
    This stops the old agent and removes it with everything it kept, its API token and key among it, and installs the new one in its place, set up as the old one was: the same computer on your page, with the same name and folders. It ends the sessions the old agent is running, which are the ones started from your page; nothing of them is lost, and a reply there resumes each once the computer is connected again.
  3. Connect the computer again. Start a new Claude Code session: the plugin, which has no token now, shows a code of nine digits. Type it under Connect a computer (https://manyclaws.dev/app#/connect) where you are signed in to ManyClaws, on your phone or in a browser that has your key, press Connect and give your passkey. The plugin gives the new agent the same token and key.
  4. Check: node ~/.manyclaws/agent/agent.mjs verify --here.

4Where only the plugin is from before

Its marketplace is ManyClaws's server, and its agent is 6.0.0 or later: the agent was installed from a signed release and is connected already, and only the plugin was set up before 9 October 2026. The agent is kept, with its token and key, and gives the new plugin the same two: there is no code to type.

  1. The plugin, from GitHub in place of ManyClaws's server:
    claude plugin marketplace remove manyclaws
claude plugin marketplace add redimaker/manyclaws
claude plugin install manyclaws@manyclaws
    The first removes the old plugin with the marketplace it came from, and with them the API token it was given: here that is meant, and step 3 gives the new one the agent's.
  2. The agent, brought up to the release the new plugin carries (where it is that release already, it stays as it is):
    bash <the plugin's folder>/agent/install.sh --update --from <the plugin's folder>
    Where the agent is running sessions started from your page, it does nothing and says how many, as in section 2.
  3. The plugin given the agent's API token and key, shown to nobody:
    node ~/.manyclaws/agent/agent.mjs plugin
  4. Check: node ~/.manyclaws/agent/agent.mjs verify --here says the agent and the plugin are each as their release lists them. Sessions already open keep the old plugin until they are started again.

From a clone of the repository

Where you installed from source: git fetch && git checkout release-N in the clone, check the release as the set-up guide has it, then bash mod/agent/install.sh --update --from mod.

For Claude Code, when you are asked to follow this guide

  • Say first, in a line, what this is: a one-time move to the new way of keeping ManyClaws up to date, after which the person approves each update on their page, and connects the computer with a code and their passkey, with no passphrase. Then do it.
  • Look first, as step 1 has it, and follow section 2, 3 or 4, whichever the computer is. Do not read ~/.manyclaws/agent.json: the token and the key are in it.
  • Section 2: run its commands as they are written. If the installer says the agent is running sessions started from the page, tell the person how many end, and ask whether to end them now; only on a yes, run it again with --end-sessions. Otherwise stop there and say that it can be run again once those sessions are done.
  • Section 3: run its commands as they are written, --end-sessions with them: the old agent may be stopped while it is running sessions, and nothing of them is lost. claude plugin marketplace remove manyclaws deletes the API token and the passphrase the plugin was given: it is run here and nowhere else, and only where the marketplace is not redimaker/manyclaws. Do not edit extraKnownMarketplaces by hand instead.
  • Section 4: run its commands as they are written, the same claude plugin marketplace remove manyclaws with them (it is the other place it is run, for the same reason), and the installer as in section 2. node ~/.manyclaws/agent/agent.mjs plugin gives the plugin the agent's API token and key without showing either, and says whether it did.
  • Do not type anything into the plugin's options: there is no passphrase any more, and the plugin takes nothing but the key its code gives it.
  • If the installer says it was run from a session the agent itself started, nothing was changed: stop there and say so. Say that it is run from a terminal on that computer, or from a Claude Code session started there in a terminal, VS Code or the desktop app.
  • In section 4 there is nothing for the person to do but start their Claude Code sessions again, unless agent.mjs plugin says the plugin was NOT given its API token and key: then the last step is theirs, as below.
  • In sections 2 and 3, the last step is the person's: say it first and plainly, once the commands are done. Start a new Claude Code session, type the code the plugin shows there under Connect a computer (https://manyclaws.dev/app#/connect) where they are signed in to ManyClaws, press Connect and give their passkey. Where the page has not yet started their account afresh with a new key, they do that first, on their phone or in a browser with passkeys.
  • Never ask for the API token, the passphrase or the key, and do not use any of them if it is offered in the conversation. Never put a token or a key in a command, in settings.json, in an environment variable or in any file.
  • The installer starts a background service of the person's own user. Where your commands run in a sandbox that refuses that, run it outside it.
  • Keep what you say short: what you updated and installed, in a line or two; the code to type and where, as above; what verify --here said; and that from now on the computer is kept up to date from their page, where they approve each update.