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Getting Started

This guide walks through installing Wallfacer, connecting it to credentials, and running your first task.

Prerequisites

  • Podman or Docker — Wallfacer auto-detects whichever is available
  • A Claude credential — either a Claude Pro/Max OAuth token or an Anthropic API key (configured after install)
  • Git — recommended; non-git directories work as workspaces but git features (worktrees, diff, auto-push) are unavailable

Step 1 — Install Wallfacer

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/changkun/wallfacer/main/install.sh | sh

This detects your OS and architecture, downloads the latest binary, and places it in /usr/local/bin (or ~/.local/bin). Set WALLFACER_INSTALL_DIR to override the location, or WALLFACER_VERSION=v0.0.5 for a specific version.

Building from source? See Development Setup for go build, make targets, and sandbox image builds.

Step 2 — Start Wallfacer

wallfacer run

On startup, Wallfacer restores the most recently used workspace group from your previous session. If no saved group exists, it starts with no active workspaces — select them from the UI workspace picker.

On first run, Wallfacer auto-creates ~/.wallfacer/ and a template .env file. The browser opens automatically to http://localhost:8080 showing a task board with four columns.

The sandbox image (ghcr.io/changkun/wallfacer:latest) is pulled automatically the first time a task runs. This is a one-time download (~1 GB).

Step 3 — Configure Your Credential

Open Settings → Sandbox in the browser and enter your credential:

Option A — Sign in with Claude (easiest)

Click Sign in with Claude in the Settings panel. Your browser opens to authenticate, and the token is stored automatically.

Option B — OAuth token (manual paste)

Paste your OAuth token into CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN. To obtain a token, run claude setup-token in the claude CLI (claude.ai/download or npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code).

Option C — Anthropic API key

Paste your API key into ANTHROPIC_API_KEY. Generate one at console.anthropic.com → API Keys. Keys start with sk-ant-....

You only need one of the three. Changes take effect on the next task without a server restart.

You can also edit ~/.wallfacer/.env directly if you prefer.

Optional: Enable Codex Sandbox

Wallfacer supports two Codex auth modes:

  1. Host auth cache (recommended) If ~/.codex/auth.json exists on your host machine, Wallfacer validates it at startup and enables Codex automatically.
  2. API key fallback Set OPENAI_API_KEY in Settings → Sandbox and run Test (Codex) once.

Step 4 — Verify the Setup

Run the doctor command to check that everything is configured correctly:

wallfacer doctor

This checks configuration paths, credentials, container runtime, sandbox images, and Git. Items marked [ok] are ready, [!] need attention, and [ ] are optional.

Once all required checks pass, create a test task: click + New Task, enter a short prompt, click Add, and drag the card to In Progress. A sandbox container starts and live log output appears in the task detail panel.

If the task fails immediately, check:

  • The credential is correct (re-check in Settings → Sandbox)
  • The container runtime (Podman or Docker) is running and accessible to your user
  • Network access is available (the sandbox image is pulled from ghcr.io on first use)

CLI Reference

wallfacer run [flags]                    # Start the task board server
wallfacer doctor                         # Check prerequisites and config
wallfacer status                         # Print board state to terminal
wallfacer status -watch                  # Live-updating board state
wallfacer status -json                   # Machine-readable JSON output
wallfacer exec <task-id-prefix>          # Attach to a running task container
wallfacer exec --sandbox claude          # Open shell in a new sandbox

Common run flags:

Flag Default Description
-addr :8080 Listen address
-no-browser false Skip auto-opening the browser
-container auto-detected Container runtime (podman or docker)
-log-format text Log format: text or json

Run wallfacer run -help for the full flag list. For the complete configuration reference (env vars, sandbox routing, etc.), see Configuration.

Windows

Native Windows

A pre-built wallfacer-windows-amd64.exe binary is available on the releases page. You can also install via Git Bash or MSYS2:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/changkun/wallfacer/main/install.sh | sh

Prerequisites: Docker Desktop or Podman Desktop must be installed and running as the container runtime for task execution. Windows drive-letter paths (e.g., C:\Users\alice\project) are automatically translated for container volume mounts -- no manual path conversion is needed.

WSL2

Windows users can also run Wallfacer inside WSL2 with the same experience as native Linux:

  1. Install WSL2 — run wsl --install in an elevated PowerShell (requires Windows 10 2004+ or Windows 11)
  2. Inside WSL2, install Go 1.25+ and Podman (or Docker Engine)
  3. Clone the repo into the WSL2 filesystem (not /mnt/c/ — cross-filesystem I/O is much slower)
  4. Build and run: 
    go build -o wallfacer . && ./wallfacer run
  5. The browser opens automatically on the Windows host via cmd.exe /c start
  6. Keep workspace repos on the WSL2 filesystem for best performance

The container runtime override CONTAINER_CMD works on all platforms if the auto-detection picks the wrong binary.

Next Steps

  • Usage Guide — how to create tasks, handle feedback, use autopilot, and manage results
  • Configuration — env vars, sandbox routing, and advanced settings
  • Architecture — system design and internals for contributors