Starting your app

Want to see for yourself what the team built? Coodoo starts your app with one click.

Starting

Click Start app at the top, or open the App panel (bottom). The button shows what is happening:

Button	Meaning
Start app	Ready to start
Installing…	Coodoo first installs the parts your app needs
App starting…	The app is starting up
App running	The app works; click to open the panel

A website opens with Open in your browser. A desktop app opens by itself in its own window.

In the App panel you also see what the app prints while it runs (the output). There are also Stop and Restart. When you quit Coodoo, your app stops too.

How does Coodoo know how your app starts?

Every project starts differently. Coodoo figures it out in this order:

1. The Start command you filled in yourself in the App panel;
2. what the team wrote down in .coodoo/run.json;
3. what the project itself says: the scripts in package.json, or a Django, Rust or Go project.

You see what Coodoo found as Automatic: npm run dev (for example).

Let the agent figure it out

Coodoo found nothing, or got it wrong? Click Let Claude find out (or Codex). The agent reads your project and suggests a start command, which you see under Found:.

Setting it yourself

If you know it, fill in the command under Start command, for example npm run dev. Leave the field empty to let Coodoo decide again.

Sharing with others (Cloudflare Tunnel)

Want someone else to test your website, even when they are not on your network? Start your app and, in the App window, click Share through tunnel next to Share. Coodoo creates an https address through Cloudflare that points to the app on your computer. The button next to it copies the address, so you can pass it on.

• Anyone with the address can use your app while the tunnel is on. Only send it to people who may take a look.
• The tunnel stops with Stop tunnel, when your app stops and when you quit Coodoo.
• The first time, Coodoo installs Cloudflare's program. It comes from Cloudflare itself and Coodoo checks the download.
• Only a website can be shared; a desktop app cannot.

Under Set up tunnel… you choose between:

Kind	What you get
Quick address	No account needed. You get a new address on trycloudflare.com every time. Handy for showing something quickly.
Random subdomain	A new address on your own domain every time, like k7x2-dienstkaartje.mysite.com. The DNS record goes again when your app stops. This needs your Cloudflare account linked.
Fixed address	Your own address, like test.mysite.com, that stays the same. This needs a (free) Cloudflare account with your own domain; you add them in Settings → Cloudflare.

Random subdomains

Once you link your Cloudflare account, Coodoo can share an app on a random subdomain of your own domain, like k7x2-dienstkaartje.mysite.com.

• The first time, every project gets a tunnel of its own in your account. Coodoo uses that tunnel again every time after that.
• On Share through tunnel, Coodoo makes a new subdomain and puts a DNS record on it that points to the project's tunnel.
• When your app stops (or the tunnel, or Coodoo), Coodoo removes that DNS record straight away. If one stayed behind, for example after a crash or without internet, Coodoo cleans it up at the next start.
• Several projects can be shared at the same time, each on a subdomain of its own.

You link your account in Settings → Cloudflare, under Cloudflare account:

1. Click Open API tokens, then Create Token, and Get started next to Custom token.
2. Give the token a name and add three lines under Permissions: Account · Cloudflare Tunnel · Edit, Zone · DNS · Edit and Zone · Zone · Read.
3. Under Zone Resources, choose the domains Coodoo may use. Click Continue to summary and Create Token.
4. Copy the token, paste it into Coodoo and click Link. Coodoo stores it encrypted on this computer.

Then, for each project, choose Random subdomain on with your domain under Set up tunnel….

Coodoo only removes DNS records it made itself; see Failsafes. Your other records and tunnels always stay.

Fixed addresses

You manage fixed addresses in one place: Settings → Cloudflare. You can add as many as you like there. For each project you choose under Set up tunnel… which address it uses, or you keep the quick address.

Adding a fixed address:

1. In Settings → Cloudflare, click Add fixed address and then Open Cloudflare. Go to Zero Trust → Networks → Tunnels, click Create a tunnel, choose Cloudflared and give the tunnel a name.
2. Cloudflare shows a command to install the tunnel. Copy that whole command and paste it into Coodoo. Coodoo takes the key out of it and stores it encrypted on this computer; you never see it again.
3. In Cloudflare, click Next and add an address: choose a subdomain and your domain. Under Service choose HTTP, with as URL the address Coodoo shows (for example localhost:47801).
4. Enter the same address in Coodoo, optionally give it a name and click Save.

Coodoo gives each fixed address a port of its own on your computer (localhost:47801, 47802…). Coodoo passes that port on to the app of the project that uses the address at that moment. So you change nothing in Cloudflare when you give an address to another project. One address can only be used by one project at a time.

When you add an address, Coodoo picks a port that is free at that moment. If another program uses that port later, Settings → Cloudflare shows a warning with the button Other port. Coodoo then finds a free port and tells you which address to set as Service URL in Cloudflare. You do that last step yourself, because that setting lives in Cloudflare.

The list of addresses travels with your settings to your other computers.

On all your computers

The API token and the keys of your fixed addresses can travel encrypted to your other computers. It works like a project's shared vault, but for Coodoo itself.

1. In Settings → Cloudflare, under On all your computers, click Share with my other computers. The keys go encrypted to your private repository coodoo-settings (settings/global/vault.enc).
2. On your other computer, click Link this computer in the same place. A code appears.
3. Approve that computer on the first computer, after checking that the code is the same on both screens.

After that, new and changed keys go to all your linked computers by themselves. Nothing on GitHub is readable. A computer you did not link yourself cannot open the keys.

Turn on Start the tunnel by itself once the app runs if you always want the tunnel while your app runs.

Is something missing?

If your app needs Node.js, Python or Java and it isn't on your computer, you'll see that under Requirements. Coodoo installs it with one click.

If your app is missing a setting or key (an .env file), you see it here with the Fill in button; see Your app's settings.

If your app needs something once before its first start (such as setting up the database), the agent finds that too and you see a Let Coodoo do this button; see Commands.