Pincer

Desktop monitoring for local AI agents.
Check health, status, and charts from your system tray, without leaving your workflow.

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⚡ Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/mariodian/pincer.git
cd pincer
bun install && bun run dev

Pincer will appear in your system tray.

📋 Table of Contents

• ⚡ Quick Start
• 🤔 Why Pincer?
• ✨ Features
• 📥 Installation
  • ✅ Requirements
• 🚀 Usage
• 🔄 Daemon
• ⚠️ Known Limitations
• 🔧 Troubleshooting
• 💬 Contributing
• 📜 License
• 📌 Credits

🤔 Why Pincer?

Running multiple local AI agents means constantly switching between terminals and browser tabs just to check what's healthy and what's not. Pincer lives in your system tray and gives you instant visibility into agent health, status history, and usage charts — no context switching required.

✨ Features

• Tray-first monitoring: live agent status from the system tray
• Dashboards and trends: KPIs, charts, and response-time history
• Incidents and checks: timeline + heatmap over 24h/7d windows
• Reports: per-agent uptime summary with HTML export
• Flexible controls: polling, retention, notifications, startup, and auto-update settings
• Local and cross-platform: SQLite-backed, runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux
• Agent support: OpenClaw, OpenCrabs, Hermes, OpenCode, and custom HTTP health endpoints
• Background daemon (Linux-only for now): pincerd keeps collecting checks and sync data even when the desktop app is not running

📥 Installation

Homebrew (macOS)

brew tap mariodian/tap
brew install --cask pincer

From source

git clone https://github.com/mariodian/pincer.git
cd pincer
bun install

✅ Requirements

• Bun v1.0+
• macOS 13+, Windows 10+, or Linux (GTK3)
• Xcode Command Line Tools (macOS only, required for native vibrancy effects)

🚀 Usage

# Full desktop dev flow
bun run dev

# Fast renderer iteration with HMR + desktop runtime
bun run dev:hmr

# Production build
bun run build

# Environment-based builds
bun run build:canary
bun run build:stable

🔄 Daemon

Pincer includes a standalone daemon, pincerd, for always-on collection and sync when the desktop app is not running.

Platform: Linux x86_64 only. Requires curl, tar, sudo.

Quick Install

# Install only
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mariodian/pincer/HEAD/daemon/install.sh | bash

# Install with systemd service (recommended)
# Note: DON'T forget to set your own secret here!
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mariodian/pincer/HEAD/daemon/install.sh | bash -s -- \
--systemd --secret=your-secret-here

Script Options

Flag	Description
--systemd	Install and enable systemd service
--secret=<token>	Set DAEMON_SECRET (Bearer token for API auth)
--port=<number>	Set DAEMON_PORT (default: 7378)
--user=<username>	User to run daemon as (default: current user)

See daemon/README.md for full architecture, configuration, and deployment instructions.

⚠️ Known Limitations

• Native vibrancy and traffic-light customization is macOS-only
• The custom tray menu is macOS-only; Windows and Linux fall back to the native tray

🔧 Troubleshooting

App won't launch on macOS

If macOS blocks the app from opening because it is quarantined, run:

xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Pincer.app

HMR not updating in secondary windows

Verify dev windows use http://localhost:5173/... URLs.

Weak vibrancy on macOS

Window blur effects may appear weak if transparency is enabled in system settings. Check System Settings → Accessibility → Reduce transparency and disable it for full vibrancy effects.

❤️ Like This Project?

If Pincer is useful to you, consider leaving a star on GitHub and sharing it with others.

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💬 Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development guidelines.

📜 License

MIT. See LICENSE.

📌 Credits

Feel free to remove this section. Otherwise, credit is appreciated.

Pincer on GitHub · Mario Dian on X