Dex

Dex is Condensate's browser app. It lists your threads, shows what each agent is doing, and lets you continue any of them from a phone, a tablet, a Mac or a desktop browser. A thread can run on Claude Code, Codex or Condensate's own agent, and Dex shows all of them the same way. It also reads pull requests, artifacts, account status and the machine's health from the same origin. This page covers starting Dex, its settings and addresses, the tray, keyboard shortcuts and notifications.

Start the runtime first, then run the web app:

bun run --cwd apps/dex-app dev

Open http://127.0.0.1:5189. The app is a Bun server. It serves the page and forwards the runtime, the review hub and the middleware, so the browser talks to one origin.

Connections

The web server forwards /runtime/*, /hub/* and /middleware/* with the prefix removed. Request bodies and event streams pass straight through, so live updates stay live. If an upstream is down, the app returns a 502 that names the service, for example "The runtime service is unavailable. Check its status in Box, then refresh." Check the Box section first when only part of the interface is missing.

Runtime chat and repository review have separate upstreams. Chat and tasks come from the runtime on 4741. Pull requests, review rooms and artifacts come from the gt-review hub on 4700.

Other settings:

?thread=<id> in the address overrides DEX_APP_THREAD_ID.

Addresses

Every screen has an address, so a link or a reload lands where you were.

An address Dex does not recognise opens the thread card, so a stale link opens the app rather than an empty page.

Deep links

An agent names a Condensate thing as an ordinary markdown link to its cnd: address, such as [#2253](cnd:pr/condensate/2253). The SDK's Ref builds the address, and code mode exposes it as ref. A surface resolves the address with the SDK's resolve: Dex opens its own page, the iOS app opens condensate:// for a pull request or a thread and Dex's web page (<dex> below) for the rest, and anything else opens the outside page. A kind with no page on a surface opens its outside page instead, and shows its label as plain text when it has none, so no link is dead. Loose mentions such as #2253, owner/repo#N, a GitHub pull request URL, @seat:<8 hex>, bug_<id> and path/to/file.ts:12 are linked the same way, except inside code, an existing link or a link definition, or after a backslash. Two cases are read as text, so a mention in them is linked: a fence opened on a list item's marker line, and a definition inside a list item or with its label alone on its line. A served repository's #N opens Dex's pull request page without checking the number; that page says No pull request #N in <repo> when none carries it.

Hold the pointer over a pull request or thread link, or press and hold it on a phone, to see a card read live: a pull request's title, checks, verdict and needs-noah label, or a thread's status and last activity. A card that cannot read says so.

Open a task

Click the conversation title, or press ⌘K (Ctrl+K without a Command key). The command palette opens with the open thread's actions, then New, Go to, Tools and Settings. Under Go to, pick a thread to continue its conversation.

The composer stays at the bottom of the chat. Everything else opens from a tray that rises over the chat from the composer, so the conversation stays one tap away.

The tray and its sections

Press the tray, or use the keys below, to open the sections over the chat. They appear in this order after the chat:

The Needs you control in the header lists everything stopped on you. The oldest tool call has Allow and Deny. A question that offers choices shows them as buttons, and one without choices opens the thread.

The Work section's repository picker lists the repositories the hub serves. Your choice is remembered on this device. Pull request pages take their repository from the address, so a shared link keeps working whatever the picker shows.

Keyboard

The Mac Catalyst shell sends its New task and Search menu commands to the page. They do the same as ⌘N and ⌘K.

Notifications

Dex tells you when an agent stops for you. The app badge and the tab title count everything that needs you, including asks, pull requests waiting on Decide, failing checks and incidents. The server sends a push notification for each ask and each review verdict.

The server does the watching, because nothing in a closed browser is running. It watches the runtime's attention store and sends one push for each ask that parks. An ask that is already waiting when the server starts does not notify again. Review verdicts are checked about once a minute, because checking them more often adds load to the hub for little gain.

Permission is asked for from one line at the foot of the Needs you list, "Tell me on the phone when one stops", and only when you press Turn on. It is never requested at startup. On an iPhone or iPad in a Safari tab, the line asks you to add the app to the Home Screen instead. If you refuse, the line goes away and the badge and title keep counting. A device that already granted permission subscribes again by itself each time it opens, so a rotated push endpoint does not silently stop notifications.

A notification's press opens the thread on the exact ask.

Installed app and offline use

The app can be installed to a Home Screen or dock. It caches its shell and its page code, so it opens quickly and shows a banner when it is offline.

Transcripts, the agent list, pull requests and the machine's status are never cached. Live state always comes from the network, so a cached shell does not mean the runtime is connected. If the app cannot reach the server when it opens, it shows a screen that says whether the device is offline or the server did not answer, with a Try again button.

Troubleshooting