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Runova

Help center

These are the guides from the Help page in the app, 57 of them, grouped the same way. Each one walks through a screen of Runova: where to find it, what every control does, and what to do when something goes wrong.

Getting started

  • Getting started

    What Runova is, how the app is laid out, and the first steps to take after installing it, from picking a projects folder to opening your first Workspace.

  • Interface tour

    A tour of the Runova window, covering the sidebar or top menu, title bar, back and forward buttons, header buttons, status bar, version and updates, messages, themes and quitting.

  • Command palette and search

    Jump to any page, project, prompt, skill or Vault entry from one search box, and search a project's files, types, members and text from the Workspace.

  • Dashboard

    The Dashboard shows live CPU, memory, disk, GPU and network charts, Docker and emulator usage with a list of the idle ones, GitHub activity, your installed AI CLIs and projects, and CLI update alerts, in a layout you can rearrange.

  • News

    The News card on the Dashboard shows technology news from runovahq.com, marks the security fixes that affect the tools installed on this computer, and can notify you about them. You choose what it shows in Settings.

  • Projects

    Add and organise your projects, then use each project's page for its prompts and Blueprint, git, token usage and cost, security scans, packages, Docker, bootstrap files, skills, MCP servers, hooks and environments.

  • Help center

    Search these guides, read them next to the app, and ask the guide questions in your own words.

Workspace

  • Workspace

    Run AI agents, shells, files, a browser and git for one project side by side, in panes you split and arrange yourself.

  • Terminals and agents

    Start AI agent CLIs and shells in Workspace panes, follow their status, and use copy, paste, images, links and past conversations.

  • Files and editor

    Browse a project's files in the Explorer, edit them in the built-in editor, view images, and search files, types and text inside the project.

  • Git in the Workspace

    Stage, commit, branch, push and merge from the Workspace's Source control panel, with AI help for commit messages, conflicts and pull requests.

  • Browser and tests

    Open your dev server in a built-in browser, leave comments on page elements for your agent, and run and fix tests from the Tests panel.

  • Worktrees

    Give each task its own git branch and folder, with separate terminals, agents and changes, and merge it back when it is done.

Build

  • Prompt Builder

    Turn a rough idea, typed or spoken in any language, into a clear prompt for your AI coding agent, then run it, save it or schedule it.

  • Relay tasks

    Break work into tasks that each fit one AI session, run them one after another in fresh sessions, and carry what each session learned to the next through a handoff file.

  • Ask AI

    A chat with OpenAI, Gemini or a local Ollama model, available as a full page and as a quick popup from any screen.

  • API Client

    Build, send and save HTTP requests, read the response, and keep your requests in collections stored in the Postman format.

  • Studio

    Studio makes videos for your projects, or on their own. An AI CLI on your computer writes the scenario from your brief, you edit it by hand or by asking AI, and every video keeps its edits and full history in a folder you choose, always outside the project's source. Nothing in the history is ever deleted, and you can go back to any earlier version.

Agents

  • AI CLI Manager

    See which AI coding CLIs (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor and more) are installed, install or update them, and choose your default CLI, launch defaults and agent order.

  • Skills

    Browse, install, favorite and security-check agent skills from skills.sh and your own repositories, and see which skills your agents actually use.

  • MCP Servers

    Browse a catalog of MCP servers and install them into a project in one click, so the agents working there get extra tools.

  • Agent Tools

    A checklist that installs the developer tools a computer needs (Git, Node.js, .NET, Flutter, Android, Docker), plus a curated list of third-party tools that cut agent token spend, add code intelligence or scan your code for security problems.

  • Token Usage

    Track tokens, cost and plan limits across your AI coding agents and API providers, get alerts before you hit a limit, and pin live usage widgets to your desktop or Dashboard.

Ship

  • Pipelines

    See every GitHub Actions run across all your projects in one list, stop or copy failures, and watch your self-hosted runners.

  • Monitoring

    Monitoring watches your projects' apps and sites on every environment and server. It calls a private, key-protected health endpoint in your app on its own schedule, shows which services work and which fail with their errors, and hands a failure to AI to diagnose and fix. Build with AI gives Claude Code a prompt to build that endpoint. The Errors tab shows what Sentry recorded for each project, with the stack trace, ready to copy or hand to an agent.

  • Docker

    See, start, stop, restart and remove the Docker containers on your own computer, with live CPU and memory use.

  • Android

    Run Android emulators, create and edit virtual devices, and work with connected phones (screenshots, screen recording, APK install, adb shell).

Deploy

  • Deploy

    Manage your own Linux servers from Runova: see how they are doing, run containers and websites, and keep them updated, all over SSH.

  • Deploy servers and setup

    Add a server, check it, install the Runova server core, sign in, turn on two-factor, and manage who and which computers can reach the core.

  • Containers, apps and stacks

    Manage Docker on a server you deploy to, with live container lists, logs, consoles, images, volumes and networks, and deploy compose apps from your projects with rollbacks.

  • Server files

    Browse a Deploy server's files in the two-pane file manager. Pick the server's own disk, a container or a Docker volume, then upload, download, rename, delete, change permissions and edit text files.

  • Websites and certificates

    Put an app on a domain with nginx, apply changes safely, read site logs, get Let's Encrypt certificates, and reach the core through its own domain or Direct TLS when SSH is not available.

  • App Store

    Install well-known apps such as databases, WordPress, n8n or Grafana on a server you deploy to with one screen, then connect to them, update them and roll them back.

  • Deploy firewall and security

    Change a server's firewall rules with a safety net that undoes mistakes, and use the Security center to harden SSH, make backups, restore them and export the audit trail.

  • Databases

    Connect in one click to the databases in your containers, on a server or on this computer, or to any database by URL. Browse tables, edit rows, run queries, design tables, manage users and settings, back up and restore, and ask the AI for queries.

  • Deploy error reporting to Sentry

    Send a server core's own warnings and errors to a Sentry project, set up from the Security section, with a test event to prove it works.

  • Server backups

    Back up a whole Deploy server on a schedule or on demand, encrypted with a secret key only you know, to several places at once, and restore it onto the same server or a new one.

  • Deploy alerts on Telegram

    Have a server send its important events and errors, such as a failed backup or a container that keeps restarting, to a person or group on Telegram, set up from the server's Notifications section.

  • Deploy AI assistant and logs

    Use the Deploy AI to diagnose a server with commands you approve, read every log in one viewer, and see what is broken right now in the Problems feed.

  • Registries

    Save sign-ins for private container registries such as GitHub Container Registry, Docker Hub or your own, so your servers can pull private images when you deploy.

  • FTP and SFTP sites

    Send a folder on this computer to a host over SFTP, FTPS or FTP. You see what changed since the last deploy, and nothing changed on the server is overwritten or deleted without your say.

  • Cloudflare

    Connect your Cloudflare account with an API token, add domains, manage DNS records, zone settings and security rules, get Turnstile captcha keys for your forms, point a domain at a server, and use Cloudflare with your servers for DNS-01 certificates, Origin CA certificates and the Cloudflare-only origin lock.

  • reCAPTCHA keys

    Sign in with Google once, pick or make a Google Cloud project, and create, edit and delete reCAPTCHA keys for your sites, with the site key, the secret and code to paste right there.

Connect

  • Remote

    Control another Runova over your network, connect to servers over SSH, and open Windows Remote Desktop sessions.

  • Remote Desktop

    Sign in to Windows servers and PCs over RDP in their own window, with shared clipboard, file copy, full screen, and an AI that can do tasks on the remote desktop for you.

  • Remote files

    Browse another computer running Runova, and upload, download, rename, delete and create folders on it, without opening a control session.

  • SSH files (SFTP)

    Open a saved SSH server as a two-pane file manager. Upload and download files and whole folders, answer overwrite questions, change permissions and edit text files on the server. Keep an eye on transfers from the status bar, the bottom panel or a window of their own.

  • Vault

    A password manager built into Runova that keeps logins, API keys, secure notes and custom secrets encrypted on your computer behind one master password.

Settings

  • Settings

    A tour of every tab and card in Settings, from the theme and startup page to default agents, shortcuts, AI keys, Telegram, proxy, backups and updates.

  • AI providers (OpenAI, Gemini, Ollama)

    Add an OpenAI key, a Gemini key or a local Ollama server in Settings so Ask AI, Prompt Builder and the other AI features can talk to a model.

  • Keyboard shortcuts

    Every default shortcut in Runova, how to rebind or reset them in Settings, and the fixed keys for the terminal, editor, browser tab, API Client and other places.

  • Backup and restore

    Export your projects, settings and saved data to a file, optionally with project environments and the Vault, and restore it on this or another computer.

  • Notifications and Telegram

    How Runova tells you when an agent finishes or needs you, through system notifications, the Recent messages bell, the desktop pet and a Telegram bot, plus usage alerts.

  • Scheduled tasks

    Schedule a prompt to run in an agent CLI later, either when you press Run or automatically at a set time, and follow it from the project's Prompts section and Telegram.

  • Writing check, voice input and translation

    Set up grammar and spelling checks, dictating with your microphone, and translating text, all from the AI tab in Settings.

  • Widgets and the desktop pet

    Put token usage and the Build Prompt box on your desktop as floating glass widgets, add a pet that walks your screen and reports usage, and control whether your computer stays awake.

Troubleshooting

  • Troubleshooting and FAQ

    Fixes for common problems such as AI provider errors, CLIs that are not detected, terminals that will not start, Docker, SSH host keys and failed updates, plus where Runova keeps its data and a short FAQ.