process

Slot: runtime · Name: process

Spawns agents as plain child processes — no tmux involved. Use this on Windows (where tmux isn't available) and in any environment where you'd rather not depend on tmux.

macOSSupported

LinuxSupported

WindowsSupported

Use

runtime: process

No plugin-level config.

How it works

• AO spawns the agent via Node's child_process.spawn with shell: true.
• Stdout + stderr are captured in a rolling 1000-line buffer.
• The dashboard reads from that buffer over the same WebSocket the tmux runtime uses — you won't notice a difference in the UI.
• isProcessRunning uses a PID-based signal-0 check.

What you lose vs tmux

• No tmux attach. ao session attach doesn't work. Use the dashboard terminal instead.
• No reconnecting to the agent's TTY. If you ao stop the orchestrator, the child process goes with it. The agent's own session-resume features (Claude --resume, Codex resume, etc.) still work — that's a different layer.

When to pick it

• Windows — this is the only runtime that works.
• Docker / CI-like environments — fewer moving parts, no tmux install.
• You never attach interactively — the dashboard terminal covers all your attach needs anyway.