Frequently asked questions

What is spannora?

spannora is an open-source, self-hosted web UI for Claude Code. You install it on a Linux VM, and it exposes a browser-based chat that drives Claude with the full agent toolset — Bash, Edit, Write, AskUserQuestion, the lot. Same Claude as the CLI, reachable from any browser.

How is spannora different from the Claude Code CLI?

The CLI lives in your terminal. spannora is a thin Node server that wraps the Claude Agent SDK and exposes it over HTTP. Both shell into the same Claude with the same auth — they just present different UIs. The web UI is useful when:

• You want to drive Claude from a phone, tablet, or any device that isn’t your dev machine.
• You want sessions that survive a closed laptop.
• You want to run Claude on a remote VM with full root access and check in occasionally.

Can I use spannora on my phone?

Yes. spannora is a PWA. Open the install URL in mobile Safari (iOS) or Chrome (Android), then “Add to Home Screen.” It runs in standalone mode like a native app, with safe-area padding for the iOS notch and Android nav, and dynamic viewport height so the chat input stays visible above the keyboard.

Is spannora free?

Yes — MIT licensed, source on GitHub. You’ll pay Anthropic for Claude usage (either a Claude Code subscription or pay-as-you-go API), but spannora itself doesn’t add any cost. It uses the same ~/.claude/ auth as the Claude Code CLI; if you’ve logged in once on the VM, you don’t pay twice.

Does spannora work on Windows?

The server runs on Linux only — it expects systemd, a real filesystem, and runs as root so Claude’s tools can do useful work. The browser side works anywhere, of course. Windows isn’t supported as a development platform either; clone and contribute from macOS or Linux.

Can I run multiple spannora installs?

Yes — each VM runs its own independent spannora. The hub PWA at spannora.dev/app/ connects to many installs simultaneously and lets you switch between them with one tap. The hub is optional and has no backend state of its own; you can also self-host it.

How do I update spannora?

Re-run the install command:

curl -fsSL https://spannora.dev/install.sh | bash

It’s idempotent — fetches the latest release tarball, extracts over the existing install, runs npm install --omit=dev, restarts the service. Conversations and credentials survive (they live in /var/lib/spannora/spannora.db and ~/.claude/, both untouched).

How is auth handled?

bcrypt password + HttpOnly cookie sessions for browser use. Optional long-lived bearer tokens for cross-origin clients (like the hub). The full security model page covers the details.

Why does spannora run as root?

Because Claude needs filesystem and shell access to do useful work. An unprivileged user can’t edit /etc/, install packages, or modify systemd units. The auth gate is the line of defense; OS-level sandboxing would defeat the use case. See security model for the full rationale.

What model does spannora use?

Default is Claude Opus 4.7 with 1M context (claude-opus-4-7[1m]). Override via SPANNORA_MODEL env var on the spannora process. The Agent SDK handles the model dispatch; spannora doesn’t pin a model except via that env.

How big can a conversation get?

Up to the context window of whichever Claude variant you’re using. Default is 1M tokens (with auto-compaction kicking in well before that). The sidebar shows context-fill percentage live so you can see when you’re getting close.

Does spannora support tool approval prompts?

By default it runs in bypassPermissions mode — Claude’s tool calls execute without per-call prompts (since you presumably want it to actually do things on your VM). The exception is AskUserQuestion and ExitPlanMode, which always render an interactive prompt in the UI regardless of mode.

Can I export conversations?

Not yet through the UI. Conversations live in /var/lib/spannora/spannora.db (SQLite) and the underlying Claude session JSONL files in ~/.claude/projects/<encoded-cwd>/. Both are readable directly. UI export is a likely future addition.

Where do I file bugs or feature requests?

GitHub issues. PRs welcome too — the repo is a TypeScript + vanilla JS monorepo with three workspaces (server, shared, hub) and now a fourth (this site).

Back to docs home · or install spannora on a VM.