Cave

The desktop home for your Coven.

Cave is the native workspace for OpenCoven — a place to talk to your familiars, watch their tools, inspect their memory, and follow the work they're doing across sessions.

A familiar isn't a chat window. It has a name, a purpose, a memory, a toolset, and a place in your day. Cave is where that lives.

Windows download notice

Warning

Windows users: turn off Smart App Control before downloading or opening CovenCave for now.

Go to Settings -> Privacy & security -> Windows Security -> App & browser control -> Smart App Control, then turn Smart App Control Off before downloading/running the Windows build. Download CovenCave only from the official GitHub Releases page.

This is temporary release guidance while the Windows trust/reputation path settles.

Install

Download the matching asset from Releases:

• Windows: download the .msi, follow the Smart App Control notice above, then install and launch CovenCave from Start.
• Linux: download the .AppImage, run chmod +x CovenCave_*.AppImage, then launch it from your file manager or terminal.
• macOS: download the .dmg, open it, and drag CovenCave to Applications.

You'll also need the local coven CLI/daemon. On first launch, Cave opens a full-width setup screen that checks for the CLI, creates your local ~/.coven folder, lets you connect one of your local OpenClaw agents as a familiar, and starts the daemon.

Demo mode for testers

Normal installs show only the user's own familiars from their local Coven configuration. Testers can opt into demo fixtures explicitly:

NEXT_PUBLIC_DEMO=true pnpm dev

Use demo mode only for local testing or demos. It intentionally injects sample familiars and sample activity.

Screenshots

What it is

• A Tauri 2 desktop app (macOS / Windows / Linux)
• A Next.js 16 frontend (App Router, Turbopack, Tailwind v4)
• Full markdown rendering with syntax highlighting (Shiki)
• Integrated terminal (xterm.js) alongside the familiar interface
• Talks to the local coven daemon over ~/.coven/coven.sock
• Local-first. Your familiars, your memory, your machine.

What it isn't

• Not a replacement for CastCodes — Cave is its sibling. CastCodes is the terminal and code workspace; Cave is the desktop home for the Coven itself.
• Not a cloud service. There's no upstream to call.

Features

• Familiar rail — persistent sidebar with all your named agents, glyphs, and live health status
• Chat — threaded conversations with full markdown, inline code, syntax-highlighted blocks, and copy buttons
• Inspector pane — dig into memory, tool calls, and agent internals without leaving the app
• Board view — kanban-style overview of active work across familiars
• Delegation cards — see what your familiars are doing and hand off tasks
• Schedules & reminders — manage cron jobs and one-shot reminders from the UI
• Plugins — install skills and plugins directly from the app
• HomeComposer — universal intent surface on cold start; describe what you need and let the Coven route it
• Inbox — cross-familiar notification feed with snooze and quick-reply
• System tray — always accessible, even when the window is closed
• Cross-platform fatal error dialogs — startup failures surface clearly on macOS, Windows, and Linux

Develop

pnpm install
scripts/install-git-hooks.sh    # one-time: enable secret-scanning pre-commit
pnpm tauri dev                  # native window, hot-reloads Next.js
pnpm dev                        # browser-only at http://localhost:3000

You'll need the coven daemon running locally so Cave has something to talk to. See OpenCoven/coven for setup. For tester fixtures, run the dev server with NEXT_PUBLIC_DEMO=true.

Pre-commit hook

scripts/git-hooks/pre-commit blocks commits that introduce env files, private keys, signing material, agent scratch state, or inline tokens (AWS / Stripe / Slack / GitHub PAT / OpenAI / Anthropic / Telegram / Bearer / PEM private-key blocks). Patterns mirror src/lib/redact.ts. Bypass a confirmed false positive with git commit --no-verify.

Keybinds

Shortcut	Action
⌘B	Toggle familiar rail
⇧⌘B	Toggle inspector pane
drag handles	Resize side panels

Stack

Layer	Tech
Native shell	Tauri 2
Frontend	Next.js 16 (App Router, Turbopack)
Styles	Tailwind v4
Markdown	Shiki (syntax highlighting)
Terminal	xterm.js
IPC	Unix socket → ~/.coven/coven.sock

App identity

• Brand: Cave
• macOS app name: CovenCave
• Bundle: ai.opencoven.cave
• Repo: OpenCoven/coven-cave

Coven ecosystem

• coven — the familiar runtime
• cast-codes — terminal + code workspace
• coven-docs — documentation
• coven-cave — desktop home (you are here)

License

Dual-licensed at your option: AGPL-3.0 (LICENSE-AGPL) or MIT (LICENSE-MIT). See LICENSE for the top-level pointer. Same offer as the rest of the Coven.

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The Coven lives in the Cave.

Release standard

Every release ships with:

• A comprehensive changelog describing features, fixes, and install instructions
• Screenshots updated to reflect the current UI
• SHA256 checksums for all artifacts

See Releases for the full history.