Run and connect

Start a session

Both commands start Macaron:

macaron
# or
macaron start

Macaron first validates your sudo credentials, records the current system state, and then:

1. enables macOS Remote Login;
2. disables system sleep;
3. brings Tailscale up;
4. starts every enabled service that has a .macaron/start file;
5. prints the SSH command and each available service URL.

Services start alphabetically. Macaron assigns the first free TCP port at or above 49001 to each one.

Connect remotely

The terminal prints an SSH command similar to:

ssh your-user@100.x.y.z

It also prints an HTTP URL for every service that remains running after its startup check:

dashboard  http://100.x.y.z:49001

The remote device must belong to the same Tailscale network and be allowed by its access-control policy. A service must listen on the assigned port and on an address reachable through Tailscale, such as 0.0.0.0.

Stop safely

Press Ctrl-C or send SIGTERM to the Macaron process. During shutdown Macaron:

1. sends SIGTERM to each managed service;
2. force-kills services that do not stop within one second;
3. runs the cleanup script of every enabled service;
4. removes active-services.json;
5. restores the previous Remote Login, sleep, and Tailscale states.

Keep the terminal session running for as long as you need remote access. If Macaron exits because startup fails, its deferred cleanup still attempts to restore the captured system state.