Code Relay

Branch-scoped runbooks, remote checkpoints, and auditable verification receipts.

Documentation

Code Relay

Build. Prove. Relay.

Code Relay lets your coding agent develop on one machine and prove the result on another.

Relay is an MCP-based coding-agent integration for cross-machine development and verification. AI on the Dev Host implements the request; the Target Host runs the real validation; a structured receipt comes back to guide the next repair iteration. It works with Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, and other MCP-capable coding agents.

When Relay is useful

Different environments — develop on Windows or macOS, verify on Linux, a private network, or a production-like host.
Special hardware — send model code to a CUDA/GPU machine, or verify a camera, serial device, or sensor where it is connected.
Real integrations — exercise payment callbacks, queues, databases, browsers, or internal services that cannot be reproduced locally.
AI-driven iteration — return concrete expected/actual results so the coding agent can repair, republish, and retry.

What Relay provides

Branch-scoped project binding and short-lived join links.
Exact source-commit verification in an isolated worktree.
Checkpoint execution through a code-relay-checkpoint GitHub Actions self-hosted runner.
Safe, allowlisted validation commands with bounded output and timeouts.
Structured receipt.json and human-readable receipts for passed, failed, and blocked runs.

Quick start

AI client installation

Let your coding agent read and follow the instructions:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zarcherlot/code-relay/main/install.md

npm fallback

npx -y code-relay-mcp@latest install --client codex

Replace codex with claude-code, cursor, vscode, or generic as needed.

MCP server details

Code Relay is a local MCP server that communicates over stdio. The npm package starts the server with:

npx -y code-relay-mcp@3.1.0

The server implements the MCP JSON-RPC surface directly in Go (without a third-party MCP SDK). It supports initialize, ping, tools/list, and tools/call, and exposes these tools:

Tool	Purpose
`bind_project`	Bind a repository and branch to a relay role.
`create_checkpoint_invite`	Create a short-lived checkpoint join link.
`join_checkpoint`	Join a branch-scoped checkpoint subscription.
`watcher_status`	Read local watcher state.
`stop_watcher`	Stop the local watcher.
`doctor`	Run non-mutating local health checks.
`publish_runbook`	Validate and publish a runbook.
`status`	Read runbook and receipt status.
`fetch_receipt`	Load and validate a runbook receipt.
`analyze`	Analyze a receipt and determine the next state.

The implementation and transport loop are in internal/relay/mcp.go.

How it works

Dev Host sends a runbook through Code Relay to a Target Host; the Target Host runs a checkpoint and returns a receipt with evidence

the Dev Host sends a repository- and branch-bound runbook through Relay; the Target Host checks the exact source commit in its real environment and returns a Receipt recording the Checkpoint result.

Every runbook is bound to a repository, branch, and source commit. The Target Host acts as the Checkpoint, and the resulting receipt records passed, failed, or blocked verification for the next iteration.

Documentation

License

Code Relay is released under the MIT License.