Quickstart

You need 2+ machines (physical or virtual, anywhere, any network).

For examples:

• A laptop at home.
• A computer at work.
• Servers in the cloud.
• Your grandma’s old computer.

Just make sure they are connected to the internet. We will make them talk to each other.

1) Install the CLI on Computer #1

sudo npm install -g @thomasthemaker/village

Requirements: Node.js 16+ and Python 3.x.

2) Sign in and register Computer #1

village setup

You will be prompted to enter an email & password for login. This registers the computer under your account. Repeat this on every device you want to use.

3) Start a listener on Computer #1

On the machine that will run commands:

village listen

This marks the device idle and ready to receive commands.

4) On Computer #2, perform the same setup

npm install -g @thomasthemaker/village
village setup

5) Send a command from another device

On your sender (any of your signed-in devices):

village send "ls"
# auto-routes to an idle device you own

Village will route the command to one of your idle listener devices (at random). The “message” is just the terminal command string; the response is exactly what the command prints (stdout + stderr).

Repeat this process with any additional devices/servers.

If you have more than 2 devices and want to send commands to Computer #2, you can use the --to flag:

village send "ls" --to <device_id>

6) Handy checks

• Check devices: village status
• Reset auth/device id: village logout --reset
• Stop a listener with Ctrl+C

Troubleshooting

• Error “from_device_id not registered to caller”: run village register on the sending machine.
• No idle devices: start village listen on a device, or target one explicitly with --to <device_id>.
• Need the installed version: village -v.