VM Workflow

Run DraftPilot where the remote files live.

For remote experiments, launch DraftPilot on the VM and open it through a local SSH tunnel.

Requirements

SSH access from your local machine to the VM.
DraftPilot installed on the VM.
The VM can access the paper folder and codebase folder.
Local machine has DraftPilot CLI installed to create the tunnel.

Recommended VM repo setup

Keep the paper in a private GitHub repo, then clone it on the VM beside the code and experiment outputs. DraftPilot runs on the VM, so Codex and the UI can inspect the same files your experiments produce.

ssh user@vm.example.com
git clone git@github.com:you/paper.git ~/paper
git clone git@github.com:you/research-code.git ~/research-code

Launch command

draftpilot launch \
  --host user@vm.example.com \
  --name PaperName \
  --paper /remote/path/to/paper \
  --main-tex main.tex \
  --codebase /remote/path/to/codebase \
  --open

How it works

Remote serverRuns beside the VM paper and codebase, so file paths are real VM paths.

Local tunnelThe local CLI opens an SSH tunnel and prints a local URL.

Browser/appYou view the UI locally while DraftPilot edits remote files.

Why CLI is better than desktop for VMs

The desktop app folder picker cannot browse VM-only paths unless they are mounted locally. The CLI can directly tell the VM where the paper and codebase live.

Sprinting between laptop and VM

Use Git for source history and DraftPilot for the local workspace. Commit paper edits from the laptop, pull them on the VM, regenerate figures or tables from the codebase, then keep writing from the same browser UI.

# laptop
git add sections figures main.bib
git commit -m "Update experiment section"
git push

# VM
cd ~/paper
git pull
draftpilot launch --paper . --main-tex main.tex --codebase ~/research-code --open