FAQ

Do I need my own Claude subscription?

Yes. Command Center is bring-your-own-Claude: the agentic layer runs through Claude Code (the claude CLI), installed and signed in under your own account. Your agents run on your subscription, your rate limits, and your own data relationship with the model provider — model calls go directly from your machine to the provider, with no relay in between. Command Center's subscription covers the product; it does not include model usage. See BYO Claude & keys.

Which API keys does Command Center need?

None to boot — the app, the graph, keyword memory search, documents, and terminals all work without any key. Two optional Gemini slots unlock extras, both set in Settings ▸ API Keys:

• GEMINI_API_KEY (free tier) — semantic memory search, knowledge-base embeddings, and Gemini queries.
• GEMINI_IMAGE_API_KEY (paid tier) — image generation only; the imagegen daemon stays off without it.

Is there a free tier or a trial?

No free tier. Command Center requires sign-in with an active subscription — Pro or Ultra — to unlock the product surface. See Tiers: Pro & Ultra.

What is the difference between Pro and Ultra?

Both are the same full local install; your tier decides which feature surfaces unlock after sign-in. The current split is documented on the tiers page — the docs keep that page as the single place the answer lives, so it cannot drift.

What runs on my machine, and what runs remotely?

Almost everything is local: the desktop app, all background daemons (bound to loopback 127.0.0.1 only), the ArcadeDB knowledge graph, your documents, agents, and configuration. Traffic leaves your machine in exactly three cases: model and API calls you configured (Claude through your own CLI, Gemini with your own keys), content you deliberately harvest (the feeds and channels Observer pulls), and the periodic subscription verification against the account service.

What happens when I go offline?

Local work continues — files, terminals, the graph, anything that does not need a provider. Subscription verification enters a grace window; the account status reads "offline grace — reconnect to refresh" and everything keeps working. If the grace window elapses without a successful verification, tier-gated views lock until you reconnect and refresh. Nothing is deleted at any point; your files and local data are untouched.

Where do my files live?

In one home folder you choose at first run. Inside it: documents/ (your content — reports, missions, notes), config/ (runtime configuration and version stamps), the app folder's .env (your secrets, local only), each component's data/ directory (local databases), and the engines' own folders. Desktop preferences (window layout, theme) live in your operating system's per-user app-config directory. There is no cloud copy of any of it.

Will an update overwrite my customizations?

No. Updates overlay the shipped code files and seed new agents, skills, and protocols — but a doctrine file you edited is never overwritten, because an agent (or you) tuning its own doctrine is the product working as designed. Your documents/, .env, config/ state, databases, Python environments, and engine installs are structurally out of the update's reach. Restoring the shipped doctrine is always an explicit action (Settings ▸ Doctor ▸ Refresh doctrine) that backs up your copies first. Details: How updates work.

How do I move to a new machine or reinstall without losing work?

Your state is the home folder. Copy it to the new machine (or keep it in place for a reinstall), install the app, and point it at that folder — at first run, or later via the project root in Settings. The app lays down anything missing and preserves everything present. Afterward run python scripts/provision_runtime.py from the install root once: Python environments are machine-specific and are rebuilt rather than copied.

How do I reset the app but keep my content?

The reset levers are separable, so you never have to nuke everything:

• Doctrine — Settings ▸ Doctor ▸ Refresh doctrine restores the shipped agents/skills/protocols (your edited copies are backed up first).
• Platform tree — Doctor ▸ Re-run lay-down repairs a damaged or partial install in place.
• Python runtimes — re-run python scripts/provision_runtime.py.
• Knowledge graph — the graph is derived from your files and can be re-synced and re-ingested at any time.

documents/ is never part of any reset path.

Why are the video engines not installed by default?

Remotion and Hyperframes are opt-in, per-engine installs from the Video tab. Each carries its own license acceptance at install time and a heavyweight footprint (a Node dependency tree plus a render browser fetched on first render). The rest of the product does not depend on them, so they stay off your disk until you want video work.

Do I need Docker?

No. The default knowledge-graph backend is a provisioned-local ArcadeDB — a bundled Java runtime plus a pinned package that Command Center installs and manages itself (Settings ▸ Database). A docker/remote mode exists only if you prefer to point at an ArcadeDB server you run elsewhere.

Doctor shows several daemons as "not running" — is my install broken?

Usually not. "Not running" is an info state, not a failure: daemons start on launch only when autostart is enabled (Dashboard ▸ Platform Health), and a daemon you are not using can stay off. Something is actually wrong only when a row is a red fail, or when a daemon refuses to start after you press Start — in that case see Troubleshooting.

I saved an API key, but the feature still says the key is missing.

Daemons read keys at process start, so a key saved while a daemon is running is invisible to it until that daemon restarts (Dashboard ▸ Platform Health). For semantic memory search, the memory service starts and stops with your Claude Code session — restart the session instead. Doctor detects this exact state and names it ("the running memory daemon has no key loaded").

My agent terminals stopped resuming after a restart. Why?

Session resume rides hook scripts installed into the agent harness, and missing hooks fail silently — nothing errors, resuming just stops happening. Check Settings ▸ Doctor for the "Fleet wake & session-resume hooks" row; if it reports hooks as not installed, run python .claude/hooks/cc_install_hooks.py from your install root. New terminal sessions pick the hooks up immediately.

Does Command Center upload my documents anywhere?

No. Your content leaves the machine only when you invoke something that needs it: a model call carries the context you gave it, under your own account and keys, directly to that provider. The subscription check exchanges account status, not content. Proxy credentials, if you configure a BYO proxy, stay in your local .env and are never transmitted anywhere except to your own proxy provider.