Run tests on your machine.

With a runner connected, you can execute tests on your machine instead of the cloud, useful for apps on your own network, watching a headed browser live, or debugging locally.

Run a test on your runner

Open a test case with a linked script, start a run, and pick your machine in the runner selector. The run executes locally and reports results back to Ordel like any other run.

Guided sessions on your runner

When starting a recorder session, choose your machine as the runner target to have the live browser open locally (headed, if selected) instead of in the cloud.

The reachability rule

A runner can only test what its machine can reach. The cloud and your laptop see different networks:

• localhost in a session on your runner means your machine.
• Internal cloud hostnames are not resolvable from your laptop, pick your runner for apps on your network, and the cloud for apps on its network.

If a session on your runner shows no browser and disconnects, the target URL is usually unreachable from your machine.

Keep it running

The one-line install already sets the runner to start again automatically each time you sign in, so it stays available without a terminal. If it is not connected, run ordel-runner start. To remove the automatic start (not the runner itself), run ordel-runner uninstall.

Let your coding agent drive a browser here (optional)

If you connect a coding agent (Claude Code, Cursor) to Ordel over MCP, it can drive a browser session on this machine to record flows against apps that only run locally - the agent does the thinking, your runner just operates the browser. This is off by default because it means a cloud-connected agent commands a browser inside your network. To allow it, set the origins the driven browser may visit in the runner's environment before starting it:

export ORDEL_AGENT_DRIVE_ORIGINS=http://localhost:4500
ordel-runner start --server https://ordel.io --token oda_...

Anything outside those origins - the start URL or any navigation - is refused by your runner itself, and only browser actions are accepted from the tunnel. Leave the variable unset to keep remote-driven sessions disabled.