Join a session

Join

• With a link: click the link the host shared.
  • A specdeck://join/… link opens SpecDeck, which joins.
  • A web link (https://…/join#…) opens in your browser with two choices: Open in the SpecDeck app, or Watch in this browser (see below).
  • Hosts copy a web link when their sharing service serves the web viewer.
• With a code: under Join a session (or File › Join a Session…, ⌘J on macOS, Ctrl+Shift+J on Windows and Linux), type or paste the invite code or link and select Join. Upper or lower case and dashes do not matter, and the code is formatted as you type.

If the window you are using already shows a session, a link opens in a new window and the other session keeps running. If a link does not work, SpecDeck says so on the start screen; see Troubleshooting for what each message means.

Through another sharing service

A join link also names the host’s sharing service. If it is not the one you use, for example because the host’s team runs its own, SpecDeck asks Join through …? before it connects:

• Join uses that service for this session only.
• Tick Use this service from now on to make it your sharing service in Settings.
• Cancel connects nowhere.

The other service cannot read the session, but it sees your network address, and whoever runs it could in principle intercept your join (see The sharing service). Join only through links you trust.

A code typed on its own always uses your own sharing service. When host and viewer use different services, share the link.

SpecDeck 1.0

SpecDeck 1.0 cannot open links from newer versions by clicking them. On 1.0, paste the link into Join a session instead, or update SpecDeck.

Overview or Developer

The first time you join, SpecDeck asks how you want to follow sessions:

• Overview: the documents and the timeline. You see what was asked, what the agent did in plain words, its answers, and the documents it wrote. There is no terminal tab.
• Developer: the code, the host’s terminal (read-only), and every tool call, command and diff.

Your answer sets up your window, and SpecDeck remembers it for every session you join. Change the layout at any time with the layout button at the top (see Follow a session). Leave takes you back to the start screen.

Watch in a browser

If you cannot install SpecDeck, for example on a company laptop, you can watch in a browser: current Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari. Hosting still needs the app.

• Open the web link the host shared, or go to the sharing service’s address (https://specdeck.hartj.es/ for the built-in one) and type the code.
• Enter your name and select Watch in this browser.

You see the session as in the app: the files, the terminal and documents in tabs, the timeline, the people, the status bar, and the Overview, Developer and Present layouts.

• Your name, layout and appearance stay in this browser only. There is no account. Choose System, Light or Dark in the layout menu in the toolbar; System follows your browser.

• The code is removed from the address bar once the page has read it, and is never sent to the server: it sits after the #, which browsers keep to themselves.

• Each page joins only sessions on its own sharing service. An invite for another service gets a link to that service’s own page, never a connection from this one.

• The page’s code comes from the sharing service, so watching in a browser means trusting whoever runs it. See The web viewer’s code.

• Some keys differ, because the browser keeps its own:

  To	Press
  Find in the terminal and timeline	⌘F or Ctrl+F
  Show or hide the files, the terminal or the timeline	⌥1, ⌥2, ⌥3 (macOS) or Alt+1, Alt+2, Alt+3
  See all keyboard shortcuts	?
  Zoom	Your browser’s zoom

• “This web viewer needs to be updated” means the host uses a newer SpecDeck than the page the sharing service serves. Ask whoever runs the service to update it, or watch in the app.

• “This browser blocks the connection” means the browser has WebRTC turned off, as privacy-focused browsers such as LibreWolf can. Allow WebRTC in its settings (in LibreWolf and Firefox, media.peerconnection.enabled in about:config), use another browser, or watch in the app.

• Company networks often block UDP. On such a network, the page loads but cannot connect, and it says so; see Troubleshooting.

When the connection drops

If your connection drops, SpecDeck reconnects on its own and catches up; you do not miss anything. When the host ends the session, you can keep reading what was shared until you leave.