Alto

Shared project environments where software teams work with coding agents together.

Repo ↗Devpost ↗Demo video ↗

Event: HackGT 13 · Sep 2026
Team of 3: Nathan Bai, Neal Kotval, Aarush Mathad
Stack: Next.js, Electron, Better Auth, SQLite, Docker, Terraform, AWS

Problem

Sharing one agent mixes instructions; separate agents split context.

Approach

One conversation and Git worktree per agent, on a shared environment.

My part

Org auth, environment requests, and the web-to-desktop Codex experience.

Outcome

Full path demoed: web → desktop → sign-in → Codex chat.

Alto desktop app: a Codex conversation reporting the GPU of a shared AWS EC2 environment — **Fig. 01** · A Codex conversation on a shared project environment.

Context

One shared session

Instructions get mixed. Ownership is unclear.

Separate sessions

Context splits. Work duplicates. Handoffs are hard.

A conversation and worktree per agent, with explicit handoffs.

Boundary: teammates share machine resources and a Unix account. Worktrees prevent edit conflicts, not access to each other’s files.

Team & my role

Me

Nathan

Organization auth (Better Auth)
Environment requests and policy checks
Codex session transport and persistent chats
Environment-to-chat handoff, browser login
Reconnection after interruptions
Much of the web and desktop UI

Neal Kotval

Environment workers
SSH authorization and revocation
Reconciliation and cleanup

Aarush Mathad

Initial Electron shell
Task/chat integration, deep links
Backboard memory

Shared AWS EC2 provisioning with Terraform · Docker infrastructure · web and desktop integration

Product

Alto web app: a ready environment card with its access decision, SSH command, and Open in desktop button — **Fig. 02** · Environment to conversation, in the web app
1Ready once the worker verifies SSH access
2Access decided by project membership and role
3Hand off to a desktop Codex chat

Alto sign-in screen: continue to your organizations and projects — **Fig. 03** · Sign-in to organizations and projects

Alto desktop app: saved Codex chats grouped by teammate on one shared environment — **Fig. 04** · Persistent Codex chats, grouped by teammate

Architecture & trade-offs

01 · Shared

Client

Web or Electron calls the API

02 · Mine

Authorization

Org and project access checks

03 · Mine

Environment job

Policy checks, persisted job

04 · Neal

Worker

Allocates, verifies SSH and workspace

05 · Mine

Session

Codex and terminal

06 · Mine

Return path

Events and history to clients

Beside 05 · Aarush

Optional Backboard memory

Beside 04 · Neal

Reconciliation, expiry, cleanup

Outside · Shared

Terraform configures AWS

Fig. 05 · Request path, 01 → 06. Blue steps are my work.

Known limits No file isolation between teammates · Revoking a key doesn’t end an open SSH session · Cleanup runs on deadlines, not idle time

Key trade-offs I made

Self-hosted auth on SQLite

Mine

Benefit: Fast setup; reproducible locally

Trade-off: Limited scaling; JSON coordination records live outside the database

Membership by invitation

Mine

Benefit: Verified email + accepted invite + project check; simple to administer

Trade-off: Doesn’t independently prove employment

Reconnection separate from cleanup

Sessions · mineResources · Neal

Benefit: Workers reconcile resources on startup and every poll, even after a crash, and confirm EC2 and EBS are gone

Trade-off: Shutdown is asynchronous; it recovers resources, not lost work

Lessons

Ship a narrower first slice

One provider, verified readiness, login, one agent turn, confirmed cleanup — then expand.

Keep evidence next to the code

Record what was tested, and at which revision, so planned, built, and demoed stay distinct.

01Context