I moved my coding agents to a VPS so I could close my laptop

I've recently moved my coding agents onto a VPS, along with my GitHub self-hosted runner. It's taken a lot of load off my laptop. I was running the agents locally before, so whatever else I was doing on the laptop had to share the machine with them.

I was also keeping it on while they finished. I'd be ready to stop working but still have an agent running, and I'd end up staying nearby waiting for it.

Now I can turn the laptop off and leave them to carry on. That's made a huge difference to my work/life balance. I think this is a great way to work.

I run OpenCode and Claude Code on the VPS. From my laptop I can SSH in and use the terminal, or use Herdr. The GitHub runner is on the same server and runs my tests and builds, plus my GitHub agent workflows. I've written more about how I build software with agent loops separately.

I'm still giving the agents instructions and reviewing what they change. I just don't need my laptop to be the machine doing the work as well.

Herdr works on my phone too, which means I can interact with the same workspace from either device. I can see how a task is getting on and reply if an agent needs something from me, without going back to the laptop. I also use it to start tasks and review changes.

There is another server to look after now. I have to maintain it and keep it secure, so there's more upkeep than there was when this all ran on my laptop.

And having Herdr on my phone goes both ways. It's easier to step away when I know I can reply from there, but it's also tempting to keep checking. I haven't worked out where to draw the line with that yet.