Step zero: install, join, reach it from outside

Step zero installs the hub on your home computer, joins your phone and laptop to it, and connects them from outside through NetBird. It takes about ten minutes. Each service on the computer opens on a later page. Your Claude Code sessions, for one, open in Your AI session on the phone.

Before you start

• Your computer stays on and runs one of these systems:
  • Linux with a desktop: Debian 12 or newer, Ubuntu 22.04 or newer, Fedora 41 or newer, or the RHEL 9 family
  • macOS 12.3 or newer
  • Windows 10 1809 or newer on x86-64
• You have an administrator account on the computer, and the computer reaches the internet.
• You have an Android phone (Android 8.0 or newer, 64-bit ARM), a laptop with one of these systems, or both.
• You have an account at netbird.io.
• The phone and the laptop are on the same Wi-Fi network as the computer.

For EasyTier, Direct or your own server, follow EasyTier, Turn on Direct or Reach home through your own VPS in place of both NetBird sections.

Install the hub

On Linux or macOS, open a terminal and run:

curl -fsSL https://github.com/iffiX/neutrino/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sh

On Windows, open PowerShell and run:

irm https://github.com/iffiX/neutrino/releases/latest/download/install.ps1 | iex

The script prompts once for administrator rights. On Windows it goes on in a new PowerShell window that Windows opens as administrator.

After the install, the terminal prints the wizard's address on each network the computer is on. It then shows Press Enter to begin: and stays there until you finish the wizard in the browser. At that point it prints The hub was set up in the browser; its panel is at and the address, and the script exits.

Install the hub has the mainland edition's command and the package files.

Answer the wizard

Open the first address the terminal printed in a browser on the computer. Each screen ends in Next, and the wizard changes nothing until the last screen:

1. Select Set this box up.
2. On Language, keep English.
3. Type a Panel password of at least 8 characters, and type it again under Again.
4. Type a Vault passphrase of at least 16 characters, with lowercase and uppercase letters, digits and symbols, and type it again under Again.
5. Leave HTTPS for the panel off.
6. On What is this machine for?, select Server.
7. On Which ports?, keep the ports as they are.
8. On Going out through a proxy, leave Set it up here off.
9. On Ready, select Set this box up.

The steps run on the screen, and the title changes to This hub is set up. The wizard has also installed the computer's agent, which runs the services the later pages open.

WARNING

The vault passphrase seals every credential the hub holds, and restoring a backup requires it. Write it down somewhere other than the computer.

Sign in to the panel

1. Select Open the panel.
2. Type the panel password in Panel password.
3. Select Sign in.

The panel opens on the Dashboard. Its address is the one in the browser's address bar, and the laptop opens the panel at the same address.

Join your phone and laptop

Each device joins with a link of its own from the panel's Clients page, valid for 30 minutes. Follow the part for each device you have.

From the phone

1. On the phone, download https://github.com/iffiX/neutrino/releases/download/v0.5.2/neutrino-client-0.5.2-android.apk.
2. Open the file and select Install. If Android shows a prompt first, allow your browser to install apps.
3. Open Neutrino.
4. In the panel, open Clients, then select New client link.
5. Type a name for the phone, such as phone, then select Create link. A QR code of the link appears.
6. In the app, on Hubs, select Join a hub.
7. Select Allow the camera, then allow it in Android's prompt.
8. Point the camera at the QR code in the panel.

The app lists the hub, and its row reads Connected · LAN. On Android 13 and newer, the app's first Open or Connect on its Web, Ports or AI page later shows Android's notification prompt. Allow it, and the app keeps one line there with the number of hubs it is connected to.

From the laptop

On Linux or macOS, install the client from your own account with:

curl -fsSL https://github.com/iffiX/neutrino/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sh -s -- client

On Windows, run this in PowerShell:

& ([scriptblock]::Create((irm https://github.com/iffiX/neutrino/releases/latest/download/install.ps1))) client

Then join the laptop:

1. In a browser on the laptop, open the panel's address and sign in.
2. On Clients, select New client link.
3. Type a name for the laptop, such as laptop, then select Create link.
4. Select Copy.
5. Open Neutrino Client from the application menu on Linux, the Start menu on Windows, or Applications on macOS.
6. Paste the link into the field of the Join a hub row.
7. Select Join.

The hub's row in the laptop's client window reads Connected · LAN.

Join the hub to NetBird

The hub joins NetBird with a setup key and gives the same key to the phone and the laptop, so the key must be reusable.

Create a reusable setup key

1. In the NetBird console, open Settings > Setup Keys.
2. Select Create Key.
3. Type a Name, such as the hub's name.
4. Turn on Make this key reusable.
5. Leave Usage limit empty, where it reads Unlimited.
6. Leave Expires in empty.
7. Select Create Setup Key.
8. In Setup key created successfully!, select the copy button beside the key. The console shows the key this one time.

WARNING

The key under Networks > Routing Peers > Add > Install NetBird works one time. With it, the hub joins and the phone then fails to join.

Paste the key into the panel

1. In the panel's sidebar, open Access.
2. On the NetBird card, turn on Enable.
3. Select Apply access.
4. Select the NetBird card.
5. Under Settings, paste the key into Setup key.
6. Leave the management URL empty.
7. Select Join.

The badge beside NetBird reads joining, then connected, and Settings shows the hub's Overlay address. When the badge stays on another word, Troubleshooting has its fix.

Put the phone and laptop on NetBird

The phone and the laptop receive the setup key from the hub, so every step for them runs on the devices themselves.

1. In the app, on the hub's row, on the Virtual network line, select Connect.
2. In Android's VPN connection request, select OK.
3. In the laptop's client window, on the hub's row, on the Virtual network line, select Connect.

Each Virtual network line reads Connecting…, then Connected · and the device's address on NetBird.

Done

The hub, the phone and the laptop are on the same virtual network now. Away from home, on a café's Wi-Fi or on mobile data, the app reaches the hub as soon as it opens: the hub's row reads Connected · NetBird. From here each service has a page of its own, starting with Your AI session on the phone.