Tallpine

What listens where. What is encrypted.

Tallpine runs on your Mac. This page lists every way in and out, and what we don’t do yet.

Connections at a glance

One local socket for your own tools. One phone gateway, off until you pair a phone. Everything else is your agents talking to their providers and your Git host.

Diagram. On the Mac, the desktop app, the tallpine CLI and agent hooks reach the Tallpine daemon over a Unix socket only your user can open. The daemon’s phone gateway is off until a phone is paired; when on, the phone connects over HTTPS with a pinned certificate, on the same Wi-Fi or over Tailscale. Outside the Mac: an optional Cloudflare quick tunnel, off by default, where Cloudflare can read the traffic; model providers and GitHub or GitLab, reached outbound over HTTPS; and no Tallpine servers.
Your Mac
Desktop appWindow and tray
tallpine CLIYou, scripts and agents
Agent hooksStatus from running agents
Unix socket,
your user only
Tallpine daemon~/.tallpineChecks the user id of every local connection and refuses anyone else.
StateSQLite, worktrees, settings
Phone gatewayOff until you pair a phone
HTTPS, pinned cert
Wi-Fi or Tailscale
Your phonePaired with a one-time code. Pins the Mac’s certificate.
Outside the Mac
Model providers, GitHub or GitLabOutbound HTTPS from your agents and Git, with your own accounts.
Cloudflare quick tunnelOptional, off by default. Cloudflare terminates TLS and can read this traffic.
Tallpine serversNone.

Details

What listens where

The desktop app, the CLI and agent hooks reach the daemon over a Unix socket that only your user account can open. By default the daemon opens no TCP port for local clients; an administrator can turn a loopback port back on with TALLPINE_LOOPBACK_TCP=1. While the phone connection is on, the daemon also opens a random loopback port reserved for the optional Cloudflare quick tunnel. The socket sits in a folder only you can enter, and the daemon refuses any connection from another user. The phone gateway is off until you pair a phone.

What is encrypted

Phone and Mac talk over HTTPS. The Mac makes its own certificate, and the phone pins it when you pair, so nothing in between can pose as your Mac. Pairing uses a one-time code, and you can unpair each phone on its own. It works on the same Wi-Fi or over your own Tailscale network.

The Cloudflare option

For reaching the Mac from anywhere without Tailscale, you can turn on a Cloudflare quick tunnel (trycloudflare.com). It is a separate opt-in and off by default. Cloudflare terminates TLS for it, so Cloudflare can read that traffic. Prefer Wi-Fi or Tailscale.

What stays local

Sessions, transcripts, worktrees and settings live in ~/.tallpine on your Mac. Nothing goes to JustDev. A retention rule, off by default and settable through MDM, can delete old session data on a schedule.

What we don’t do yet

Agents run as your user, without a filesystem or network sandbox. An agent can read what your user can read, including Tallpine’s own data folder. Policy rules narrow what agents get, but they are not isolation.

Coming

Expiring tokens, an audit log, and sandboxing for agents. We will list them here when they ship.

Questions or a security report: hello@tallpine.eu. For policy and MDM, see Enterprise.