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Last updated: October 27, 2026

Browse documentation · Set up an account development environment
Operations and updates

Set up an account development environment

Give one account its own HOME, its Git identity and its own rule for where commands run.

What the account owns

Each linked account has a private HOME for Git, npm and tool configuration. It is separate from Projects and belongs to the account rather than to any single Project.

Administrators open Users, select the account and choose Development environment to see the HOME and its size and generation, the execution mode, active processes and the Git author.

Set the Git author

  1. Open Users and select the account.
  2. Choose Development environment and fill in Author name and Author email.
  3. Select Save Git author. The page confirms Git author saved.

Decide where commands run

Commands from accounts without operator authority run in a restricted bubblewrap environment by default: they reach their available Project directories and the account HOME, and they keep network access. The Development environment page shows the check as Ready or Failed and the mode as Confined, Not confined or Refused.

Warning: If the live containment check fails, a confined command is refused instead of being started without containment.

An administrator can turn Confine non-operator commands off, which allows those accounts to run commands directly on the host.

An operator running commands outside a managed Project uses the host directly. A managed Project's commands run inside its own environment, whatever the account's host execution setting says, and background commands started by plugins stay confined.

Reset the HOME

  1. Open the account's Development environment page.
  2. Select Reset HOME. Chetty first shows what will be lost: account-scoped Git, npm and tool configuration.
  3. Type the confirmation phrase and confirm. The reset is refused while the account has active processes.

The reset waits for the old HOME's files to be removed before it reports success. If that removal fails, it reports an error and the new, empty HOME is already in place. Removing an account also waits for its stored files to be removed before cleaning up Git records for older account workspaces.

GitHub and terminals

The account's GitHub credential is given to terminal sessions only, not to background services or other plugins: to a terminal in a managed Project's environment and to a confined terminal on the host. Output that contains the credential is redacted, and a direct host shell does not receive it.

An interactive terminal is a person's own shell and follows the same decision as a command: an operator's terminal runs directly on the host, and anyone else's runs under bubblewrap with their account HOME.

Only a signed-in web session opens one, only for a Project the account is a member of, and in a managed Project the shell is created inside the running environment and starts in the Project directory.

Read Open an interactive Project terminal and Interactive terminal access and limits.

Check that it worked

  • The Git author fields show the name and email you saved.
  • A confined command runs, and the page shows Ready for the check.

Environments overview, Terminal overview, Users and access overview, Projects overview, Your account's development environment.