Hosting a Pair Programming Session

SteadyState’s Pair Programming Mode (--mode=pair) creates a shared terminal session where multiple users can control the same shell instance in real-time. This is ideal for debugging, teaching, or tight collaboration where you want to see exactly what the other person is typing.

Prerequisites

You must be logged in (steadystate login).
You must have a running SteadyState backend.
tmux must be installed on the backend server (SteadyState uses tmux for this mode).

Creating a Session

To start a pair programming session:

steadystate up --mode=pair <REPOSITORY>

Example

steadystate up --mode=pair https://github.com/b-rodrigues/housing

Output:

Creating pair programming session...
✅ Session ready!

📋 Share this magic link with your pair:
   steadystate join "steadystate://pair/abc12345?ssh=..."

Connecting to session...

You will be immediately dropped into a shared terminal session inside the repository.

Joining a Session

Your pair joins using the magic link you shared:

steadystate join "steadystate://pair/abc12345?ssh=..."

Once they join, they will see the same terminal as you. Both of you can type commands, edit files (using terminal editors like vim or nano), and run code.

Key Differences from Collab Mode

Feature	Pair Mode (`--mode=pair`)	Collab Mode (`--mode=collab`)
View	Shared Screen (Same Terminal)	Independent Worktrees
Editing	One cursor (taking turns)	Parallel editing
Sync	Instant (same shell)	Explicit (`steadystate sync`)
Use Case	Debugging, Teaching, Review	Feature development, Data Science

Ending the Session

To end the session, simply exit the shell:

exit

This will close the connection for all participants.