Step 5: Set up the agent

In this step, you'll set up the zrok agent—the recommended approach for always-on shares that need to survive terminal sessions and system restarts.

Why use the agent?

The foreground zrok2 share command in Step 4 works for quick testing, but it stops the moment you close the terminal. The zrok agent runs in the background and manages all your shares and accesses as a single persistent process. It also provides a web UI for monitoring and managing your shares.

When the agent is running, zrok2 share and zrok2 access commands delegate to it automatically—your shares keep running even after you disconnect.

Try the agent in the foreground

The foreground share from step 4 won't carry over to the agent—it started as its own process and the agent begins fresh. You can leave it running or cancel it; either way, you'll create shares through the agent separately.

To try the agent before installing it as a service:

1. Start the agent:

   zrok2 agent start

2. In another terminal, open the agent console:

   zrok2 agent console

   This opens the agent UI in your browser. You can create and monitor shares from there, or continue using the CLI.

Install the agent as a background service

For reliable, always-on shares, install the agent as a system service:

• Windows: Set up the Windows agent service
• Linux: Install the Linux agent package zrok2-agent
• Docker: Run the zrok agent in Docker

note

A native macOS agent package is not yet available. macOS users can run zrok2 agent start in the foreground or use a third-party process manager.

For more detail on what the agent can do, see Use the zrok Agent.