Companion App

The Companion App is an Electron desktop application that turns any computer into a ModelReins worker with a visual twist: when your machine is idle, it shows a Matrix-style rain animation where the falling characters are live tokens from jobs being processed in real time.

The SETI@Home connection

SETI@Home let millions of volunteers donate idle compute to search for extraterrestrial intelligence. The screensaver showed radio signal analysis while your computer worked.

ModelReins Companion does the same thing for AI inference. Install it on any machine — your work laptop, a spare desktop, a machine in a closet — and it joins the worker mesh. When the machine goes idle, the screensaver activates and you see the Matrix rain: every falling green character is a real token being generated by a real job. Your machine is doing useful AI work while you sleep.

Install

npx @mediagato/modelreins-companion install

This downloads the Electron app, registers it as a background service, and configures it to start on login.

What the installer does

1. Downloads the platform-specific Companion binary.
2. Registers a ModelReins worker that runs as a background service.
3. Installs the screensaver component.
4. Adds a system tray icon for quick access to status and settings.

Features

Background worker

The app runs a full ModelReins worker process in the background. It connects to your coordinator, picks up jobs from the queue, and processes them using whatever provider you’ve configured.

The worker automatically throttles when you’re actively using the machine and scales up when the system is idle.

Matrix rain screensaver

When the screensaver activates, it renders a full-screen Matrix rain animation:

• Green falling characters — each column represents an active token stream.
• Characters are real tokens — the text falling down the screen is actual output from jobs being processed right now.
• Brightness indicates speed — brighter columns are generating tokens faster.
• Idle columns dim — when a job completes, that column fades until a new job starts.

The screensaver is purely cosmetic — the worker processes jobs whether or not the screensaver is visible.

System tray

The tray icon shows worker status at a glance:

• Green — worker is active, processing jobs.
• Yellow — worker is connected but idle (no jobs in queue).
• Red — worker is disconnected or errored.

Click the tray icon to see:

• Jobs completed today
• Current job (if any)
• Provider and model in use
• Link to the dashboard

Configuration

After installation, configure the companion through the tray menu or edit the config directly:

~/.modelreins/companion.json

{
  "coordinator": "http://localhost:7420",
  "apiKey": "your-api-key",
  "provider": "ollama",
  "model": "llama3.2",
  "idle_threshold_minutes": 5,
  "throttle_on_battery": true,
  "screensaver_enabled": true
}

Platform support

Platform	Background Worker	Screensaver	System Tray
macOS	Yes	Yes	Yes
Windows	Yes	Yes	Yes
Linux (X11)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Linux (Wayland)	Yes	Partial	Yes

On Linux Wayland, the screensaver renders in a window rather than capturing the full screen. The background worker functions identically across all platforms.

Uninstall

npx @mediagato/modelreins-companion uninstall

This stops the background worker, removes the screensaver, and cleans up the system tray icon. Your job history and configuration are preserved.