Until today, a Delta thread ran on your computer, so the agent stopped working when your laptop (or you) did.
Now Cloud Runners are available in Delta. Choose Cloud on a thread and the agent runs on a Zed-hosted runner instead of locally, so you can leave a long task going or pick the same thread back up from your phone or any other device, with your changes synced.
Grab a coffee or walk your dog or simply touch grass, and that thread keeps going. We’ve been using Cloud Runners internally for a few weeks, and it’s safe to say we’re already addicted:
Just used Cloud Runners to preview a blog post I have been working on, it was soooo smooth.
[It's] too addictive and anti-social… I'm sitting in Delta on my phone while on the public transport heading out to meet a friend…
It's so sick that I just punted this thread to the cloud from the car before I went through airport security.
What you get with Cloud Runners
When you choose Cloud on a Delta thread, the agent runs on a Zed-hosted Linux sandbox (we use E2B under the hood). You can move threads between your machine and the cloud in either direction, and see the same code, the same turns running.
Pick a size for the job. Small (2 CPU, 4 GB RAM) for a quick task, Medium (4 CPU, 8 GB, the default) for most work, Large (8 CPU, 16 GB) for builds and test suites that would make your laptop’s fans spin.
Bring your repo’s setup. The runner checks out your code from Delta and runs .agents/setup from the repo root before the first turn, so dependencies and toolchains are installed the way you’d install them. We cache the result for a day so your next runner on that repo skips setup.
Bring your keys. The runner uses the providers you’ve configured, including your own API keys and subscriptions. Environment variables you add in Settings are available to the agent and redacted from the transcript.
Push as yourself. Authorize GitHub once in Settings > Integrations and git and gh on the runner act as you. If a repo needs the Delta GitHub App installed first, the thread will tell you.
Run more than one. You can launch up to 6 runners at once (and since every runner is a Linux machine, Mac users can run their Linux builds and tests there without a VM).
Try it today
Get started with runners by opening a thread in Delta and choosing Cloud from the menu at the bottom of the thread. Send your message, and then keep working from any device.
Cloud Runners are included free on every Zed plan (except Student) while we develop Delta-specific plans, so enjoy (responsibly)! Check out our docs to learn more about setup scripts, environment variables, GitHub access, and preview URLs.
