feat: external goosed server by michaelneale · Pull Request #5978 · block/goose

michaelneale · 2025-12-04T05:38:17Z

fixes: #4115 which has been requested a few times. Let the goose app connect to any goose server.

example motivation:

I work on highly regulated genomics data that sits in a protected environment. Being able to run a desktop on a local computer that is connected via ssh to some sort of 'goose server" running in the protected environment would be helpful. For example, I could loop at data visualizations in the desktop app, which would be impossible via the goose CLI in a terminal.

If you accidentally start it and it can't connect:

you can then run a goose server with:

./target/release/goosed agent

and use the defaults in the form (127.0.0.1, port 3000, secret is 'test')

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR adds support for connecting the desktop application to an external goosed server instead of always launching a local bundled instance. Users can configure an external server URL and secret key through a new settings UI, enabling scenarios like connecting to a remote development server or a shared team instance.

Key Changes:

Adds external backend configuration interface with URL and secret key settings
Refactors startGoosed function to return a structured result object with baseUrl instead of just a port
Implements graceful error handling that offers to disable external backend and retry if connection fails

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 7 out of 7 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
ui/desktop/src/utils/settings.ts	Adds `ExternalGoosedConfig` interface with `enabled`, `url`, and `secret` fields
ui/desktop/src/preload.ts	Exposes `saveSettings` IPC method to renderer process
ui/desktop/src/main.ts	Implements external backend logic, CSP updates for external URLs, secret key management, and error recovery flow
ui/desktop/src/goosed.ts	Refactors `startGoosed` to accept options object and return structured `GoosedResult` with `baseUrl` field
ui/desktop/src/config.ts	Simplifies `getApiUrl` to use full `GOOSE_API_HOST` URL instead of constructing from host + port
ui/desktop/src/components/settings/app/ExternalBackendSection.tsx	New settings UI component for configuring external backend with URL validation and secret key input
ui/desktop/src/components/settings/app/AppSettingsSection.tsx	Integrates external backend settings section into app settings

ui/desktop/src/main.ts

ui/desktop/src/components/settings/app/ExternalBackendSection.tsx

ui/desktop/src/main.ts

ui/desktop/src/utils/settings.ts

ui/desktop/src/components/settings/app/ExternalBackendSection.tsx

* main: fix: Make datetime info message more explicit to prevent LLM confusion about current year (#6101) refactor: unify subagent and subrecipe tools into single tool (#5893) goose repo is too big for the issue solver workflow worker (#6099) fix: use system not developer role in db (#6098) Add /goose issue solver github workflow (#6068) OpenAI responses streaming (#5837) Canonical models for Providers (#5694) feat: add Inception provider for Mercury models (#6029) fix old sessions with tool results not loading (#6094) Fix community page mobile responsiveness and horizontal overflow (#6082)

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 7 out of 7 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

ui/desktop/src/main.ts

ui/desktop/src/components/settings/app/ExternalBackendSection.tsx

* 'main' of github.com:block/goose: (22 commits) Disallow subagents with no extensions (#5825) chore(deps): bump js-yaml in /documentation (#6093) feat: external goosed server (#5978) fix: Make datetime info message more explicit to prevent LLM confusion about current year (#6101) refactor: unify subagent and subrecipe tools into single tool (#5893) goose repo is too big for the issue solver workflow worker (#6099) fix: use system not developer role in db (#6098) Add /goose issue solver github workflow (#6068) OpenAI responses streaming (#5837) Canonical models for Providers (#5694) feat: add Inception provider for Mercury models (#6029) fix old sessions with tool results not loading (#6094) Fix community page mobile responsiveness and horizontal overflow (#6082) Tool reply meta (#6074) chore: avoid accidentally using native tls again (#6086) Update vars to be capitalised to be in line with other variables in config file (#6085) docs: restructure recipe reference (#5972) docs: configure custom providers (#6044) docs: Community All-Stars Spotlight November 2025, CodeTV Hackathon edition (#6070) fix: include file attachments in queued messages (#5961) ... # Conflicts: # crates/goose-server/src/routes/agent.rs # crates/goose/src/agents/extension_manager.rs # ui/desktop/src/api/sdk.gen.ts

supports connecting to an external goosed in client/server mode

…erer * origin/main: (26 commits) Don't persist ephemeral extensions when resuming sessions (#5974) chore(deps): bump mdast-util-to-hast from 13.2.0 to 13.2.1 in /ui/desktop (#5939) chore(deps): bump node-forge from 1.3.1 to 1.3.2 in /documentation (#5898) Add Scorecard supply-chain security workflow (#5810) Don't show subagent tool when we're a subagent (#6125) Fix keyboard shortcut conflict for Focus Goose Window (#5809) feat(goose-cli): add feature to disable update (#5886) workflow: enable docs-update-recipe-ref (#6132) fix: filter tools in Ollama streaming when chat mode is enabled (#6118) feat(mcp): platform extension for "code mode" MCP tool calling (#6030) workflow: auto-update recipe-reference on release (#5988) Document recipe slash commands feature (#6075) docs: add GitHub Copilot device flow authentication details (#6123) Disallow subagents with no extensions (#5825) chore(deps): bump js-yaml in /documentation (#6093) feat: external goosed server (#5978) fix: Make datetime info message more explicit to prevent LLM confusion about current year (#6101) refactor: unify subagent and subrecipe tools into single tool (#5893) goose repo is too big for the issue solver workflow worker (#6099) fix: use system not developer role in db (#6098) ...

…sions * 'main' of github.com:block/goose: (22 commits) Disallow subagents with no extensions (#5825) chore(deps): bump js-yaml in /documentation (#6093) feat: external goosed server (#5978) fix: Make datetime info message more explicit to prevent LLM confusion about current year (#6101) refactor: unify subagent and subrecipe tools into single tool (#5893) goose repo is too big for the issue solver workflow worker (#6099) fix: use system not developer role in db (#6098) Add /goose issue solver github workflow (#6068) OpenAI responses streaming (#5837) Canonical models for Providers (#5694) feat: add Inception provider for Mercury models (#6029) fix old sessions with tool results not loading (#6094) Fix community page mobile responsiveness and horizontal overflow (#6082) Tool reply meta (#6074) chore: avoid accidentally using native tls again (#6086) Update vars to be capitalised to be in line with other variables in config file (#6085) docs: restructure recipe reference (#5972) docs: configure custom providers (#6044) docs: Community All-Stars Spotlight November 2025, CodeTV Hackathon edition (#6070) fix: include file attachments in queued messages (#5961) ... # Conflicts: # crates/goose-server/src/routes/agent.rs # crates/goose/src/agents/extension_manager.rs # ui/desktop/src/api/sdk.gen.ts

michaelneale added 3 commits December 4, 2025 16:16

implementing ability to oconnect to a remote goosed

3934835

safe fallback

4811e3f

cleanup and wording

4df1812

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings December 4, 2025 05:38

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of michaelneale December 4, 2025 05:38 View session

michaelneale mentioned this pull request Dec 4, 2025

Remote agent control #4115

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1 task

Copilot finished reviewing on behalf of michaelneale December 4, 2025 05:40

michaelneale assigned zanesq Dec 4, 2025

michaelneale requested review from alexhancock and zanesq December 4, 2025 05:41

Copilot AI reviewed Dec 4, 2025

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michaelneale commented Dec 4, 2025

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Merge branch 'main' into micn/external-goosed-server

25543fe

DOsinga approved these changes Dec 12, 2025

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michaelneale added 2 commits December 15, 2025 12:13

cleanup based on feedback

c6976e6

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings December 15, 2025 02:12

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moving around

d6cc12a

michaelneale merged commit 208417e into main Dec 15, 2025
18 checks passed

michaelneale deleted the micn/external-goosed-server branch December 15, 2025 03:04

github-actions bot mentioned this pull request Dec 16, 2025

chore(release): release version 1.17.0 (minor) #6131

Closed

fbalicchia pushed a commit to fbalicchia/goose that referenced this pull request Dec 16, 2025

feat: external goosed server (block#5978)

a4869f1

supports connecting to an external goosed in client/server mode

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feat: external goosed server#5978

feat: external goosed server#5978
michaelneale merged 7 commits intomainfrom
micn/external-goosed-server

michaelneale commented Dec 4, 2025 •

edited

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michaelneale commented Dec 4, 2025 •

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