# Run CI on your laptop while you work

> For a solo developer who wants CI on their own computer while they're working, and back on GitHub when the lid closes.

Your laptop is idle most of the time you're coding, and it's usually faster than a 2-core hosted runner. This guide runs your CI there while you work, and on GitHub the rest of the time, with nothing to switch.

## 1. Connect the laptop

```sh
npx relayrunner connect
```

Sign up and install the GitHub App when it asks. Leave `connect` running in a terminal tab.

## 2. Route your jobs

In your repo's checkout:

```sh
npx relayrunner init
```

Pick the jobs to route. Each keeps its old label, such as `ubuntu-latest`, as the fallback. Commit and push.

## 3. Check the runner order

On the dashboard's **Router** page, a new workspace starts with:

1. Self-hosted
2. GitHub-hosted

That's what you want: the laptop when it's free, GitHub otherwise.

## What happens day to day

- **While you work**, jobs you push run on the laptop. The `connect` terminal shows each one.
- **When the laptop is busy** with as many jobs as it runs at once, the next one goes to GitHub, so a long test run never blocks a quick lint.
- **When the lid closes** or you stop `connect`, jobs go to GitHub, with nothing to change.
- **A job running at that moment** stops with the laptop. Use **Re-run all jobs** to send it to GitHub, or **Re-run failed jobs** to run it on the laptop again once it's back. With [automatic retries](/docs/concepts/routing#automatic-retries) on, the Router re-runs it for you.

To keep the laptop free for a while, without going offline, press `p` in the `connect` terminal or run `relayrunner pause`.

## Keep it to your own jobs

A new machine only runs jobs you started, so a teammate's push or a bot never lands on your laptop. Leave it that way for a personal machine. See [Your machines](/docs/runners/self-hosted#who-can-run-jobs-on-it).

## Linux jobs on a Mac

On a Mac with Apple silicon, each job runs in its own Linux VM, so jobs written for `ubuntu-latest` run as they are: `apt`, `services:` and `container:` all work, and the job can't read your files. See [Isolated jobs on a Mac](/docs/runners/self-hosted#isolated-jobs-on-a-mac).

On an Intel Mac, jobs run on macOS. Most Node, Python, Go or Rust jobs run fine there. Jobs that install Linux packages with `apt`, or use `services:` or `container:`, need Linux or Docker. `init` warns about these. Give them `machine: Linux` instead, or leave them on GitHub.