# How do I run Code in the cloud with ZeroTwo?

> Cloud Code runs a task in a cloud machine with your repositories cloned. Create and publish an environment, then start a task from the web or desktop app.

Source: https://help.zerotwo.ai/en/articles/20001545-how-do-i-run-code-in-the-cloud-with-zerotwo
Section: Code
Last updated: 2026-10-07

Cloud Code runs each task in a cloud machine that has your repositories cloned, so the work runs there instead of on your computer. On the web, Code always runs in the cloud, and a new task starts from a cloud environment: a saved setup of repositories, install steps, variables, secrets and internet rules. In the desktop app you choose **Cloud** instead of a local folder or worktree, and a Cloud task can start from an environment or from a project alone.

## Before you start

- Connect GitHub. ZeroTwo lists your repositories from your GitHub connection. See [Connect GitHub to ZeroTwo](https://help.zerotwo.ai/en/articles/11145903-connect-github-to-zerotwo).
- Check that your plan includes Code and how it is billed. See [Which ZeroTwo plans can use Code, and how is it billed?](https://help.zerotwo.ai/en/articles/11369540-which-zerotwo-plans-can-use-code-and-how-is-it-billed)

## Create an environment

1. Choose the **Code** tab. Above the message box, the environment chooser reads **Choose environment**. In the desktop app it appears once you choose **Cloud** in the environment menu. Select it and choose **Create environment**. You can also open **Settings** > **Code Cloud** and select **Create environment**.
2. In the **Create a cloud environment** box, select the repositories ZeroTwo should set up. Use the search box or filter by owner. If one is missing, select **Configure access** at the bottom of the box. If GitHub is not connected, the box asks you to **Connect GitHub** first.
3. Select **Get started**, which is available once you have selected a repository. ZeroTwo opens a chat named "Set up" followed by the environment's name. It inspects the repositories, runs the install and startup commands in a cloud machine, tests that they work and saves what it learned as a draft.
4. Review the draft. Above the message box in the setup chat, select **Edit environment** to open the **Environment** tab beside the chat, where you can edit each part. Then publish. The pill at the right of that bar reads **Publish**, and in the Environment tab the button reads **Publish**, **Republish**, or **Save & publish** when you have unsaved edits. Publishing waits until ZeroTwo finishes its turn. Once the environment is published, the pill reads **Environment published · Start a task** and starts a new Code task in it.

Only a published environment can start tasks. Each environment shows a status: **Unpublished**, **Published**, or **Unpublished changes** when the draft differs from what is published. Use **Save draft** to keep edits without publishing them.

## What an environment holds

- **Repositories.** The ones you selected.
- **Setup.** An **Install script**, a shell script that installs dependencies and prepares the project, and a **Start skill**, instructions ZeroTwo reads when a task starts about how to run, test and check the project.
- **Internet access.** A switch labeled "Allow ZeroTwo to access the internet". When it is on, **Allow domains** chooses **Package managers** (the default), **Custom domains only** or **All (unrestricted)**, and **Additional allowed domains** adds more, except with **All (unrestricted)**. Domain rules apply to HTTP and HTTPS traffic. ZeroTwo can suggest domains while it sets the environment up, but you decide: you **Accept** or **Dismiss** the suggestion and ZeroTwo cannot widen the access itself.
- **Environment variables** and **Secrets.** Secrets are added to the environment's shells as environment variables, and ZeroTwo never shows their values. An environment can hold up to 100 variables and 50 secrets.
- **Access.** **Who can use** is **Only me**. Environments are private to you.

To keep your own values out of an environment, save them under **Settings** > **Code Cloud** > **Personal vault**, which holds your own environment variables and network secrets for cloud environments in this workspace. Each entry's **Applies to** setting is all environments or one environment, and saved secret values stay hidden.

The cloud machine does not hold a GitHub credential. ZeroTwo clones your repositories with your GitHub connection, so a task cannot push to or fetch other private GitHub repositories unless you declare a secret, such as a token, for that purpose.

## Start a task in the cloud

1. In the **Code** tab, open **Choose environment** and select a published environment. On the web there is no repository picker, because the environment supplies the repositories. In the desktop app, choose **Cloud** in the environment menu first. The menu also offers **Local** and **New local worktree**.
2. Write the task and send it.

On the web, if you send a new Code task before choosing an environment, ZeroTwo opens the environment chooser and keeps your draft. In the desktop app, a Cloud task can also start from a project alone, without an environment. You can also start from Settings > Code Cloud: select the **...** menu on a published environment and choose **Start a task**. In a Code chat in the desktop app, the `/cloud` command, described as "Run this chat in the cloud", sets the environment to Cloud, the same as choosing Cloud in the environment menu.

## Edit or delete an environment

Settings > Code Cloud lists your environments with the repositories each one uses. Select a row to edit it, or use its **...** menu to **Edit**, **Continue setup** for one you have not finished, or **Delete environment**. Deleting one means tasks that use it no longer start in it.