Adom Hydrogen

WEBVTT

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Hydrogen runs your Linux workspace inside
WSL, on your own Windows PC.

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WSL can network that workspace in two
ways.

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Mirrored shares Windows' own network, so
localhost on Windows and localhost in

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Linux are the same place.

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NAT gives Linux its own small network,
tucked behind Windows.

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Here's how Hydrogen handles both, and why
it matters.

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We start in Settings, under Workspace
networking.

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This PC is on mirrored, the default.

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In Your AIs, we sign Claude out, and back
in.

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Its browser sign-in ends by calling a
localhost port inside the workspace.

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On mirrored, that's the same localhost as
Windows, so it just works.

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Codex works the same way, with its
callback on port 1455.

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Antigravity signs in with Google, then
hands the result back to the workspace.

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Kimi isn't in the image, so Hydrogen
installs it with one click.

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Kimi signs in with a device code, so
nothing has to call back at all.

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All four are signed in.

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So why not use mirrored everywhere?

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Because on some PCs, mirrored is broken.

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A security tool or a firewall policy stops
Windows from reaching the workspace.

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During install, that looked like the
editor never loading, or the workspace

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image failing to build.

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Setup stopped right there, and people gave
up before they ever used Hydrogen.

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Two of them reported it on our wiki, and
that's how we traced it to mirrored

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networking.

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NAT is the way around it.

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Here we switch to NAT in Settings.

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WSL restarts, and the editor reconnects on
its own.

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Hydrogen used to warn, on every NAT
workspace, that AI sign-ins couldn't work.

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That was wrong, because WSL forwards
Windows' localhost into the workspace.

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So now Hydrogen tests the real trip, and
warns only when it actually fails.

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Here, no warning, and every AI is still
signed in.

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Claude signs in on NAT.

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Before you even click, Hydrogen has
checked that Claude's callback port is

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reachable from Windows, so the sign-in
finishes exactly the way it does on

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mirrored.

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Codex, Antigravity, and Kimi sign in on
NAT too.

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Same buttons, same result.

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App dashboards work in both modes, because
Hydrogen opens them at the same localhost

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address either way.

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Here's Parts Search, served from inside
the workspace, pricing a part across three

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distributors, on NAT.

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And if a Windows program already owns an
app's port, the tab now says which

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program, instead of quietly showing the
wrong page.

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During install, setup now handles all of
this for you.

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Step 6 signs you in, and checks that the
editor really loaded.

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If it won't load on mirrored, or Windows
can't reach the workspace, setup switches

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this PC to NAT once, remembers your
original setting, and carries on, instead

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of stopping with a misleading error.

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It never loops.

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A second failure stops, and says why.

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That's in Hydrogen 1.0.701, public today.

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So that's the balance.

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Mirrored by default, because it's the
simplest, and everything connects

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directly.

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NAT automatically, only on the PCs where
mirrored is broken.

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And a one-click switch in Settings, either
way.

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We switch back to mirrored, and all four
AIs are still signed in.