The local runner

The runner is a small program the install line puts on your computer. It is how Cardinal uses AI without ever holding your Claude login.

What it does

1. It asks Cardinal, with your member key, whether any jobs are queued for you. It waits up to 20 seconds for one to arrive, then asks again.
2. When a job comes, it runs your own installed, signed-in claude -p on your computer. The work runs on your Claude plan.
3. It sends the answer back to Cardinal, with the tokens, cost and time that the Claude CLI reported, and the model that answered.
4. Cardinal checks the answer and writes it onto the draft it belongs to.

It takes one job at a time, and only one runner runs per computer.

What it sends and what it never sends

It sends the computer's name, the platform, the runner and claude versions, and job results. It never reads, sends or stores your Claude login.

How Claude is run

Each job runs with fixed settings: no tools, no MCP servers, no user or project settings (so no hooks or plugins), at most two turns, and nothing saved to your session history. The prompt goes in on standard input, so nothing from a job reaches the command line except the model name.

Cardinal asks for sonnet for invoice words and pitch decks, and haiku for payment reminders and timesheet labels. These are aliases, so they follow what your plan offers.

Which jobs it answers

• Invoice words and cover emails, and payment reminders (Invoices)
• Pitch decks (Quotes)
• Timesheet labels (Day)
• Your briefing (Today)
• Answers from the guide (Help)

Each page still works without the runner. Drafts start from a template written by code, and the AI words replace it when the answer comes back, unless you have already edited or decided the draft. Your own edits always win.

Is it online?

A runner counts as online when it checked in within the last two minutes. The Setup page says "A runner is online for you", and the AI jobs panels name your computer and claude version.