Render on a collaborator's machine on Mac
If you have a fast render machine, you can lend it to the people you write stories with. Their renders can then run on it, and if a collaborator lends you theirs, your renders can run there too without setting up VPNs or accounts.
Only the story's owner and editors can render on a shared machine; viewers cannot.
Share one of your machines
- Choose Merrimo > Settings (⌘,) and click Rendering.
- Under Share with Collaborators, turn on the switch next to the machine you want to lend.
The machine is then shared into every story you own or edit, including stories you join later, and the row says how many: “Shared with 2 stories.” Collaborators see This Mac under your computer's name, and any other machine under the name you gave it. They can use it only while Merrimo is open on your Mac and the machine is running; otherwise it shows as offline to them. Turn the switch off to stop sharing it everywhere.
Sharing is for your collaborators. To let your own AI agents (in Claude or ChatGPT) render on a machine while you're away from it, use Use from Anywhere in the same pane instead; see Connect Claude and ChatGPT to Merrimo, under “Render on your own machines”.
Keep a machine out of one story
Click Share in the story window's toolbar. Under Render Machines, turn off the machine you don't want used in that story. It stays off for that story while you keep sharing it with the others.
Your work comes first and security rules
Merrimo enforces strict safeguards when sharing render hardware:
- Your work comes first: A collaborator's render starts only while your own work is not using that machine. Only one collaborator's render runs on it at a time; others wait their turn. A collaborator's render that has already started is not stopped, so your next job may wait for it to finish.
- Monitor and cancel peer jobs: While a collaborator's work runs, the machine's row under Share with Collaborators says who it is for: “Rendering for Alice.” The Jobs window (Tools > Jobs, ⇧⌘L) lists their work under For collaborators (such as “For Alice · Panel render”). Click Stop to end one: a waiting render is dropped, and a running one is interrupted.
- Security sandboxing: Some workflow steps never run for a collaborator: steps that run code or shell commands, read or write files elsewhere on the machine, or download from the internet. A render that uses one is refused.
- Collaborators' files and 7-day cleanup: What collaborators render is kept in a
storyforge-sharedfolder inside the machine's input and output folders. On This Mac, those files are automatically removed after 7 days, and Clear Shared Renders on its row removes them all at once (it is unavailable while a collaborator's render is waiting or running).
Use a machine shared with you
When someone lends you a machine, there is nothing to set up. Choose Merrimo > Settings (⌘,), click Rendering, and it is listed under Shared with You (the section appears only when something is shared with you). Each row shows the machine, its owner and whether it is online, busy or offline, such as “Mathieu's Mac Studio · Mathieu · online”, then the stories it is shared through, and a reminder that the owner can see the prompts and images rendered there.
- Your renders use a shared machine only in the stories it is shared into. Work that is not part of a story uses only your own machines.
- Your own machines come first, in their order; shared machines come after them. If you have none of your own, the list notes “None of your own; renders use shared machines.”
- A busy shared machine still accepts your render, which waits its turn. Progress displays “Waiting on Mathieu's Mac Studio · 2 ahead”, then “Next on Mathieu's Mac Studio”.
- While it runs, the Jobs window shows where: “Running on Mathieu's Mac Studio (shared)”.
- If the machine lacks a model or custom node the workflow needs, or stops answering, the render automatically moves to another machine it can use.
- If the owner stops sharing the machine while your render is under way, the rest of the render is refused and it stops with an explanatory message.
To keep your work off a shared machine, turn off its switch under Shared with You. That choice is kept on this Mac only.