Per-session Checklist¶

The startup sequence to run before any generation work in a fresh session. Takes about 2 minutes if everything is installed.

The checklist¶

1. Start G-Labs (port 8765)¶

Open a terminal in the G-Labs directory and run the start command. Verify it's up:

# Check the health endpoint
curl http://localhost:8765/health
# or open http://localhost:8765/health in a browser

You should get a 200 OK. If not, see G-Labs + cloudflared Setup for installation and troubleshooting.

2. Start the cloudflared tunnel¶

cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:8765

Copy the printed URL — it'll look like https://random-words-12345.trycloudflare.com. This URL changes every session.

3. Set the tunnel URL where it's needed¶

If using the headless Generation Runner: Pass the URL as --server when invoking the runner. The Manager auto-fills this when you start a workflow.
If using PatchWork web app: Open settings → paste URL into "G-Labs Server URL" → save. PatchWork stores this in browser local storage; you'll need to update it every new session.

4. Confirm G-Labs API key is current¶

The API key stays the same across sessions — it only changes when rotated. If you haven't used the pipeline in a few weeks, double-check it's still valid before running.

5. Pull latest changes (if working from a tracked workflow)¶

cd path/to/project
git pull

Workflows iterate fast. Pulling before you start avoids working on an older copy of a .nbflow that someone else has already updated.

6. Pre-flight a workflow before running¶

For any .nbflow you're about to generate, run the pre-generation sanity check. It catches model mismatches, dynamic variableName mismatches, missing input slots, dangling links, and stale per-node link refs — all the bug classes that don't surface until generation actually runs.

The full sequence as a one-block checklist¶

[ ] G-Labs running on localhost:8765 (health endpoint returns 200)
[ ] cloudflared tunnel started, URL copied
[ ] Tunnel URL set in runner --server arg OR PatchWork settings
[ ] G-Labs API key valid
[ ] Latest changes pulled
[ ] Target .nbflow passed pre-generation sanity check

If all six are green: you're cleared to run a workflow.

Common session issues¶

Tunnel URL stopped working mid-session: Quick tunnels can drop after 30+ minutes. Restart cloudflared, get a new URL, update wherever you set the previous URL.
PatchWork shows "no backend configured": Settings cleared, or you opened PatchWork in a different browser. Re-paste the tunnel URL into settings.
Runner fails with "connection refused": G-Labs isn't running (crashed or never started). Restart G-Labs, verify with the health check.
Runner fails with "API key invalid": The key was rotated. Get the current key from the API key registry (or whoever manages keys) and update your runner config.
Generated outputs look wrong despite a clean sanity check: Check the model — model: "nano_banana_2" must be set on every image gen. If it defaulted to NanoBanana 1, the sanity check should have caught it; if it didn't, the sanity check script is stale. Update from the reference.

The auto-start option¶

The Manager is configured to auto-start the cloudflared tunnel when you begin a workflow. If you let the Manager drive, steps 2-3 happen automatically. You still need G-Labs running locally (step 1) — that part is yours to start.