How local agents fit
Two small programs run on your shop hardware to bridge TRACS and the cloud. They sit in the background and you usually don’t think about them — until one of them goes offline.
The Server Agent
Section titled “The Server Agent”The Server Agent is the main one. It runs on the TRACS server or another shop computer with access to the TRACS data and services it needs. Its job is to keep an authenticated connection open between your shop and TracsConnect’s cloud.
If the Server Agent stops or that computer reboots, synchronized data may remain visible, but it can become stale. Live TRACS queries and actions that route through the Server Agent can fail until it reconnects.
The Client Agent
Section titled “The Client Agent”The Client Agent goes on each individual shop PC that needs the workstation-specific stuff. Think of it like this: TRACS knows which workstation a user is logged into, and some TracsConnect actions need to “act like that workstation” — opening a specific work order in TRACS from the dashboard, pushing a quick screen change. That only works if the Client Agent is running on the PC where the staff member is signed into TRACS.
If a Client Agent is offline on one PC, that workstation cannot establish or refresh its workstation-backed session. Other workstations and cloud-only pages are not automatically affected.
Quick mental model
Section titled “Quick mental model”| Question | Which agent answers it |
|---|---|
| Is the shop’s TRACS data flowing to the cloud? | Server Agent |
| Can the dashboard open a specific work order in TRACS on that specific desk’s screen? | Client Agent on that specific desk |
If something’s not working
Section titled “If something’s not working”Head over to Connection troubleshooting. That’s where the page-by-page diagnosis lives.