VibePager · Guide
How to run Claude Code remotely from your phone
Claude Code is a terminal program that runs on your machine. Getting to it from a phone is easy; being able to answer it from a phone is the part that decides whether it is actually usable.
Updated September 2026
The problem is not the connection
Every method below gets your phone talking to the machine where Claude Code lives. That is the easy half. The hard half is that a coding agent is not a batch job: it stops. It wants to edit a file, run a migration, delete a directory — and it waits for a yes or a no. If answering that takes a 60-second dance with a tiny terminal keyboard, you will stop using it from your phone within a week.
So judge each option by one question: how long does it take to answer a permission prompt with one thumb?
The four ways people actually do this
| Method | What it costs you | Answering a prompt |
|---|---|---|
| SSH + tmux | Free. You need a reachable address — port forwarding, or a tunnel. The session survives disconnects because tmux holds it. | A terminal emulator on a phone keyboard. Works, but every y is a fight with autocorrect and a 6pt font. |
| Tailscale or another VPN | Free tier. No open ports — the machine joins a private network instead. Usually paired with SSH on top. | Same as SSH: it fixes reachability, not the keyboard. |
| A browser IDE (VS Code tunnels, code-server) | Free to cheap. You get a real editor in the phone browser. | A full desktop IDE rendered on a 6-inch screen. Panels, tabs and a terminal pane you have to pinch to hit. |
| VibePager | Paid after a 7-day trial. The app runs next to the agents on your machine; the phone gets a purpose-built screen. | A card with the file, the diff and two buttons. One tap. |
What "remotely" has to include
- Being told. The agent stopping is the event that matters. If you have to keep opening the app to check, you are polling a machine instead of being paged by it.
- Answering. Allow this edit, deny that command, or allow everything for the rest of this conversation.
- Seeing what you are approving. A permission prompt without the diff is just a dialog you click through, which is how people end up with
--dangerously-skip-permissionsand a bad afternoon. - Picking up where you left off. The conversation you started at your desk should be the one you continue on the bus.
How it works with VibePager
- Install the app on the machine that already has your agents. It finds the ones you have installed — Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Kilo Code, Gemini CLI, Kimi — and shows only those.
- Open
vibepager.com/appin your phone browser and type the code shown on the computer. No app store; on iPhone, add it to the Home Screen so notifications work. - Pick a folder and start talking. The agent runs on your machine, on your files, with your API keys — exactly as it does in your terminal.
When the agent stops for a decision, your phone gets a notification. You open it to a card with the action, the file and the diff, and two buttons. That is the whole interaction.
Where your code goes
Nowhere. The agents read and write files on your own disk, as always. The traffic between the phone and the machine is end-to-end encrypted, and the relay in the middle only forwards it — it has no key. You also choose which folders the phone is allowed to open.
This matters more than it sounds for the SSH comparison: with SSH you are also keeping the code local, and any remote-control product that uploads your repository to make things easier has quietly changed the deal.
Honest limits
- The computer has to be awake and online. This is a remote control, not a cloud runner — there is no copy of your project on a server to keep working without you.
- The desktop app is macOS 10.15+ or Windows 10+. Linux is not supported today.
- It is a paid product after a 7-day trial (no card to start). SSH and Tailscale are free, and that is a real argument.
Questions
- Can I run Claude Code remotely from my phone?
- Yes. The agent keeps running on your own computer; the phone is the remote control. With VibePager you open
vibepager.com/appin any phone browser, pair once with a code, and you can send tasks, read the replies and approve what the agent wants to do. SSH with tmux does the same thing for free, with a terminal keyboard instead of buttons. - Is there an official Claude Code mobile app?
- Anthropic does not ship a phone client that drives the
claudeCLI on your own machine. What exists are third-party remote controls like VibePager, and general-purpose remote access such as SSH clients or VS Code tunnels. - Do I need to open a port on my router?
- Not with VibePager: your computer makes an outbound connection and waits in a room; the phone joins the same room. Nothing listens on your home network. With plain SSH you do need a reachable address, which is why people pair it with Tailscale.
- Does it work when my Mac is asleep?
- No. If the machine is asleep or offline, there is nothing to control. The app can keep the Mac awake while a task is running, but a closed lid on battery will still stop it.
- Does it work with agents other than Claude Code?
- Yes — Codex, OpenCode, Kilo Code, Gemini CLI and Kimi are supported as well, and the app lists only the ones actually installed on your machine.
VibePager runs the agents on your own machine and puts the controls on your phone.