Remote Control, explained by monkey

Remote Control connects the Claude app on your phone, or claude.ai/code in any browser, to a Claude Code session running on your computer. Claude keeps running on your computer, with your files, your MCP servers and your setup. The phone is just a window into it, so you can read along, reply and approve things from the couch, or anywhere else.

Three ways to start it

Already in a session? Type this inside Claude Code. Your conversation so far comes with it:

/remote-control              # or /rc
/remote-control My Project   # with a name, so it's easy to find

Starting fresh? Run this in your terminal instead. You can type in the terminal and on your phone:

$claude --remote-control "My Project"    # or --rc

Or use server mode, which the couch setup below is built on. There's no chat in the terminal. It sits and waits for your phone, and can host lots of sessions at once (32 by default):

$claude remote-control

Open it on your phone

• Scan the QR code and it opens in the Claude app. In server mode, press the spacebar to show the QR code. In a session, run /remote-control again to get the link and QR code, or to disconnect.
• Or open the Claude app, tap Code, and pick the session. It has a computer icon, with a green dot when it's online.
• In any browser, open the session link or claude.ai/code.
• No Claude app yet? Type /mobile in Claude Code for a QR code to download it.

The couch setup: start new chats from your phone

With server mode running, you don't even need a session open. Your computer shows up as a device card in the Claude app, and you start new sessions from there.

• 1. On your computer, in your project folder, run claude remote-control and leave it running.
• 2. On your phone, open the Claude app and tap Code. Your computer is the card at the top.
• 3. Tap it, pick a folder, and start a new session. It runs on your computer, and you drive it from the couch.

Then turn on notifications, so your phone tells you when Claude needs you. Run /config in Claude Code and turn on one or both:

• Push when actions required: a notification when Claude has a permission prompt or a question for you.
• Push when Claude decides: Claude sends one when it thinks you'd want to know.

You can also just ask for one, like "notify me when the tests finish". And to turn Remote Control on for every session, pick Enable Remote Control for all sessions in /config, or put this in ~/.claude/settings.json:

{ "remoteControlAtStartup": true }

What you can do from your phone

• Follow the live conversation and send messages.
• Attach photos or files, and type @ to pick files from the project on your computer.
• Look through a diff of the changes.
• Switch the model, the effort and the permission mode. For the mode, tap + in the prompt box, then Permission.
• See subagents running in the background, and stop them.

Most commands work too, if you type the value: /model sonnet, /effort high, /compact, /clear, /context. The ones that need the terminal's own screens, like /plugin and /resume, only work at the computer.

Your computer has to stay on

The phone is a window, not a second computer. Your computer has to stay on and the claude process has to keep running. Close the terminal and the session goes offline.

• If your laptop sleeps or the Wi-Fi drops, it reconnects by itself when the computer comes back online.
• If the computer is awake but offline, a normal session keeps retrying for as long as it takes. Server mode gives up after about 10 minutes and exits.
• Stopped server mode with Ctrl+C? For about 4 hours you can bring its sessions back: run claude remote-control for all of them, add --continue for just the first, or --session-id <id> for one.
• On a remote machine over SSH, run it inside tmux or screen so it keeps going after you disconnect.

Laptop going in a bag? Use the cloud instead

Closing the lid puts a laptop to sleep. If you want Claude to keep working while the laptop's shut, start a cloud session instead:

$claude --cloud "Fix the login bug"

• It's a new session that runs in Anthropic's cloud and keeps going with your laptop closed.
• It starts from your GitHub repo at your current branch, not your local files, so push first.
• From the terminal you can't send a session you already have open to the cloud. The Desktop app can: Open in, then Cloud.
• claude --teleport (or /teleport, /tp inside a session) pulls a cloud session back into your terminal. Run /remote-control there to keep steering it from your phone.
• Cloud sessions need Pro, Max or Team, or an Enterprise premium or Chat + Claude Code seat.

The rule of thumb: Remote Control when your computer stays on and you need your own files and setup. claude --cloud when the laptop's going in a bag. The two flags are unrelated: one steers a session on your computer, the other runs a new one in the cloud.

What you need

• A Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise plan, signed in with /login through claude.ai. API keys and claude setup-token tokens don't work.
• If ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN or apiKeyHelper is set, Remote Control stays off, even when you're logged in with claude.ai.
• It isn't available through Bedrock, Google Cloud's Agent Platform or Foundry, or with ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL pointed at a gateway.
• On Team and Enterprise, an Owner has to turn on the Remote Control toggle first. Organizations with Zero Data Retention or the HIPAA configuration can't use it.

Gotchas

• One remote session per terminal session. For several at once, use server mode.
• While it's connected, the conversation is stored on Anthropic's servers. Your code still runs on your computer.
• Permission prompts and questions wait for your answer. Other dialogs sent to your phone close after 5 minutes by default.
• You can't pick bypass permissions from your phone.
• Since v2.1.273 you can fork a Remote Control session from the Claude app, and the fork runs as a background session on your computer.

Monkey believe in you. Now go build.

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