How to continue Claude Code from your phone or another Mac

Long Claude Code tasks do not need you at the desk, only when they stop to ask something. There are two ways to keep going from elsewhere: Anthropic’s Remote Control, which puts a running session in the Claude app on your phone or in a browser, and attaching to the Mac’s terminal from another Mac over ssh. They solve different problems and work well together.

Part 1. From your phone: Remote Control

Remote Control connects claude.ai/code or the Claude app for iOS and Android to a Claude Code session running on your machine. Code runs and files are read on the Mac; the phone shows the conversation and sends messages.

Requirements: a Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise plan (on Team and Enterprise an Owner must enable it), signed in with your claude.ai account through /login. API keys are not supported. Sign in to the Claude app with the same account; sessions appear under Code.

Step 1. Turn it on

There are three ways:

# a session that is also remotely controllable
claude --remote-control          # or: claude --rc

# inside a running session (shows a QR code and URL)
/remote-control

# server mode: start new sessions from the phone
claude remote-control

To have every session connect automatically, use /config → “Enable Remote Control for all sessions”. hivemux setup offers the same thing as one of its three questions, setting remoteControlAtStartup in ~/.claude/settings.json.

Step 2. Start new sessions from the phone

Connecting existing sessions is not enough if you want to start a task from your phone. That needs server mode in a folder. In server mode, --spawn decides where new sessions run (same-dir, worktree or session).

With hivemux, prefix Shift+R opens a server window for the current folder. In a git repository it uses --spawn worktree, so each session from the phone gets its own worktree and they do not collide; elsewhere it uses same-dir. The first time, answer yes to enabling Remote Control and to trusting the folder.

Step 3. Get pushes for approvals

In Claude Code, open /config and turn on Push when actions required. The phone gets a push when a session needs approval.

Keep the Mac awake

Your computer has to stay on and the claude process has to keep running. If the laptop sleeps or the network drops, Claude Code reconnects when the machine comes back, but nothing happens while it sleeps. Closing a laptop lid puts it to sleep; keep it on power with an external display, or run:

caffeinate -dis

Running Claude inside tmux helps here too: closing the terminal does not end the process, so the phone keeps its connection.

Part 2. From another Mac: attach over ssh

Remote Control gives you the conversation. Sometimes you want the whole terminal: shells, git, logs, every session at once. The generic approach is to keep the work in tmux on one Mac and attach from the other:

ssh me@work-mac.local
tmux attach

Turn on System Settings → General → Sharing → Remote Login on the Mac you connect to, and keep it from sleeping. On the same network name.local works; from outside, a VPN such as Tailscale on both Macs is the simple way (opening ssh to the internet with port forwarding is not recommended). This works, but a dropped connection leaves you at a dead prompt, dev servers on the other Mac are not reachable at localhost, and notifications stay on the other Mac.

Step 1. Connect with hivemux

hivemux is a tmux sidebar that shows every Claude Code session — running, waiting for you, or done — and lets you jump to the one that needs you. hivemux connect attaches to another Mac’s hivemux in its own Ghostty window, with the same sidebar and sessions. Install hivemux on both Macs:

brew install esteban-eg-kim/tap/hivemux
hivemux setup

Then, on the Mac you connect from:

hivemux connect --add me@work-mac.local    # check and remember (--mosh to use mosh)
hivemux connect me@work-mac.local          # or: right-click → Connect to…, prefix Shift+H

The first --add asks you to trust the host and for your login password there once, then adds this Mac’s ssh key so later connections need no password. The host can be anything ssh takes: a Host from ~/.ssh/config, user@address, or a VPN device name.

Step 2. Work as if you were there

• The remote window shows ⇄ <Mac name> in the status line. Local work on this Mac stays as it is.
• A dropped connection reconnects by itself, with a countdown in the middle of the screen (Enter tries now, Ctrl+C stops).
• Notifications from remote tasks show on this Mac.
• Ctrl+V in a remote Claude pane pastes the image on this Mac’s clipboard, for example a screenshot you just took.
• hivemux open <file> in a remote pane copies the file to this Mac and opens it with its default app, so a screenshot Claude made there shows up here.

Step 3. Open the other Mac’s dev servers

Dev servers started inside the other Mac’s tmux (npm run dev, rails s and the like, by Claude or by you) are forwarded to the same port on this Mac’s localhost while connected. A server on 5173 there opens here at http://localhost:5173, so sign-in callbacks and cookies need no changes. If the port is taken here, the next free one is used. Option+W (or right-click → Ports) lists them; Enter opens one in the browser of the Mac you connect from.

To turn forwarding off, connect with HIVEMUX_PORTS=0 hivemux connect <host>.

ssh or mosh

With --mosh (or m in the Connect to… list), the session survives sleep and network changes by itself, but notifications do not pass through mosh; the list marks such a host “mosh · no notifications”. Both Macs need brew install mosh. Port forwarding still works over a separate ssh connection.

Which one to use

• Away from any computer: Remote Control on your phone, with push for approvals.
• On a laptop, wanting the full setup: hivemux connect to the Mac doing the work.
• Both: they coexist. The sessions are the same claude processes, so you can approve from the phone on the way and pick up in the terminal later.

Full details: /docs/another-mac/. Related: How to get notified when Claude Code needs input.