Claude Code From Your Phone

What Is This?

This setup lets you run Claude Code (or any terminal session) on your Mac — from your iPhone. From anywhere. Couch, coffee shop, bed, commute — anywhere you have a signal.

Your Mac stays plugged in and awake. Your phone becomes a window into its terminal. One command, you're in. Close the app, walk away, come back hours later — session is exactly where you left it.

Why This Over Claude Code Remote?

Anthropic offers Claude Code as a CLI and a web app. You can also run it on a cloud VM. Each approach has tradeoffs. Here's how they compare for mobile access.

How It Works

Here's what happens when you open Termius and type cc:

Tailscale gives both devices a fixed private IP (like 100.x.y.z) that works over any network. Devices talk directly peer-to-peer via WireGuard encryption.

SSH establishes an encrypted terminal session over that tunnel. Your Mac's port 22 is only reachable through Tailscale — invisible to the public internet.

tmux is a session living in your Mac's RAM. SSH just "attaches" to it — like plugging a monitor into a running computer. Disconnect? tmux keeps going. Reconnect? Right back where you were.

The Journey of a Single Keystroke

At no point does your keystroke travel unencrypted. Not on coffee shop WiFi, not on cellular, not anywhere.

Setting It Up

One-time setup. About 15 minutes if you type at a normal human speed.

1. Tailscale — the network layer

   On Mac:

   Terminal Copy

   brew install tailscale sudo brew services start tailscale sudo tailscale login # Browser opens → sign in with Google/Apple/GitHub # Grab your Tailscale IP: sudo tailscale status # Note the 100.x.x.x address
   ⚠️

   On corporate VPN? Disconnect it first. Most corporate VPNs override all network routing and will block Tailscale's tunnel.

   On iPhone: App Store → download Tailscale → sign in with the same account. Done.

2. Enable SSH on Mac

   System Settings → General → Sharing → Remote Login → ON

   Verify Copy

   ssh localhost # Password prompt → logs in → you're good
3. Termius on iPhone

   App Store → download Termius → add a new host:

   • Hostname: your Tailscale IP (100.x.x.x)

   • Username: the output of whoami on your Mac

   • Password: your Mac login password

   Tap connect — you're inside your Mac's terminal from your phone.

4. tmux — persistent sessions
   Install + Alias Copy

   brew install tmux # Set up the shortcut (run once): echo "alias cc='tmux attach -t claude || tmux new -s claude'" >> ~/.zshrc && source ~/.zshrc

   Now cc = instant Claude Code session. Attaches if one exists, creates if it doesn't.

5. Keep Mac awake

   System Settings → Battery → Options → "Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter" → ON

   Or via terminal Copy

   sudo pmset -c sleep 0 disksleep 0 displaysleep 5

   If your Mac sleeps, SSH connections drop and tmux becomes unreachable. Keep it plugged in.

Daily Usage

Once set up, this is your workflow from any device, anywhere:

tmux Shortcuts

Security Model

This setup has a smaller attack surface than most production deployments. Here's why.

What's NOT Happening

Encryption Layers

Attack Requirements

For an attacker to gain access, they would need all three simultaneously:

Common Issues

Solutions to the most frequent problems, in order of how often they come up.

Platform Alternatives

This guide assumes iPhone + Mac, but the core idea works on any combination. Here's how to adapt it.

Power User Configuration

The basics are working. These refinements improve security, reliability, and comfort.

• SSH key authentication security
  Generate an Ed25519 key pair on your phone (ssh-keygen -t ed25519 in Termius or Termux), copy the public key to your Mac's ~/.ssh/authorized_keys, and disable password auth in /etc/ssh/sshd_config. No more typing passwords on a phone keyboard, and brute-force attacks become mathematically infeasible.
• Tuned .tmux.conf comfort
  Add set -g mouse on for scroll support (essential on phone). Set setw -g mode-keys vi for vim-style navigation. Remap the prefix from Ctrl+B to Ctrl+A (easier to reach on mobile). Search "tmux sensible" on GitHub for a solid starting config.
• Mosh for unstable connections reliability
  If you're frequently on flaky connections (cellular, train WiFi), Mosh handles network switches, high latency, and temporary disconnects gracefully. Install on Mac with brew install mosh, use Blink Shell on iPhone (it has built-in Mosh support). Your session won't die when you switch from WiFi to cellular.
• Named tmux sessions workflow
  Run multiple projects simultaneously: tmux new -s work, tmux new -s personal, tmux new -s claude. Switch with tmux attach -t work. Create aliases for each: alias sw='tmux attach -t work || tmux new -s work'. List all sessions with tmux ls.