Claude Code Remote Control: Continue Terminal Sessions From Your Phone

What is Remote Control?

Remote Control is a new Claude Code feature (rolling out now as a research preview) that lets you continue a local terminal session from your phone, tablet, or any browser. Start a coding task at your desk, then pick it up from the couch on your phone — while everything still runs on your machine.

The key distinction: this is not cloud execution. Your Claude Code session stays local. The web or mobile interface is just a window into that session. Your filesystem, MCP servers, tools, and project configuration all remain available exactly as they are on your machine.

Think of it as screen-sharing your Claude Code session to any device, but with full interactive control.

Why This Matters

Developers don't always sit at their desk. You kick off a long task, then need to grab lunch. You're debugging on your laptop but want to check progress from another room. Or you just want to review what Claude did while you were away.

Before Remote Control, your options were:

• ✘ Stay at your desk and watch the terminal
• ✘ SSH into your machine from your phone (painful)
• ✘ Use a third-party tool like tmux + remote access
• ✘ Just hope the task finishes correctly

Now:

• ✔ Start a session locally, continue it from your phone
• ✔ Send messages from terminal, browser, and phone interchangeably
• ✔ Session reconnects automatically if your laptop sleeps
• ✔ Full access to your local environment from anywhere

Getting Started

Requirements

Before using Remote Control, you need:

1. A Pro or Max plan — API keys are not supported
2. Signed in via /login — authenticate through claude.ai
3. Workspace trust accepted — run claude in your project directory at least once

Starting a New Remote Session

Navigate to your project and run:

bash
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claude remote-control

This starts a session and displays a session URL and a QR code. The terminal stays open, waiting for remote connections.

javascript
Run
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// Remote Control startup flow
const steps = [
  "1. Open terminal in project directory",
  "2. Run: claude remote-control",
  "3. Session URL + QR code appear",
  "4. Open URL in browser or scan QR with phone",
  "5. Continue coding from any device!"
];
 
console.log("🔗 Starting Remote Control Session\n");
steps.forEach(step => console.log(`  ${step}`));
console.log("\n📱 Press spacebar to toggle QR code display");
console.log("🔒 All traffic encrypted over TLS");
Terminal
Terminal Output
Click the Run button to execute the code...

Available flags:

From an Existing Session

Already deep in a Claude Code conversation? No need to start over:

bash
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/remote-control

Or use the shorthand:

bash
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/rc

This carries over your entire conversation history and displays the session URL and QR code. Pro tip: use /rename first to give your session a descriptive name so it's easier to find on your phone.

Connecting From Another Device

Once Remote Control is active, you have three ways to connect:

1. Direct URL

Copy the session URL from your terminal and open it in any browser. It takes you straight to the session on claude.ai/code.

2. QR Code

Press spacebar in the terminal to show a QR code. Scan it with your phone to open the session directly in the Claude app.

3. Session List

Open claude.ai/code or the Claude mobile app and find your session by name. Remote Control sessions show a computer icon with a green dot when online.

Preview

How It Works Under the Hood

Remote Control uses a clever architecture that keeps everything local while enabling remote access:

Preview

Key security details:

• Outbound only — your machine never opens inbound ports. It polls the Anthropic API for work.
• TLS encrypted — same transport security as any Claude Code session.
• Short-lived credentials — multiple tokens, each scoped to a single purpose and expiring independently.
• No cloud execution — code runs on your machine, never on Anthropic's servers.

Remote Control vs Claude Code on the Web

Both use the same claude.ai/code interface, but they're fundamentally different under the hood:

When to Use Each

Use Remote Control when:

• You're in the middle of local work and want to monitor or continue from another device
• You need access to local MCP servers, environment variables, or custom tools
• You're working with a repo that isn't pushed to GitHub yet
• You want the exact same environment as your terminal session

Use Claude Code on the Web when:

• You want to start a task without any local setup
• You're working on a repo you don't have cloned locally
• You want to run multiple tasks in parallel
• Your local machine is off or unavailable

Enabling Remote Control for All Sessions

By default, you have to explicitly start Remote Control each time. If you want it always available:

1. Run /config inside Claude Code
2. Set Enable Remote Control for all sessions to true

Now every Claude Code session will automatically be available for remote connections. Each instance gets its own session — if you run multiple Claude Code instances, they each have their own Remote Control endpoint.

Practical Workflow Examples

The "Long Task" Pattern

You start a big refactor at your desk:

bash
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claude "refactor the entire auth system to use JWT middleware"

Claude starts working — reading files, planning changes, editing code. But you need to leave for a meeting.

bash
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/rc

Scan the QR code, put your phone in your pocket, and go. Check progress from your phone during the meeting. Send follow-up messages if needed. When you're back at your desk, the terminal still has the full session.

The "Review From Bed" Pattern

You kicked off a task before leaving work:

bash
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claude remote-control

Then from your phone on the couch, you open the Claude app, find the session, and review everything Claude did. Ask it to adjust a few things. Approve the commit. Ship it.

The "Multi-Device Collaboration" Pattern

The conversation stays in sync across all connected devices. You can send a message from your terminal, then follow up from your phone, then switch to a tablet — all in the same session. No context is lost.

Limitations to Know

Before relying on Remote Control, be aware of these constraints:

• ✘ One remote session per Claude Code instance — you can't connect multiple remote sessions to the same process
• ✘ Terminal must stay open — if you close the terminal or stop the process, the session ends
• ✘ ~10 minute timeout — if your machine is awake but can't reach the network for roughly 10 minutes, the session times out
• ✘ Not available on Team or Enterprise plans — currently Pro and Max only (research preview)
• ✘ API keys not supported — must authenticate via /login with a Claude subscription

If your session drops, just run claude remote-control again to start a new one.

Tips and Best Practices

• ✔ Name your sessions with /rename before going remote — makes them much easier to find on your phone
• ✔ Use --verbose when debugging connection issues
• ✔ Enable for all sessions via /config if you use Remote Control regularly
• ✔ Download the Claude mobile app — use /mobile to get a QR code for the app download
• ✔ Accept workspace trust first — run claude in your project directory at least once before trying Remote Control
• ✔ Keep your laptop plugged in — if your machine sleeps, the session pauses (but reconnects when it wakes up)

Conclusion

Remote Control is one of those features that seems simple but changes how you work. The ability to start a task at your desk and continue it from your phone — while everything runs locally with full access to your environment — removes a real friction point from AI-assisted development.

It's especially powerful combined with Claude Code's agentic capabilities. Kick off a complex refactor, walk away, check progress from your phone, give feedback, and come back to finished work. No SSH tunneling, no third-party tools, no cloud VMs.

Pro Tip: Set up Remote Control for all sessions via /config, and always /rename your sessions before going mobile. Future you will thank present you when scrolling through the session list on your phone.

Happy coding — from your desk, your couch, or wherever you are!