Claude Code on your phone: continue a local task
Neaptide · September 20, 2026 · 8 min read · Updated: October 3, 2026
Continue Claude Code from your phone with Remote Control: connect a session, verify access and understand local execution limits.
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Claude Code asks a clarifying question while you are away from your desk. You can answer from your phone through Remote Control, or look at a finished test run, without moving the task off your computer. First establish where the agent runs. The steps below connect to a local session; a remote server or a cloud environment has different requirements.
Remote Control connects the Claude mobile app or a browser to a local Claude Code session. Code and commands keep running on the computer that hosts the agent. The phone is one more window onto that session.
What to prepare
Make sure Claude Code is running in the intended folder and you are signed in with a claude.ai account. Remote Control is available on Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans; on Team and Enterprise an Owner has to switch it on in the admin settings first. An API key will not do in place of that sign-in. The computer has to stay awake and online.
Before you leave, give the agent a small deliverable and a stopping point. For example: find the cause of a bug, prepare a fix and tests, then show the diff. You then have a concrete result to judge from your phone, not an open-ended task.
Connect the current session
In an existing Claude Code session, enter:
/remote-controlThe first time, Claude Code asks you to confirm that you want Remote Control on. Then open the session link on your phone, signed in to the same account. To start a new interactive session from the terminal with Remote Control already enabled:
claude --remote-controlThe link opens in any browser. In the Claude mobile app you can find the session by name under Code, or scan the QR code shown on the computer. The Remote Control guide lists every way to connect.
Check the connection before a long task
Start with a check that leaves the files alone:
State the current project folder and briefly describe the latest task. Do not change anything or start external operations.
Compare the reply with what your local terminal shows. Then send a short message from the computer and see whether it turns up on the phone. This is how you catch having opened the wrong project or session.
Do not post the session link, or screenshots that show private paths, anywhere public. For articles and demos, set up a separate sample project.
Give tasks from a small screen
A short brief works well from a phone:
Goal: fix the message shown when form submission fails.
Scope: only the form and its handler.
Checks: server error and successful submission.
Stop: show changes and results; do not publish.The brief is our suggestion; Claude Code does not require this format. It keeps a remote task small enough to review on a phone. Ask for the names of the changed files and a line or two on any debatable decisions. If the changes need a closer look, go back to them at a desk.
Complex merges, migration reviews and large diffs are better left for a proper screen. If a decision needs more context, ask the agent to save the current state and put the question to you.
What happens if the computer sleeps?
Remote Control does not move computation from your computer to the cloud. While the computer is asleep or switched off, local work stops; it is not an always-on server. Claude Code reconnects on its own once the machine is back online, but check the state of the task anyway.
Before you pick the work up again, ask for a short report: what is done, which processes are still running, which checks have finished and what is waiting for your decision. That is safer than resending the original task, which risks running the same work twice.
When SSH makes more sense
If your development environment already lives on a server, there is another route: a mobile SSH client and a persistent terminal session, in tmux for example. You then manage the remote machine and its environment yourself.
A private network such as Tailscale can connect your devices, and its official quickstart covers installation. The network only gets the machines talking, though. SSH, server users and a terminal session that survives a disconnect still have to be set up separately.
For a first try with local Claude Code, the built-in Remote Control is enough. A separate server makes sense when you need a machine that stays on whether or not your laptop is open.