Remote control for coding agents compared (2026)

We make Shuriken. We tried to be fair; corrections welcome at office@shuriken.sh.

Quick answer#

Three coding agents have official remote control in 2026: Claude Code (claude --remote-control), Codex through the ChatGPT app, and GitHub Copilot CLI (copilot --remote). OpenCode's opencode web serves a browser UI on your own network instead, with no relay. We found no remote feature for Gemini CLI. Every one of them runs the agent on your computer, which has to stay on and online.

They differ on the plan you need, whether an API key works, whether your phone buzzes for a permission prompt, and what a closed laptop lid does. Happy, an open-source app, covers some of the gaps for Claude Code and Codex.

At a glance#

Read on 24 October 2026 from each provider's own docs and changelogs, and from Happy's README and App Store listing.

Claude Code Remote Control#

Anthropic's Remote Control connects claude.ai/code or the Claude app for iOS and Android to a Claude Code session on your machine (Claude Code docs). You start it one of three ways. claude --remote-control (or --rc) opens a normal interactive session that you can also drive from the phone. /remote-control (or /rc) inside a running session hands that session over. claude remote-control is server mode: the process waits for connections and can serve up to 32 sessions at once by default.

Server mode goes further. With --spawn worktree, each session you start from the phone gets its own git worktree, so two of them can't edit the same files. Press w while it runs to switch between same-dir and worktree.

Pushes are on two /config toggles: Push when Claude decides and Push when actions required. Claude Code skips them while you're typing at the connected terminal. Permission prompts and questions stay open until you answer them from any device.

Anthropic's page sets these limits:

• It needs a claude.ai login on Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise. API keys are not supported.
• One interactive process carries one remote session.
• Close the terminal, or let the claude process stop, and the session goes offline until you start it again.
• After a sleeping laptop or a dropped network, Claude Code reconnects when the machine is back. Server mode gives up after roughly 10 minutes without a network, and the process exits.
• While connected, the transcript is stored on Anthropic's servers. Execution and file access stay on your machine.

Codex remote control through the ChatGPT app#

Codex reaches your phone through ChatGPT, not through the CLI. OpenAI's docs say remote access "supports hosts running the ChatGPT desktop app on macOS and Windows", and that mobile setup starts in that desktop app: you can't set it up from the Codex CLI or the IDE extension (ChatGPT docs: Remote connections). The desktop app shows a QR code; you scan it, and the ChatGPT app on iOS or Android finishes pairing with the same account and workspace.

From the phone you can start new chats in the host's projects, steer active work, approve commands, and review diffs, test results, terminal output and screenshots. ChatGPT notifies you when a task completes or needs your attention. In a ChatGPT workspace, an admin may have to enable Remote Control first.

If the host sleeps, loses the network or closes the app, remote access stops until it's back. On a Mac laptop the docs say it stays reachable with the lid open and power connected; with the lid closed you also need an external display. One extra: with Local computer access with Work Cloud turned on, an eligible task can continue in a cloud container when the computer is away, though that container can't reach your local files or tools. Our step-by-step for the phone side is Codex remote control from your phone.

GitHub Copilot CLI remote control#

GitHub made remote control for Copilot CLI sessions generally available on 18 May 2026, on GitHub Mobile and github.com (GitHub changelog). You turn it on in one of three places (GitHub Docs):

1. copilot --remote when you start a session.
2. /remote on inside a running one.
3. "remoteSessions": true in ~/.copilot/settings.json, which makes it the default.

VS Code and JetBrains can start remote sessions too.

From the phone you can follow the session live, steer it or queue the next message, review a plan, stop it, and approve or deny tool, file path and URL permission requests. Since 8 July 2026, GitHub Mobile shows live updates for a remote session, with states including "Waiting for user input" and "Finished" (GitHub changelog).

Three limits matter:

• Remote access works only for interactive sessions, not with --prompt.
• A Copilot seat from an organization needs an organization or enterprise owner to set the "Store local sessions in the Cloud" policy to "View and control" (GitHub Docs).
• A machine that sleeps or loses its connection can't be reached until it's back online. That's what the CLI's /keep-alive is for: on, off, busy, or a duration such as 8h. Copilot CLI can run on your own model key (BYOK), but GitHub's remote control docs don't say whether a BYOK session can be steered.

OpenCode remote control: a web UI you expose yourself#

OpenCode has no relay and no phone app, only a server (OpenCode docs: Web, Server):

• opencode web starts it on 127.0.0.1 with a random port and opens the web interface.
• opencode serve runs it headless, on port 4096 by default.
• --hostname 0.0.0.0 makes it reachable from other devices on your network, and --mdns advertises it as opencode.local.
• opencode attach keeps a terminal on the same sessions.

Set OPENCODE_SERVER_PASSWORD before you open it up. Without it the server is unsecured, which the docs call "fine for local use but should be set for network access". It's HTTP basic auth with the username opencode, changeable with OPENCODE_SERVER_USERNAME.

To use it away from home you need your own way in, such as a VPN, because nothing in OpenCode carries the connection for you. In exchange it works with any model provider and any key OpenCode supports. The docs mention no push notifications. Where OpenCode and Shuriken overlap and differ is in OpenCode vs Shuriken.

Gemini CLI remote control: none we could find#

On 24 October 2026 Gemini CLI's documentation had no page about steering a session from another device (Gemini CLI docs). Its "Remote subagents" page covers Gemini CLI calling other agents over the network; nothing there lets you reach Gemini CLI from a phone. Its README also notes that for unpaid-tier and Google One users, Gemini CLI was replaced by Antigravity CLI on 18 June 2026.

So the routes today are generic ones: SSH into the machine and run Gemini CLI inside tmux, or a harness that runs it for you. Happy doesn't list Gemini among its agents.

Happy, the community option#

Happy is free and MIT-licensed. Its README now points to Happy Desktop for macOS, Windows and Linux; the original CLI still works, installed with npm install -g happy and started as happy claude or happy codex in place of the bare agent (Happy on GitHub). It has iOS and Android apps and a web client. Its App Store listing says sessions are end-to-end encrypted, that it notifies you when an agent needs input or finishes, and that you bring "a Claude or ChatGPT/Codex plan or API key". The app is free, with an optional "Plus" in-app purchase at $19.99 a month. For Claude Code users choosing between it and Anthropic's own route, Remote Control vs Happy Coder has the side-by-side.

Claude Code vs Codex remote control#

Claude Code and Codex take opposite routes. Claude Code's Remote Control attaches to the CLI you already run, in a terminal, Claude Desktop or VS Code, so the session on your phone is the session in your terminal. Codex's route goes through the ChatGPT desktop app as the host, so the CLI on its own can't be paired.

Claude Code adds server mode with a worktree per session; Codex adds a host list on the phone, so you can switch between several connected computers. Claude Code's docs rule out API keys and ask for a claude.ai subscription login. OpenAI's page says nothing about keys either way; the host and the phone sign in to the same ChatGPT account and workspace. Both send pushes, both forward approvals, and both stop when the host sleeps.

Where Shuriken is different#

Every official route above steers one vendor's agent. Shuriken is a harness that runs 67 agents, Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot, OpenCode and Gemini CLI among them, on each computer and server you link. The web app at app.shuriken.sh lists every chat from all of them. From it you answer a chat marked Needs you, read its Changes, and type the next message into the queue while the agent is still working, or dictate it.

Shuriken runs each agent on the sources you add, and a source can be a subscription sign-in or an API key. Traffic between your phone and your computers goes through our cloud end-to-end encrypted; the cloud runs no agents and stores no code.

Agents keep running in a background service after you close the app window, and a computer signed in to Shuriken starts with Keep awake set to Always, so it stays reachable. If a computer does drop off, the web app marks it Offline, and the installed web app can push you that alert.

The honest gap: today the installed web app pushes account alerts only (a device offline, a source signed out), not "a chat needs you". Chat pushes come with the native iOS and Android apps, which are coming; Claude Code, Codex, Copilot CLI and Happy all push to your phone today. There is more on what the phone shows on the phone feature page.

Pricing#

Read on 24 October 2026. Claude Code's Remote Control comes with Claude Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise. Codex's phone access comes with a ChatGPT account that has Codex access. Copilot CLI's remote control comes with a Copilot plan. OpenCode is free and open source; you pay your model provider. Happy is free, with an optional $19.99-a-month "Plus" in its app. Shuriken has a Free plan with two sources and two linked devices (browsers never count as devices), and Pro at €49 a month or €490 a year, VAT included for EU consumers. Shuriken never bills model usage: your agents run on your own plans and keys.

Using them together#

They don't exclude each other. Remote Control, Copilot's /remote and Happy's CLI attach to a session you start on your computer; Codex's route attaches to the ChatGPT desktop app; Shuriken runs its own chats on your machines. Keep the official route for the one session you started at your desk, and use Shuriken for the agents and machines it doesn't reach. Shuriken can also bring past Claude Code and Codex chats into a project (Add project › Import from…), so earlier work isn't stranded. The by-hand options for Claude Code, SSH and tmux included, are in how to run Claude Code from your phone. To try Shuriken, download it and open app.shuriken.sh on your phone.