Running Claude Code from Your Phone

Pushed to main, went out, got an email saying the build was broken. This helplessness annoyed the shit out of me.

So I set up remote SSH access to run Claude Code from my phone using Terminus. From anywhere in the world.

The Easy Part

Static IP - Dynamic IPs change, making remote connections unreliable. Set the laptop to static:

sudo networksetup -setmanual "Wi-Fi" 192.168.1.100 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.1
sudo networksetup -setdnsservers "Wi-Fi" 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4

Local SSH Testing - Verified SSH works locally: ssh [email protected]

Discovered the claude command wasn't available in terminal. Root cause: nvm was lazy-loaded in .zshrc. Fixed by changing to auto-load:

[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"

Now claude, npm, node available immediately.

The Struggle

Attempt 1: Port Forwarding (FAILED)

Tried forwarding port 22 through the router. Router access was a mess - 192.168.1.1 redirected to https://myrouter.io which failed to load. Added it to /etc/hosts, set up port forwarding, tested from outside.

Port still showed as closed. Likely cause: Sky router is dogshit.

Attempt 2: Tailscale (ABANDONED)

Installed Tailscale. Required additional app on phone. Balls started to ache. Abandoned.

Attempt 3: ZeroTier (SUCCESS)

Fully open source, free tier, works through firewalls.

brew install zerotier-one

Setup:

Created account at my.zerotier.com
Created new network
Installed ZeroTier app on phone
Joined both devices to same network
Critical: Manually authorized both devices in web dashboard

Initial problem: ACCESS_DENIED status. Solution was authorizing devices in the web interface.

Took a few minutes for connection to establish. Laptop got assigned a 172.22.x.x IP.

Power Management

Can't SSH to a sleeping laptop. Fixed with System Preferences → Battery → "Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off".

Security

ZeroTier CAN see: which devices are connected, timing, bandwidth, topology.

ZeroTier CANNOT see: SSH commands, files transferred, passwords. All encrypted end-to-end.

What Works Now

SSH access from anywhere in the world
Claude Code CLI available remotely
Full development environment via phone
Real-time code editing, git ops, deployments

The Holy Shit Moment

Successfully running claude /init remotely, making code changes, and pushing to production from a phone while away from the laptop.

Complete game-changer for idiots like me who push up crap code at the last minute when I've promised the wife I'll be 2 minutes and it's taking 20.

If ZeroTier Doesn't Work For You

Different port: use 2222 or 8022 instead of 22
ngrok: ngrok tcp 22 for temporary access
Cloudflare Tunnel: free tunneling
WireGuard: self-hosted VPN

Now I can make ANY non-work environment into a work environment. No more being present at meals, with my child, or at a beach - just Claude Code 24/7/365.

...what have I done?