Run coding agents and long jobs from your phone
Coding agents, test suites and deploys all do the same thing when you leave your desk: they get to a question and wait. PandaSend puts the running session on your phone, so you can answer from wherever you are.
Why this is awkward without a tool for it
Most of these jobs are terminal programs. They work on your files, run your tests, and stop to ask before they change something important. The usual way to reach them from a phone is SSH, and that takes some setup:
- SSH keys and an SSH app on the phone, and an SSH server running on the computer.
- tmux or screen, started before the job, so it survives your phone disconnecting.
- A route back to your computer from outside your home: port forwarding, a VPN, or a mesh network app.
- A phone keyboard without Esc, Tab or Ctrl, which terminal tools rely on.
Some tools add remote access of their own, but only for themselves. You end up with one way to reach your agent, another for your dev server, and nothing for the deploy script.
How it works with PandaSend
- Install PandaSend on your computer and open it. It lives in the menu bar.
- Pair your phone once. In the app, go to Phones, click Pair a phone and scan the QR code with your phone's camera.
- Start your job in a PandaSend session, from the computer or from your phone: an agent, a test run, a deploy, a dev server.
- Walk away. When it asks something, your phone gets a notification. Tap it and answer. You're typing into the very same session.
At home, your phone talks to your computer directly over Wi-Fi. Away from home, it goes through PandaSend's relay, end-to-end encrypted: the relay forwards bytes it can't read. How the encryption works.
What you can do from the phone
- Approve or reject. Type
yorn, or pick an option with the arrow keys on the key bar. - Answer questions and give new instructions, just like at your desk.
- Interrupt with Esc or Ctrl-C when something's heading the wrong way.
- Scroll back through what happened while you were away. Swipes scroll the output, including inside full-screen programs.
- Keep several sessions going, one per project or job, and switch between them.
What doesn't work (yet)
- Your computer has to be on and awake. If it sleeps, your job pauses too. See how to keep a Mac awake while jobs run.
- Only sessions started in PandaSend. A window already open in Terminal.app or iTerm can't be taken over.
- Notifications need remote access. On the same Wi-Fi only, your phone can't receive them; check in when you like. On iPhone, notifications work from the Home Screen app (iOS 16.4 or later).
Questions
Does the tool run on my phone?
No. Everything runs on your computer, where your code and tools are. Your phone shows the live terminal session and sends your keystrokes to it.
Which tools does it work with?
Anything that runs in a terminal: coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, Aider and opencode, test runners, build tools, deploy scripts, dev servers, database consoles. There's no plugin or per-tool setup, because PandaSend is the terminal itself.
Do I need an SSH app?
No. The phone side runs in your browser, and you can add it to your Home Screen. There are no SSH keys to copy and nothing to open on your router.
How does it know a job is waiting for me?
Your computer watches each session for a question that has sat unanswered for a few seconds, like a (y/n) prompt or a password request, and for the terminal bell or notification codes that many tools send. It then notifies your paired phones. The notification only names the session; it never includes what's on screen. You can turn alerts off for any session, or all of them.
Will my job stop if I close the browser?
No. Closing the page, locking the phone or losing signal doesn't touch the session on your computer. Reopen it and you'll see what happened while you were away.