Remote Sessions: what each agent can do from iPhone

The switch

Settings → Experimental → Remote Sessions on the Mac. It needs Agent HUD Remote to be syncing this Mac, and it applies to every agent at once: there is nothing to choose per agent, and nothing to set on the phone.

The iPhone follows the Mac. A conversation shows a message field only when its Mac says that session can be continued, so the phone offers nothing a Mac has not turned on and keeps no list of agents of its own.

What works with each agent

Approvals

A request that is waiting on the Mac's island is also sent to the phone as a notification and a card. The phone can deny it or allow it once. Whichever of the Mac and the phone answers first is the answer, and the request leaves both.

Nothing new is installed for this: the answer goes back through the permission hook the client already uses for the island, or, for Antigravity, to the request its running app is holding.

Codex: how a message gets in

The Mac hands your message to the Codex Desktop or CLI process that holds the thread. If the thread is idle the message starts a turn there; if Codex is working, the message waits on the phone until the turn ends, and Steer adds it to the task that is running instead.

To know when a turn starts and stops sooner than Codex's log says so, Agent HUD adds three hooks to ~/.codex/hooks.json. Codex runs a new hook only after you trust it in /hooks.

Claude Code: how a message gets in

Claude Code has no outside entry for a message, so Agent HUD uses three hooks in ~/.claude/settings.json: one when a prompt is submitted, one after each tool call, and one when Claude stops. The stop hook waits in the background while the session stays idle and usable, and wakes it when your message arrives. While Claude is working a message waits on the phone until the turn ends; Steer sends it at once, and it goes in with the next tool call's result.

Claude Code treats text that arrives through a hook as something other than your own words. Settings → Experimental offers a paragraph to paste at the end of ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md that tells it a reply from your iPhone is yours; sessions started afterwards pick it up. Agent HUD never edits that file.

Turning it off

Switch Remote Sessions off and Agent HUD removes its three hooks from Claude Code's and Codex's settings, withdraws the requests it had sent to the phone, and lets every waiting session go. Approvals on the island and everything else the Mac shows are unchanged.

Common questions

Why does one agent offer more than another?

Each step needs a way into that agent's client. Every client that asks on the island can be answered from the phone. Continuing a conversation needs the client to accept a message from outside, which Codex and Claude Code do so far.

Do I set anything on the iPhone?

No. The phone shows what the Mac says it can do, session by session. Turn the switch off on the Mac and the message field and approval cards are gone on the phone.

Does Agent HUD change my Claude Code or Codex settings?

With Remote Sessions on it adds three hooks to each of ~/.claude/settings.json and ~/.codex/hooks.json, beside any hooks you already have, and removes only its own when you turn the switch off. It never edits CLAUDE.md.

Can I read a conversation without Remote Sessions?

Yes. Reading conversations on iPhone has its own switch on the Mac's Subscription page and does not need Remote Sessions. Remote Sessions adds answering approvals and sending messages.

Related tasks and tools

• What Agent HUD adds to your AI tools' settings
• Remote AI Coding Usage on iPhone and Apple Watch
• Monitor Multiple AI Coding Sessions on Mac

• Claude Code Usage Monitor for Mac
• Codex Usage Monitor for Mac