Remote Control is Claude Code’s own way to continue a session from the Claude apps. Pilothouse is a vendor-neutral daemon on your machine: one inbox for Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and Grok Build, with your rules before every tool call and no account or relay.
Remote Control is built into Claude Code. Run /remote-control (or start with --rc) and the session on your computer shows up in claude.ai/code and the Claude iOS and Android apps: the live transcript, tool activity, diffs, permission prompts and questions, and a message box. Since August 2026 a connected machine also appears as a device card you can start new sessions on. Traffic goes through Anthropic’s API over TLS, and it needs a paid claude.ai plan (Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise); API keys and Bedrock aren’t supported.
| Feature | Pilothouse | Claude Remote Control |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Single Go binary: daemon, CLI, terminal inbox, phone web app | Built into Claude Code; drive local sessions from the Claude apps and claude.ai |
| License | Yes: Apache-2.0 | No: Proprietary |
| Price | Free | Included in Claude Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise (an Owner enables it on Team/Enterprise) |
| Platforms | macOS, Linux (Windows on the roadmap) | Host: CLI, Claude Desktop, VS Code. Phone: Claude iOS/Android apps, web |
| Agents | Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Grok Build | Claude Code only |
| Keep your terminal and how you launch agents | Yes: Yes — official hooks (OpenCode: a plugin; Grok Build: personal hooks); any terminal, even inside tmux or herdr | Yes: Yes — /rc in a running session, or --rc |
| Your rules before every tool call | Yes: YAML + CEL, one-tap rules from approval cards, presets; any deny wins | Partly: Claude Code’s own allow/ask/deny rules and permission modes |
| Approve from your phone | Yes: Yes — each device signs its decisions | Yes: Yes — prompts stay open until you answer |
| Answer questions / approve plans from your phone | Yes: Claude Code questions and plans, OpenCode questions; Codex questions shown, answered in its terminal | Yes: Questions, yes; plan approval not spelled out in the docs |
| Reply to a running session from your phone | Yes: Sessions started with pilothouse run, Claude Code sessions and OpenCode | Yes: Yes — messages, photos and files |
| Live terminal from your phone | Partly: For sessions started with pilothouse run | No: No — a conversation view, not a terminal |
| See what the session did | Yes: Session report with proof (tests, lint, build, files, commit), activity feed and diffs (Claude Code, Codex) | Yes: Live transcript, tool activity, subagents, diffs |
| Token use and cost | Yes: Tokens and cost at API prices (Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode) beside your plans, daily budget alerts | Partly: /usage and /context as text; no budgets |
| Phone notifications | Yes: Web Push, Telegram, ntfy (with buttons), Slack/Discord webhooks, desktop | Yes: Yes — when action is needed; Claude decides when to push |
| Presence-aware (no phone buzz while you’re at the desk) | Yes: Yes — OS idle time; manual override | Yes: Skips push while you type in or focus the terminal |
| Answer from a chat app | Yes: Telegram, two-way: buttons, question options, replies | Partly: Separate Channels preview (Telegram, Discord, iMessage) |
| Native mobile app | No: No — an installable web app (PWA) | Yes: Claude iOS and Android apps |
| Works without an account | Yes: No account | No: Needs a paid claude.ai plan; not API keys or Bedrock |
| How the phone reaches your machine | Your own Tailscale (HTTPS via Tailscale Serve), no ports opened. Telegram needs no Tailscale. | Through Anthropic’s API over TLS; the transcript is stored by Anthropic while connected |
| Worktree tasks | Yes: pilothouse task new → worktree + branch + agent; .pilothouse/task.yaml | Partly: Server mode can give each session its own worktree |
| Start a task from your phone | Yes: Yes — start it, review the diff, ship it as a PR | Yes: Yes — start a session on a connected machine |
| Several machines in one view | Yes: Yes — link machines to one hub over your tailnet | Yes: Yes — each machine is a device card |
The Claude iOS and Android apps with native push, supported by Anthropic. Pilothouse ships an installable web app that reaches your phone over Tailscale, plus a two-way Telegram channel.
One command in a running session and a QR code. Pilothouse needs a one-time pilothouse setup.
Subagent progress, a diff pane, slash commands like /model and /compact, photos and files. Pilothouse’s session page shows the activity feed and a reply box, not a full chat client.
Every machine running Remote Control appears as a device card through your Claude account. Pilothouse links machines too, but each one needs Tailscale and a one-time `pilothouse link`.
An Owner toggle, custom roles and Trusted Devices. Pilothouse has no team features (see Pilothouse Cloud).
Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and Grok Build sessions in one inbox, with the same rules, the same cards and the same phone.
YAML and CEL policies, one-tap rules from approval cards, and presets like guarded autopilot. Remote Control relies on Claude Code’s own permission rules and modes.
The web app is served by your own machine over your tailnet; decisions from the web app are signed by a key on your phone. Nothing about your sessions passes through a vendor.
Tokens and cost at API prices per day, agent, model and repo for Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode, beside what your plans cost, with alerts at 80 % and 100 % of a daily budget.
They don’t conflict. Pilothouse uses Claude Code’s hooks, so its rules still run on a session you drive through Remote Control, and whichever answer comes first — the Claude app, Pilothouse or the terminal — wins.
Facts about Claude Remote Control checked on 24 October 2026 from: Remote Control docs, Claude Code on mobile, What’s new, week 34, Permission modes. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
It doesn't replace your terminal or your agents. Try the phone app with pretend agents first, or install, runpilothouse setup, and keep working.
pilothouse democurl -fsSL https://pilothouse.dev/install.sh | shbrew install sabr-software/tap/pilothousethen run pilothouse setup