Codeman/docs/wiki/Mobile-Guide.md

# Mobile Guide

Codeman on a phone is not a shrunken desktop UI. It is the surface most of its design
attention has gone into, because checking on an agent from a bus is the thing this software
is for.

<p align="center">
  <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ark0N/Codeman/master/docs/screenshots/mobile-session-keyboard-20260727.png" alt="Answering an agent prompt on a phone" width="300">
</p>

## Getting there

1. **Set up access.** Tailscale is the recommended route and gives you real HTTPS. See
   [Remote Access](Remote-Access).
2. **Log in by QR.** Open the dashboard on your desktop and scan the code. No password
   typing. Tokens are single use and rotate every 60 seconds.
3. **Install it to your home screen.** On iOS this is mandatory for push notifications;
   Safari does not deliver push to tabs. On Android it makes the app full screen.

HTTPS matters for more than security here: microphone access and push notifications both
require a secure context.

## The layout

| Element              | Where                                                                 |
| -------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Header               | Fixed at the top, deliberately minimal. Desktop-only controls never appear. |
| Tab strip            | Scrolls horizontally. The active tab is always scrolled into view.      |
| Terminal             | The rest of the screen.                                                |
| Toolbar              | Bottom: Run, Stop, **Enter**, case picker, voice, settings.             |
| Keyboard bar         | Above the on-screen keyboard when it is open.                           |

The phone layout applies up to 599px of viewport width, so the Plus and Pro Max iPhones,
the Pixel Pro and a folded Z Fold get it too; wider devices get the tablet layout. Layout
respects notch and home-indicator safe areas, touch targets are 44px, and the case picker is
a bottom sheet rather than a dropdown. On a folding phone (iPhone Duo) dialogs stay clear of
the hinge, and opening or closing the device is treated as the device changing shape, never
as the keyboard appearing.

**Swipe left and right** on the terminal to switch sessions.

## The home screen

Tapping the "C" logo gives a session overview rather than a welcome page:

1. **NEEDS YOU** first: sessions blocked on a question, with answer strips (Approvals Inbox
   on) so you can resolve a Claude dialog without opening the session. A Codex or DeepSeek
   Harness row offers **Answer in terminal** instead, which opens the session.
2. **CURRENT SESSIONS** with live status.
3. **PAST SESSIONS**, resumable.

Row status uses the same language as the tabs: green when fine, pulsing while working,
yellow when waiting for input, red when a question is pending.

The split Run button carries the same per-backend colours as the desktop toolbar, and its
picker mirrors the desktop run-mode menu.

On by default; it can be turned off in settings.

## The keyboard accessory bar

A row of keys above the virtual keyboard, and what it contains depends on the session.

**Agent sessions** get quick actions: `/init`, `/clear`, `/compact`, a Compose key, `Esc`,
a path picker, and 🧠 when Read My Mind is on. Compose opens a multiline editor with
autocorrect: Enter adds a new line, and only Send delivers the text, as one paste followed
by Enter, so your line breaks reach the agent intact. Anything already typed on the terminal
prompt moves into the editor when it opens. Drafts are kept per session and in memory only,
so switching tabs keeps them and a page reload forgets them; a dot on the key shows a draft
is parked. The editor's Attach button attaches photos, videos or documents and puts their paths
into the draft.
Destructive commands need a double press, so you cannot fire `/clear` with a stray thumb. On
Codex sessions the bar also shows `⇧←` and `⇧→`, the Shift-modified arrows Codex binds to
editing the last queued message and walking the prompt stack.

**Shell sessions** automatically swap it for terminal controls: `Ctrl`, `Esc`, `Tab`, four
arrows, a direct Paste key (shell input is not an agent prompt, so there is no Compose
there), and dismiss. Your normal preference is remembered and restored when you
switch back to an agent session, so a settings change during a shell session cannot strip
the bar away permanently.

### One-shot Ctrl

`Ctrl` on the shell bar is a **one-shot modifier**: tap `Ctrl`, then tap `c`, and the
control byte is sent. It disarms on use, on a second tap, on any other accessory key, on a
session switch, and when the keyboard closes.

That list matters. A modifier left armed turns your next innocent keystroke into a control
byte, so it is deliberately eager to disarm. Keys with no control equivalent pass through
unchanged, exactly like a hardware keyboard.

## The Enter button

The toolbar's dedicated **Enter** button exists because of local echo. On a phone, the
characters you type are painted locally and have not reached the agent yet; Enter flushes
them and then submits.

It replays the keypress through the terminal rather than sending a bare carriage return.
Sending a bare `\r` would submit an empty line and strand your typed text on screen, which
looks exactly like a dead button.

On phones this button replaces the desktop's **Run Shell** control; starting a shell moved
into the Run dropdown.

## The Attach button

The toolbar's **Attach** button (the picture icon beside the mic) is the keyboard-down way to
hand the agent a photo, a video or a document. One tap opens the system's sheet (camera,
photo library, or a file from Files or a cloud drive), nothing else: no editor, no keyboard.
The chosen files upload and their paths land on the prompt, so you then tap the terminal,
write the rest of your message and press Enter. Videos (mp4, webm, mov, m4v, ogv)
upload as recorded, up to 1 GB each by default (`CODEMAN_MAX_PASTE_VIDEO_BYTES` on the
server changes it), so a long 4K clip takes a moment on the way up. Documents are PDFs,
Office files (docx, pptx, xlsx), zips and plain-text formats such as txt, md, csv and json;
a document keeps the plain-letters part of its name in the saved file, so the agent and you
can tell the uploads apart. See [Working With Files](Working-With-Files) for where they land and how long they
stay.

If the keyboard was up when you tapped Attach, iOS closes it to show the photo sheet and does
not bring it back, so the tap on the terminal is how you get it again. That is the system's
behaviour around its own picker rather than a Codeman setting.

The paths go onto the prompt as unsent text, exactly like something you typed, which means
they travel with it. Tap **Compose** afterwards and the editor opens holding the paths *and*
anything you had already typed, so you can write in front of a path, fix a word, and Send.
**Use terminal keyboard** hands a single-line message back the other way, onto the prompt,
so neither surface holds a half of your message. A multi-line message cannot make that trip
(the prompt is a single line), so it stays parked as a draft and the dot on the Compose key
shows it is waiting. The Compose editor's own Attach button remains for the times you are
already writing in the editor.

## Tapping, links and copying

- **Tap a link** in terminal output and it opens in a new tab. Same for a link in an agent's
  answer in the response viewer — it opens a tab rather than navigating the dashboard away,
  which on a phone would unload the whole session view.
- **Tap a file path** an agent printed and the file-preview overlay opens (Markdown rendered,
  HTML as a page); a log or other plain-text path opens the log viewer. Works in scrolled-up
  transcript too.
- A tap on the prose *beside* a link still places the cursor as usual, and a tap on a dialog's
  numbered choice still answers the dialog even when the row contains a path — the dialog wins,
  because on a phone it is the only interaction that matters.
- **Long-press to select text**, then drag, or tap the other end to extend the selection — no
  hairline handles to grab. A small bar offers **Copy**, **Line** (the whole logical line,
  wrapped rows included) and dismiss. Copy works on plain-HTTP installs too, where the browser
  clipboard API is unavailable.
- A swipe is never mistaken for a long-press, and the keyboard stays down while you select.

## Scrolling and the keyboard

- The terminal and toolbar shift up when the keyboard opens, tracked through the browser's
  visual viewport rather than guessed.
- **Two ways to dismiss the keyboard**: tap outside the terminal on inert space, or tap twice
  on inert terminal content. Tapping a control never dismisses it, and tapping the prompt row
  keeps focus so you can place the caret.
- A scroll is never mistaken for a tap: travel is measured from the start of the gesture, and
  multi-touch never counts.
- **A long prompt stays visible.** Once what you are typing wraps past the last visible row it
  grows upward over the transcript instead of sliding under the keyboard, so the end of the
  sentence — where the cursor is — is always on screen. A prompt taller than the visible strip
  shows its tail.

## Voice

The microphone button, or the keyboard bar. Providers and setup are covered in
[Input And Voice](Input-And-Voice). Dictating is often faster than typing a prompt on a
phone, and it is the main reason the feature exists.

## Notifications

Push notifications reach you with no tab open, and with the Approvals Inbox on, those for a
Claude permission prompt carry **Approve** and **Deny** buttons handled by the service
worker, so you can unblock a Claude agent from the lock screen.

Setup in [Notifications And Approvals](Notifications-And-Approvals).

## Reading long answers

The terminal viewport is small. **Last Response** (opt-in header button) renders the agent's
last answer as scrollable text instead, with a **More** button for additional context.

The [File Viewer](Working-With-Files) works on phones too, including edit mode, which is
enough to fix a typo an agent introduced while you are away from your desk.

## What is deliberately not on phones

- Extra header buttons. New header controls are kept off phones by policy, with a test that
  enforces it.
- The Approvals bell. Phones get the NEEDS YOU strips on the home screen instead.
- The desktop home tab rail, which needs a wide window.
- Lineage lines, which are a desktop overlay.

## Gotchas

- **Typed text sitting on screen has not been sent.** Press Enter.
- **iOS needs the home screen install for push**, not just a bookmark.
- **iOS Safari can serve stale JavaScript after an update** until the tab is fully closed.
  Close it and reopen.
- **Plain HTTP over a LAN address disables voice and push.** Use HTTPS.
- **An armed `Ctrl` is visibly highlighted.** If it looks the same as a resting key, you are
  on an old version, on a light skin.

## Read next

- [Remote Access](Remote-Access) - getting the phone connected in the first place.
- [Notifications And Approvals](Notifications-And-Approvals) - being told when you are needed.
- [Input And Voice](Input-And-Voice) - local echo, dictation, and the input rules.