Orc Terminal Get it

Claude Code runs on your laptop.
Drive it from your phone.

Start a session in any folder on your machine, then walk away. Your laptop keeps it running, so locking the phone, closing the app or losing signal changes nothing. Come back an hour later and the terminal is exactly where you left it, still working.

Get Orc Terminal Linux · macOS · iPhone · Android

markus-x1 2 running 1 waiting
  • api-refactor ~/work/orbit Rename the column too, or keep a view for now?
  • docs-pass ~/work/orbit Editing docs/protocol.md
  • flake-hunt ~/dev/pico Running 214 tests
  • bump-deps ~/dev/pico exit 0
The session that stopped to ask you something is at the top, because that is the one thing you need from a phone.

Three things, once

  1. 1

    Install Orchestrator on the computer you want to reach.

  2. 2

    Install Orc Terminal on your iPhone or Android phone.

  3. 3

    Scan the QR code your computer puts on screen.

That is the whole setup. No account to make, no port to forward, no VPN to join.

Nothing to open, nothing to forward

Your phone reaches your machine from anywhere — hotel Wi‑Fi, cellular, a train. Your laptop dials out; nothing listens on your home network. The relay in between moves bytes it cannot read.

A real terminal, not a chat box

Scrollback, arrow keys, Ctrl‑C, tab completion, resize when you rotate, and as many sessions at once as you like. It is the actual terminal, not a summary of one.

Your machine, your files

Sessions run on your own computer, as you, with your own tools and your own credentials. Nothing executes in anyone else's cloud, and there is nothing to sign up for.

It tells you when Claude needs you

Claude Code tells the service the moment a session stops to ask a question. Your phone knows within about two seconds and buzzes, even with the app closed.

Pairing a phone is like handing someone your unlocked laptop

So it is worth being plain about it. A paired device can run any command as you. That is the product, not an oversight — the whole thing reduces to one question: did only your own devices ever pair?

What guards that: your machine generates its own TLS certificate, and the phone pins its fingerprint from the QR code and switches the system trust store off entirely, so the pin is the only authority. Pairing codes are six digits, live five minutes, and are destroyed after five wrong guesses in total. Each phone holds an Ed25519 key made inside the Keychain, marked device-only, so it is never in a backup and cannot be restored onto another phone. Revoke a device whenever you want.

Where it is right now

Version 0.1, and honestly beta. The machine side runs on Linux and macOS: a desktop app you install — a .deb, an AppImage, or a macOS disk image — with the service running behind it. The phone side is iPhone and Android. Windows is not supported yet. It has been driven end to end from a phone on cellular, and it is what I use every day — but early access means you are testing it, and you will find things.

Get Orc Terminal

One install on the computer Claude Code runs on, one on your phone. Then scan the QR code the computer shows, and you are done.

1On your computer

Linux or macOS, with Claude Code already installed. Paste this into a terminal:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/markusbug/Orchestrator/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

Or download the installer: Linux .deb Linux AppImage macOS .dmg

Details
  • The script installs the .deb where dpkg exists and the AppImage otherwise. On a server with no desktop, end it with sh -s -- --headless to get just the background service.
  • Direct downloads are x86-64 for Linux and Apple silicon for macOS, served from the GitHub release. Give the AppImage the execute bit (chmod +x) once. Checksums are in SHA256SUMS and SHA256SUMS.macos.
  • The macOS build is signed ad-hoc rather than notarised, so Gatekeeper asks you to allow it the first time.
  • No Windows build yet.

2On your phone

Open it once the desktop app is running and scan the QR code it shows you.

Or skip Play and sideload: Android .apk

Details
  • iPhone: each new version waits about a day for Apple's beta review. If TestFlight says the beta is not accepting testers, that is a review in progress, so try again shortly.
  • Android: Play only releases a new app through a closed test with a tester list, and anyone can join it. Join the Orc Terminal testers group with the Google account you use on Play, open the Play link, and tap Become a tester. From then on Play treats it like any other app, updates included. If Play says the app is not available yet, Google is still reviewing the build; try again the next day.
  • Android without Play: the .apk is the same version, signed, straight from the GitHub release. Open the download and allow installs from your browser when Android asks. It does not update itself, and Play and the APK are signed with different keys, so switching between them means uninstalling first.

Anything else

Android access, something broken, or a question about whether this fits the way you work. I read everything, and 0.1 means you will find things.

hm.orc@protonmail.ch