I love bringing things to life. Things I can see. Things I can use. My background is in AI/ML. At my last job, I was the guy who'd train a model, hand over the pkl file and some .py scripts, and some backend engineer would make sure the frontend team could use it.
Over the last year, I've fallen in love with building. Websites. Apps. Dashboards. You name it — I can build it. I literally want to do it all the time.
But I couldn't. I needed to be at my computer. "Locked in," as they say.
Here's the thing — I also like to do stuff. I live my life. Walk my dog. Take my wife on dates. Skateboard. Climb. Etc. But when I get home, I want to build. It's like I'm a kid again, setting up army men or assembling legos — I just love to do it.
So here's my dilemma: How can I live my life but also keep building?
I thought to myself, "I have my phone with me all the time. What if I could connect my phone to my laptop?"
Let me tell you, I didn't know much about computers before this. Had heard of Tmux in passing, could SSH into a server. But I couldn't explain what tunneling or DNS was (and I still can't, haha). However, I had a goal — piece my limited knowledge together so I could SSH into my laptop from my phone.
So I did what everyone does — talked to Claude about it and it pointed me in 3 directions...
- Tailscale
- Termius
- Tmux
It sounded daunting. But I'm here to show you that it ain't all that difficult.
Step 1: Tailscale (5 minutes)
Tailscale creates a private network between your devices. No port forwarding. No firewall headaches. Works on any wifi — coffee shop, hotel, anywhere.
- Download Tailscale on your laptop (tailscale.com)
- Download Tailscale on your phone (app store)
- Sign in with Google/GitHub on both devices
- Done. Your devices can now see each other.
Tailscale gives your laptop a hostname like your-laptop.tailnet-name.ts.net. You'll use this to connect.
Step 2: Termius (5 minutes)
Termius is an SSH app for your phone. The free tier is all you need.
- Download Termius on iOS or Android
- Create a new host
- For hostname, use your laptop's Tailscale name (find it in the Tailscale app). It looks like this: `123.45.67.89`
- For username: your laptop's username
- Save it
You can now SSH into your laptop from your phone.
Step 3: Tmux (10 minutes)
Tmux is a terminal multiplexer. It lets your terminal sessions persist even when you disconnect. Tbh, this is really where the magic happens.
Install it:
# Mac (I use homebrew)
brew install tmuxThe only commands you need:
Start a named session:
``bash
tmux new -s claude
``
Detach from session (leave it running):
``
Ctrl+B then D
``
Reattach to session (from your laptop or from your PHONE):
``bash
tmux attach -s claude
``
Putting It All Together
So, I start a session while I'm at home on my laptop like so:
tmux new -s claudeWerk.
But, I need to leave my laptop to go to store. So, I:
- Make sure Tailscale is on (on both laptop and my phone)
- Open Termius on my phone to SSH into laptop
- `tmux attach -s claude`
You're back in your Claude Code therapy session. Checking on progress. Giving new instructions.
The Reality
Now I can code from anywhere. Long running task on Claude? A couple of clicks in Termius and I'm SSH'd into my laptop running Tmux.
You don't need to be at your machine 24/7. Claude takes time if you're using it right. You just need to check in every once in a while.
Don't get me wrong — sessions at home on my laptop are much more productive. But when I'm out, I can still do what I love: build.
All this is to say...
You don't need to understand networking. You don't need to be a terminal wizard.
- You just need:
- Tailscale (private network between devices)
- Termius (SSH from your phone)
- Tmux (persistent terminal sessions)
20 minutes of setup. Code from anywhere. Go live your life.