Hamel Husain demos the Codex desktop app’s remote-control mode — the best setup he’s found for untethering AI coding from your computer and running sessions from your phone. ~4 minutes on his own channel.
Why remote control
- When coding with AI, don’t be tethered to your laptop — walk around, close the screen, check things on your phone
- The Codex desktop app is the best client he’s found for remote AI coding
Setup: connect your computers
- Settings → Connections — he’s connected to a Mac mini and a MacBook Pro (both servers for agentic coding)
- To add: go to the server, click the link to get a code, then Add it in the app
- Keep the connection dots green — refresh occasionally; rarely you may need to delete and re-add a connection
- Keep the Codex app updated (Codex menu → check for updates)
Starting a remote session
- New chat (Cmd+N) or Add new project → Remote, then pick the connected computer and give the folder path
- You see all sessions running remotely — which machine, which folder, live green dot
Live demo
- Prompt: “Look at my Gmail and find the last 10 emails received from this email address, which are newsletter posts. Put it in the table” — uses the Gmail skill/connector and computer use on the MacBook Pro
- From the phone (ChatGPT app → Codex tab): see every connected computer and live session; send follow-ups like “Please critique my writing in all 10 emails with subagents. Use the writing skills in this repo to do so”
- Desktop shows the run: 5.5 High extra fast model, summary view listing the 4 spawned subagents processing email batches; phone shows 2 agents running / 2 finished
- You can even attach photos or screenshots from your phone
“It’s the best remote control I’ve ever used. I haven’t found any limitations.”