Your computer agents,
from any device
Otter Beam brings your AI coding agents—Claude Code, Codex, DeepSeek, Grok Build, and Z.ai—into one workspace across apps and CLIs. With one account, use them from your host computers, iPhone, iPad, Android devices, other computers, or the web. You can also manage files and apps on your host computers and run development servers.
How Otter Beam works
- Install Otter Beam on the computer you want to reach. The Mac app is the host. Reaching a computer requires setting Otter Beam up on that computer first.
- Sign in and approve each new device. A new phone, tablet, computer or browser has to be approved from a device you already trust. Each device keeps its own key.
- Connect over SSH — directly nearby, or through Otter Relay when you are away. On the same Wi-Fi, LAN or a VPN such as Tailscale, nothing passes through our servers. Off that network, Otter Relay forwards the encrypted stream.
- Open a session, a file, or an app window from the device in your hand. The work itself stays in tmux on the computer, so losing signal, closing the tab or switching devices does not stop it.
Otter Beam versus a typical remote desktop
Unlike a generic remote-desktop app, Otter Beam treats tmux sessions as first-class: you see what is actually running on each machine, and losing the connection does not stop the work.
| Otter Beam | A typical remote desktop | |
|---|---|---|
| What you open | Running tmux sessions, files, and individual app windows | A live picture of whatever is on the screen |
| If you disconnect | The session keeps running on the computer | The screen may stay running, but agent sessions are not tracked separately |
| On the same network | Direct SSH; nothing through our servers | Direct or relayed, depending on the product and setup |
| Away from the computer | Otter Relay forwards the encrypted stream | Usually a vendor tunnel or a VPN you configure |
AI agents
Find, resume or start terminal and coding-agent sessions on your computers
Open the app and see what is actually running across your machines, rather than a list of hostnames to go digging through. Resume one you walked away from, take over a run you started at the computer itself, or begin a new one from here. Sessions waiting on an answer are pinned where you cannot miss them, and the ones you keep coming back to can be starred. The work itself runs in tmux on your computer, so losing signal, closing the tab or switching devices costs you nothing — it is all still there when you return.
View each session as a friendly chat or as the plain terminal
The chat view lays the run out in reading order — your prompts, the agent's replies, its tool calls, diffs and thinking — with timestamps and text you can select and copy. The terminal view gives you the real TUI, plus the control keys a touch keyboard does not have. It is one session either way; switch whenever the other view suits the moment better.
Works with Claude Code, Codex, Grok, Z.ai and more to come
Each one keeps its own way of working. Model, reasoning effort and permission mode can be changed from inside the session, so choosing a bigger model or loosening a permission does not mean going back to the computer to type a command.
High-accuracy voice transcription and input
Dictate the long instructions a phone keyboard makes painful, and send them straight into the session. When an agent stops to ask a multiple-choice question, the options are tappable — no typing at all.
Get notified when a session needs your input
When a run stops and waits, your devices get a push. Tap it and you land on the exact session that asked, ready to answer — not on a home screen you then have to navigate. That is usually the difference between a two-minute pause and an afternoon of nothing happening.
Computer files
Browse your computers and add projects (folders)
Move around your machines' filesystems the way you would locally, and add the folders you actually work in as projects so they are one tap away next time — on this device and on the others.
View, edit and auto-save files (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx, .md and more)
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Markdown and code open in a real editor and save straight back to the computer, with no download-edit-re-upload round trip and nothing left stale on your device. Plenty more is readable without editing: PDFs, images, SVG, spreadsheets and delimited data, video and audio. Large files stream — you get the beginning immediately and the rest as you scroll.
Upload and download files
Send a file from the device in your hand to the computer, or pull one back down to it. Opening a file in another app stays available as an escape hatch, not as the way things are meant to work.
Computer apps
Watch a single app window, or a whole display from your computer
Pick one app and get its window on its own — only that window is shared, and the rest of your desktop is not in the picture. Because the window is composited by itself, it arrives complete even when it is buried under three others or tucked away by Stage Manager, which cropping a picture of the screen cannot do. When you would rather see everything, mirror one of the computer's real displays instead.
Or open an extra display, sized for the device in your hand
A second display that exists only for you to look at — useful for monitoring a long run or testing a layout. It is shaped to the screen you are holding: matching a foldable's full aspect when unfolded, or a fixed 16:9, 16:10, 3:2 or 4:3 when you want a known size.
Control it right from the app
Tap, scroll and type into the app as if you were at the machine. Otter Beam brings the target to the front before it sends anything, so what you touch is what you meant to touch rather than whatever happens to be on top.
Multi-platform, adaptive layout
Layouts optimized for phones, foldables and tablets
One focused column on a phone; list and detail side by side once there is room; and a sensible answer when a foldable changes shape in the middle of what you were doing — not one layout stretched to cover all three.
Use Otter Beam on Android, iOS, computers and the web
Native apps where you want one, and the full client in a browser tab where you do not — the same sessions, the same chats, the same file editing, not a cut-down viewer.
Continue your projects, sessions, files and edits when you re-open the app or switch devices (with sync turned on)
Put the phone down mid-session and pick the tablet up where you were. What you had open, what you had selected and what you were editing come with you.
Carefully designed details for comfortable reading, navigation and quick actions
Long output that stays readable, the frequent actions within reach of the thumb already holding the device, and the small frictions worked out — so that working from a phone is a real option rather than a compromise.
Security and privacy
View and manage every signed-in device under Profile → Devices
Signing in is what links a device, so a new one has to be approved from a device you already trust — and each keeps its own key, with nothing to copy or paste between them. Anything you no longer use can be removed from the same screen.
Direct SSH over your local network near your computer; away from it, the Otter Relay forwards your encrypted stream and it remains private
On the same Wi-Fi, LAN or a shared VPN such as Tailscale, the connection is direct: nothing passes through our servers, and we neither meter nor bill it. Off that network — a different city, a laptop behind NAT, a browser tab — Otter Relay carries it for you, with no port forwarding, public IP or tunnel to set up. What it carries is encrypted end to end between your own two devices: we move the bytes, and cannot read the commands you run, the output that comes back, or the files that cross. Running the service does need metadata — connection duration, byte counts, how many devices are attached — and that is what we use it for.
Sensitive data is end-to-end encrypted — keys are never uploaded to our servers, staying on your devices
A device that has not been let in cannot read it, ours included. What your projects are called and where they live reach your devices over the encrypted connection rather than as a copy sitting on our servers. The full detail is in the Privacy Policy.
Plans
Otter Beam Pro and Premium subscriptions add:
More advanced voice transcription time each month
Pro includes 200 minutes a month and Premium 500, for dictating prompts and instructions instead of typing them.
Longer Otter Relay sessions for agents, files and apps on the go
How long a single relay session can run before it needs restarting: up to 4 hours on Pro, up to 7 days on Premium. Direct connections on your own network are unaffected either way.
Pricing, billing frequency and automatic-renewal terms are shown before purchase and are governed by the Terms of Service. Manage or cancel an App Store or Google Play subscription in the store you bought it from; purchases can be restored from the Plan screen in the app.
Questions
What is Otter Beam?
Otter Beam is a multi-platform workstation for using the AI agents, files and apps on your computers from a phone, tablet, another computer, or the web. Sessions keep running in tmux on the host, so disconnecting or switching devices does not stop the work.
How do I use Claude Code or Codex from my phone?
Install Otter Beam on the computer where the agent runs, then open the same session from the Android, iOS, computer or web app. You can read it as a chat or as the real terminal, change model and permissions from the phone, and pick up exactly where you left off.
Does Otter Beam work away from my Wi-Fi?
Yes. On the same network the connection is direct SSH. Away from the computer, Otter Relay forwards the already-encrypted stream. You do not need a public IP, port forwarding or a tunnel of your own.
Is Otter Beam end-to-end encrypted?
Yes. Device keys stay on your devices and are never uploaded to our servers. On your own network we never see the traffic. On Otter Relay we move the encrypted bytes and cannot read the commands, output or files that cross.
What platforms does Otter Beam support?
Set the host up on a Mac (macOS 11 or later), then connect from Android, iOS, another computer or the web. The same sessions, chats and file editing are available in the native apps and in the browser client.
Do I need to know tmux to use Otter Beam?
No. Sessions run in tmux on the computer so they survive disconnects, but you do not have to manage tmux from the phone. Otter Beam lists what is running, lets you resume or start a session, and pins the ones waiting on an answer.
Before you start
Last updated: August 15, 2026
An Otter Beam account is required to link devices, and it can be deleted from Profile → Account or from the account deletion page. Reaching a computer requires installing and setting up Otter Beam on it.
Otter Beam is independent software and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any AI coding-agent provider.
Otter Beam is built by Otter Digital Pte. Ltd. in Singapore. Questions, bug reports and privacy requests all go to peter@otterd.com — see the support page for what to include, and what never to send us.