ClawCast

Mirror your VS Code terminals to any phone. Bidirectional. No SSH. No subscription. No app.

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Install

1. Install cloudflared

# macOS
brew install cloudflared

# Windows
winget install Cloudflare.cloudflared

# Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)
curl -L https://pkg.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-main.gpg | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/cloudflare-archive-keyring.gpg > /dev/null
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/cloudflare-archive-keyring.gpg] https://pkg.cloudflare.com/cloudflared $(lsb_release -cs) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cloudflared.list
sudo apt update && sudo apt install cloudflared

Windows users: a bundled cloudflared.exe is included in the release .vsix — you can skip this step.

2. Install the extension

Download clawcast-x.x.x.vsix from Releases and drag it into VS Code's Extensions panel, or:

code --install-extension clawcast-x.x.x.vsix

3. Start mirroring

Ctrl+Shift+P → ClawCast: Start Mirror

A QR code appears in a side panel. Scan it on your phone. Your terminals stream live.

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Quick start

Once the extension is installed:

1. Ctrl+Shift+P → ClawCast: Start Mirror — a QR code appears in a VS Code side panel
2. Scan the QR with your phone's browser (any browser, no app needed)
3. Back in VS Code on your desktop, open a new terminal — `Ctrl+`` or Terminal → New Terminal
4. That terminal streams live to your phone. Type commands straight from your phone's keyboard, hit send, and they run in VS Code

That's it. Your phone is now a fully interactive terminal window for your machine.

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Features

• Grid view — see all open VS Code terminals at once
• Full-screen — tap any terminal to expand it
• Bidirectional input — type commands from your phone, they run in VS Code
• Spawn terminals — create a new terminal from your phone
• Close terminals — long-press a card to kill it in VS Code
• Auto-reconnect — network drops are handled gracefully
• Session token auth — QR URL carries a one-time token, regenerated each session
• Zero config — no login screen, no API key, no port forwarding

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How it compares

A few tools exist in this space. Here's an honest, factual breakdown:

Dimension	Claude /remote	VS Code Mobile	ClawCast
Core function	AI session streaming	Full VS Code remote	Raw PTY terminal mirror
Price	Pro subscription (~$20/mo)	~$2/month	Free forever
Infrastructure	Anthropic cloud	Cloud-hosted	Self-hosted
Auth	OAuth via claude.ai	Google sign-in required	QR session token — no account
Terminal input	❌ Read-only	✅ Terminal control	✅ Full bidirectional PTY
Multi-terminal grid	❌ Single session view	❌ Single terminal	✅ All terminals simultaneously
Spawn terminals	❌	❌	✅ From phone
Close terminals	❌	❌	✅ Long-press
Data privacy	Routes via Anthropic	Routes via their servers	Never leaves your network
CGNAT bypass	✅	Unknown	✅ cloudflared
No account needed	❌	❌	✅
No app needed	❌ Claude app required	❌ Account required	✅ Any browser
Claude required	✅	❌	❌
Latency	~100–500ms	Unknown	~20–100ms

Each tool has its own focus. Claude /remote is built for monitoring AI sessions. VS Code Mobile offers a full remote IDE experience. ClawCast is narrower in scope — raw terminal mirroring, free, self-hosted, no account.

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How it works

┌─────────────────┐     WebSocket      ┌──────────────────┐     cloudflared      ┌───────────────┐
│  VS Code        │ ─────────────────► │  Relay (embedded │ ──────────────────► │  Your phone   │
│  Extension      │                    │  in extension)   │    free tunnel       │  (any browser)│
│  (terminal tap) │ ◄───────────────── │  serves web UI   │ ◄────────────────── │               │
└─────────────────┘    input/resize    └──────────────────┘                     └───────────────┘

• The VS Code extension taps all terminals via the onDidStartTerminalShellExecution API and buffers their output
• An embedded relay (HTTP + WebSocket server, port 3747) runs inside the extension process — no separate server to manage
• cloudflared creates a free HTTPS tunnel, no Cloudflare account required, punches through any NAT or CGNAT
• The phone browser connects to the tunnel URL, renders terminals with xterm.js, and sends input back
• ClawCast PTY terminals (spawned via "+ New Terminal") get full resize support — dims sync from phone's fitAddon
• A session token is embedded in the QR URL and validated on every connection — no unauthorized access

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Known limitations

ClawCast is a hobbyist project — built out of curiosity, not a product roadmap. It works, and it's genuinely useful day-to-day, but it's not polished commercial software. Here's what you should know going in:

• New terminals only. ClawCast only picks up terminals opened after you start the mirror. Pre-existing terminals won't stream live output — VS Code's API doesn't expose raw PTY data for terminals it didn't spawn. The fix is simple: after scanning the QR, just open one or two fresh terminals in VS Code (`Ctrl+`` or Terminal → New Terminal). Alternatively, tap + New Terminal in the phone UI to spawn one directly from your phone. Either way, you get full control fast without needing to restart anything.

• Terminal width doesn't auto-fit your phone. If your VS Code terminal panel is wide on the desktop, the output won't reflow to match your phone's screen — which can cause overlapping text or garbled output. The workaround: drag your VS Code terminal panel narrower until its width roughly matches your phone before running anything. Terminals spawned from the phone (via + New Terminal) handle resize automatically — dims sync from the phone's xterm.js instance.

• cloudflared required. A free tunnel binary handles the CGNAT-busting. Windows users get it bundled inside the .vsix — nothing to install. Mac/Linux users run brew install cloudflared or the equivalent once.

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Building from source

git clone https://github.com/alyfe-how/clawcast
cd clawcast/extension
npm install
npm run package     # produces clawcast-x.x.x.vsix

Requires Node.js 18+, @vscode/vsce (installed as devDependency).

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Roadmap

• macOS/Linux bundled cloudflared binary in release
• Virtual keyboard on mobile
• Multiple simultaneous viewers
• Session token auth (QR URL, auto-generated per session)
• VS Code Marketplace publish

PRs welcome.

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⭐ If ClawCast helped you

If ClawCast saved you from setting up SSH, or did something Remote Control couldn't — a GitHub star goes a long way.

It helps other developers find it. And if we hit 5,000 stars, Anthropic gives me free Claude Max credits to keep building tools like this. 🙏

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License

MIT — free forever. See LICENSE.

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About

Made with ❤️ by Alyfe How Contact: alyfe.how@gmail.com