TTY.Build keeps the terminals (and the coding agents inside them) on your computer within reach from iPhone. The repo yellowplushq/TTY.Build is MIT, Swift, created 2026-07-18, copyright YellowPlus, Inc. On 2026-09-16 GitHub listed 4 stars and 0 forks. The product site is tty.build. The iPhone app is on the App Store as TTY.Build: Agents + Terminal. 4 stars is a heat signal, not traffic. It showed up on X For You as YellowPlus/AirBuild merch (an iPhone 3G running AirBuild); TTY.Build is the shippable Mac-and-iPhone product from that org.
This is a real terminal over an encrypted relay, not a remote desktop. Compare OpenChamber if you wanted a full OpenCode workspace with phone steering, Termany if you wanted many agent panes on the desk, or Claude Code if you still needed the agent itself.
Key Features
- Pair once: an 8-digit one-time code on the Mac, entered on iPhone. After that, live PTYs on that computer are on the phone.
- End-to-end encrypted: terminal bytes, titles, and working directories are encrypted between devices. The Cloudflare Worker relay authenticates and routes opaque frames. The README says it never stores terminal content and cannot read it.
- No open ports: both sides connect outward. No port forward, public IP, or VPN.
- Built for agents: watch long-running agents from a pocket and get nudged when one needs input. README lists hook integrations for Claude Code, Codex, Copilot, Grok, Kimi, Kiro, OpenCode, and more. Live Activity and Dynamic Island show session state. Apple Watch app and complications are included.
- Mac side: menu bar app,
ttybuildCLI, universal build, macOS 14+. Install withcurl -fsSL https://tty.build/i | bashor the macOS download. - iPhone side: Ghostty (
libghostty) for emulation and rendering. Widgets plus Watch.
Limitation: GitHub star count is tiny relative to a shipping App Store app, so do not treat 4 stars as adoption. The relay still sees identities, binding state, alive-session counts, and push endpoints (README). You still need the Mac online. Native Windows/Linux hosts are not the documented path. AirBuild3G (a coding agent on a jailbroken iPhone 3G) is a separate novelty repo, not this app.
Use Cases
- People who leave Claude Code or OpenCode running on a Mac and want to answer a prompt from the couch without opening a port.
- On-call / commute when Live Activity is enough to see whether the agent is stuck.
- People who should use OpenChamber instead if they needed diffs, multi-run, and GitHub merge, not just a terminal.
Pricing
| Piece | Price | Notes from first-party pages 2026-09-16 |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone + Mac apps | $0 listed | MIT. App Store listing and tty.build. About 4 GitHub stars. Confirm App Store price in the store client; this page does not invent a paid tier. |
| Relay | Included in the service as documented | Cloudflare Worker. Zero-knowledge for terminal bytes, per README. |
| Model usage | Your agent bill | TTY.Build does not sell tokens. |
Getting Started
- Install the iPhone app.
- On Mac:
curl -fsSL https://tty.build/i | bashor download the universal app (macOS 14+). - Open Connect on the Mac, type the 8-digit code on the phone.
- Leave a coding agent in a terminal. Watch it from the pocket.
First-party start: tty.build and the README. Protocol notes live in docs/PROTOCOL.md.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the relay read my terminal?
The README says no. Frames are end-to-end encrypted. The pairing secret stays on your devices. The relay still holds routing metadata (identities, bindings, alive counts, push endpoints).
Is this OpenChamber?
No. OpenChamber is an OpenCode workspace with diffs and goals. TTY.Build is a terminal plus agent notifications on iPhone.
Does it run Windows agents?
The documented host is macOS (Xcode 26 / Swift 6 for development). Do not assume a Windows daemon.
Alternatives
- OpenChamber: OpenCode ADE with Private Relay and mobile review.
- Termany: many agent sessions on the desk, not a phone PTY.
- Claude Code: the agent TTY.Build can watch, not a remote terminal.
Tips
- Pair on a trusted network the first time. Revoke a lost phone from the Mac side.
- Hooks only help if the agent actually emits them. A silent hung process will not ping Dynamic Island.
- Keep the Mac awake. A sleeping host has no PTY to relay.
Conclusion
TTY.Build is a pocket terminal for agents you already left running on a Mac, with E2EE and no open port. Try it if the missing piece was the phone, not another IDE. Pick OpenChamber if you needed review and merge, not just a PTY.
Comments
No comments yet. Be the first to comment!
Related Tools
Related Insights
Skills + Hooks + Plugins: How Anthropic Redefined AI Coding Tool Extensibility
An in-depth analysis of Claude Code's trinity architecture of Skills, Hooks, and Plugins. Explore why this design is more advanced than GitHub Copilot and Cursor, and how it redefines AI coding tool extensibility through open standards.
What Locks Codex Is the Picker, Not the Models
You already pay for OpenCode Go, Grok, and Z.ai, but the Codex picker still shows mostly GPT. The community project codex-router does not teach another install ritual. It puts subscriptions you already bought back into the selector, keeps keys on the machine, and leaves native GPT alone.
Hook OpenCode Go into Codex on Windows. Do Not Open a Second Toolkit.
A ChatGPT-signed Codex desktop app still shows mostly GPT in the picker. On Windows, enable only OpenCode Go and the Grok, GLM, Kimi, DeepSeek, and MiniMax models you already pay for appear in the same selector. Keys stay local. Native GPT stays put.