Limitations

• One remote session per interactive process: outside of server mode, each Claude Code instance supports one remote session at a time. Use server mode to run multiple concurrent sessions from a single process.
• Local process must keep running: Remote Control runs as a local process. If you close the terminal, quit VS Code, or otherwise stop the claude process, the session goes offline until you bring it back. Unless Claude is in the middle of a task, claude.ai and the Claude app show the session as offline within seconds after the process exits. To keep a session running on a remote machine after you disconnect from SSH, start it inside tmux or screen.
• Crashed sessions in server mode: if a session served by claude remote-control crashes, send it a message from a connected device. Claude Code serves it again. You don't have to restart the server. Requires Claude Code v2.1.238 or later.
• HTTP 403 refusals on a connected session: once an interactive session is connected, Claude Code keeps retrying for up to three minutes when something between your machine and Anthropic's servers answers with HTTP 403, as can happen after a VPN or network change. If the refusals last longer, Claude Code disconnects, and the reason names what refused: a network edge, or a proxy, VPN, or firewall on your own network.
• Extended network outage: if your machine is awake but can't reach the network, what you do next depends on the mode:
  • Server mode: Claude Code gives up after roughly 10 minutes and the claude remote-control process exits. Run claude remote-control again to start a new session.
  • Interactive session: keep working locally. Claude Code retries for as long as the outage lasts and reconnects on its own when the network returns.
• Presence heartbeats failing: if an interactive session disconnects with could not reach the Remote Control server for about 30 minutes, run /remote-control to reconnect. Claude Code shows this message only when the session's presence heartbeats have been failing while the rest of the connection stayed up; it re-registers the session for about 30 minutes before disconnecting.
• Forwarded dialogs expire: Claude Code keeps permission prompts and AskUserQuestion questions open until you answer them. When Claude Code forwards another kind of dialog to the remote session, such as the model-choice prompt shown after a safety refusal, it waits five minutes by default, then closes the dialog and continues with the dialog's no-action default. Set dialogExpiry to adjust or disable the deadline. Requires Claude Code v2.1.224 or later.
• The Fable usage-credits consent prompt isn't forwarded: Claude Code shows the mid-session Fable usage-credits consent prompt only where the session runs, not on your device. When the session runs in a terminal and nobody there answers before Claude Code closes the prompt, the turn ends without sending the request; see The prompt to confirm went unanswered.
• Some commands are local-only: commands that only run in the terminal interface, such as /plugin or /resume, work only from the local CLI, whether or not you pass an argument. The following work from mobile and web:
  • Text-output commands: /compact, /clear, /context, /usage, /exit, /usage-credits, /recap, and /reload-plugins. /usage-credits prints the billing URL instead of opening a browser. /reload-plugins works only when the session runs in an interactive terminal; a session without one declines it.
  • /model, /effort, /fast, /color, and /rename: pass the value as an argument, for example /model sonnet or /effort high. From mobile and web, /model and /effort take the argument in place of the terminal picker or slider.
  • /mcp: from the mobile app, returns a text summary of server status instead of opening the picker. On the web, /mcp on its own opens a directory of claude.ai connectors instead of returning the summary. The reconnect, enable, and disable subcommands work from both. Unlike the local CLI, /mcp reconnect without a server name reconnects every server that has failed or needs authentication.
  • /config, from v2.1.181: from the mobile app, pass key=value to set a setting, or run it with no argument to list the keys you can set. On the web, /config opens the Claude Code section of your settings instead, and ignores text after the command.
  • On Team and Enterprise, /usage-credits from mobile or web doesn't send a usage-credits request to your admin. Sending requires a confirmation that appears only in the interactive CLI, so the command tells you to run it there instead. Before v2.1.211, the text form sent the request without confirmation.
  • /autocompact, from v2.1.221: pass the window size as an argument, for example /autocompact 500k. With no argument, it prints the current window size as text instead of opening the dialog the command shows in a terminal session.
  • /advisor, from v2.1.260: pass the model as an argument, for example /advisor opus, or pass off to turn the advisor off. Both forms apply to the current session only and leave your saved default unchanged. With no argument, it prints the current advisor as text instead of opening the picker.