Pairing and remote access

The phone app talks to a running Tori over the network, it is not a standalone app, and it never uses anything but that connection: no shared process, no iCloud sync, just a WebSocket to the Mac you paired it with.

Turning it on

Settings > Remote > Remote access. Pick a Listen on address: a LAN interface (same Wi-Fi only), Tailscale (reachable from anywhere both devices are signed into the same Tailscale account), or this Mac only, which is really “off” for anything but local testing. Tori never listens on more than one address at once.

While remote access is on, the Mac is kept from idle sleeping so the connection holds; this costs battery on a laptop, which is why remote access defaults off.

Pairing a phone

Pair a device shows a QR code and a typed code as a fallback, both live for five minutes and the code works once. Scan it, or open the phone app and type the address and code by hand, along with a name for the phone. Five wrong tries burns the code early.

Paired devices are listed in Settings > Remote, each with a Revoke button; revoking closes its connection immediately and it has to pair again to reconnect. Re-pairing the same phone replaces its old entry rather than adding a second one.

What a paired phone can do

A paired device reads sessions, transcripts, the project tree and budgets the same as sitting at the Mac; it can steer or interrupt a live chat and answer any session’s pending question, permission prompt, or approval as a real user, not just a bystander. It can start a new plain chat in a folder it names, but not attach files, start a new worktree, or run anything in the background. It cannot turn autopilot on or off, or mint another device’s pairing credential; those stay Mac-side, in person.

Titlebar indicator

A phone icon in the title bar lights up when at least one paired device is connected, and its popover shows connected and offline state per device with a quick Revoke, without opening Settings.