CC Pocket alternative: no bridge to host, no Tailscale to set up

The short answer

CC Pocket is an MIT-licensed mobile client for Codex and Claude. You run a small WebSocket service called the Bridge Server on your computer with npx, scan a QR code with the app, and the bridge starts and drives your agent sessions. On your home network the phone connects directly; when you are away, the project recommends Tailscale so your phone and computer sit on the same private network.

BotBus takes a different route on two things: how the phone reaches the computer, and where sessions come from. With CC Pocket you host the connection yourself and the phone talks straight to your bridge. With BotBus nothing listens on your computer: both ends dial out to our relay, and content is end-to-end encrypted on your devices before it leaves them. BotBus also doesn't need sessions to start inside it. The sessions you already open in a terminal, the Codex app or the Claude desktop app show up on your phone on their own.

If you want full control of the network path, open source code, or a real git workflow (stage, commit, push) on your phone or iPad, stay with CC Pocket. If keeping a bridge and a tailnet running is the part you'd rather drop, or you want a watch app, several computers and encrypted push, BotBus is worth a look.

Everything below about CC Pocket comes from its GitHub repository (K9i-0/ccpocket), the bridge package README and the official install page, checked on October 20, 2026. The project ships often (there were new releases on the day we checked), so treat its own pages as the source of truth.

What CC Pocket looks like today

Architecture. The README describes three pieces: the CC Pocket app, the Bridge Server on your machine, and Codex or Claude. The bridge runs on the machine that has your projects, shell, git repo and agent CLI, and your code stays there. The app talks to the bridge over WebSocket, on port 8765 by default.

Connecting. On the same network you can scan the QR code the bridge prints, rely on mDNS discovery, or type a ws:// or wss:// URL. Away from home, the README recommends installing Tailscale on both devices and connecting to ws://<host-tailscale-ip>:8765. It doesn't mention a hosted relay. You can turn on API key authentication with BRIDGE_API_KEY. As of the check date the README has no dedicated section on encrypting the app-to-bridge link: whether you get TLS depends on using ws:// or wss:// and on your network (Tailscale's own tunnel is encrypted).

Agents. Codex and Claude. Claude sessions use ANTHROPIC_API_KEY by default. Subscription login has to be enabled on the bridge with BRIDGE_ALLOW_CLAUDE_OAUTH=1. The README explains that Anthropic's current guidance doesn't clearly say whether it covers this kind of setup.

Platforms. iOS and iPadOS on the App Store, Android on Google Play, plus a macOS app (a dmg from GitHub Releases or a Homebrew cask). Linux and Windows builds are marked experimental. The bridge needs Node.js 20.18.1 or newer, and npx @ccpocket/bridge@1 setup installs it as a launchd or systemd background service. The official pages don't mention a watch app.

Features. Each session is a chat room for prompts, replies, approvals and questions, with Markdown, voice input and image attachments. You can browse files, inspect code and image diffs, and stage, commit, push or revert. Git worktrees keep parallel tasks apart. On an iPad, sessions, chat, files and git changes sit side by side. Messages you send while offline are queued and resent, and missed streaming updates are recovered. The bridge README also covers push notifications: they go out through a push relay that uses Firebase anonymous auth, and approvals, errors and completions trigger them by default.

Price and license. MIT, free to use, with optional in-app Supporter purchases. You bring your own Codex or Claude access.

When CC Pocket is the better fit

These are real strengths, and BotBus either can't match them today or doesn't try to:

• A self-hosted connection. Your phone talks to your own bridge. On your LAN the traffic never needs to leave the house, and remotely it runs over your own tailnet. BotBus always goes through our relay. You can't self-host it or connect directly.
• Open source. Both the app and the bridge are MIT, so you can audit them, fork them and build them yourself. The BotBus apps are closed source. Only the protocol, the connectors and the test fixtures are public.
• A full git workflow on mobile. Stage, commit, push and revert from the phone. BotBus shows uncommitted changes and lets you browse files, and a worktree session can be merged back into its branch, but there's no per-file staging or push.
• An iPad layout. Side-by-side panes make CC Pocket feel like a small mobile workstation. The BotBus app is designed for phones.
• Older machines. The bridge only needs Node.js. BotBus needs macOS 26 or later on a Mac and iOS 26 on the phone.
• API-key-first Claude. If you already pay per token, CC Pocket's default matches how you work.

If any of those is a must-have, CC Pocket is the better choice.

What BotBus does differently

No open ports, no VPN, one QR scan

The BotBus desktop app runs in the background and connects out to a relay on Cloudflare, and your phone does the same. Nothing needs to accept incoming connections, so the phone works the same way on cellular, office Wi-Fi or someone else's network, with no tailnet and no IP addresses to remember. To pair, the phone scans a QR code on your computer's screen. The group key travels through that QR code and never touches the server.

The trade-off is that a relay sits in the middle. BotBus only ever gives it ciphertext. Tasks, conversations, commands, approval details, screenshots and notification text are sealed with AES-256-GCM on your devices. The server sees only the metadata it needs to route traffic: device IDs, online status, update times and payload sizes. Dev previews, which share a local web page with your phone, are the exception and aren't end-to-end encrypted. The details are on the security page.

Encrypted push

BotBus pushes only when an agent needs an approval, is waiting for your reply, finishes or fails. Apple's push service gets a fixed line of text plus a sealed blob. The iPhone decrypts the blob locally and shows the real computer name and task. Delivery still depends on the notification permissions you grant. More on tuning this in push notifications for coding agents.

It picks up the sessions you already have

In CC Pocket, sessions mostly start from the bridge, and the README says you can resume sessions from the CLI or the app. BotBus leaves your desktop habits alone. It reads Codex sessions from ~/.codex (read-only). For Claude Code, you install the hooks once from BotBus settings, and after that any session you open in a terminal or in the Claude desktop app, along with its permission prompts, appears on your phone. When you start a Claude session from the phone, BotBus runs the claude command on your computer with whatever login or API key you've already set up for it. To keep a desktop session going from your phone, see continue an agent session on your phone.

Watch, several computers, more agents

• Apple Watch. The watch app syncs pairing from the iPhone and then connects on its own. You can check tasks, approve requests, answer multiple-choice questions and dictate follow-ups. See an AI coding agent on Apple Watch.
• Several computers. One phone can pair with a home machine and a work machine at the same time, in any mix of Mac, Linux and Windows. Tasks are grouped by computer.
• More agents. Besides Codex and Claude Code, BotBus has built-in support for Hermes, Pi, OpenClaw and DeepSeek Harness, and it can connect agents that speak ACP, such as OpenCode. See the connection guide.

Working on the computer itself

Both apps let you browse files. BotBus can also open a terminal on the computer from your phone. On a Mac it can show the live screen and accept taps and typing, which helps when an agent is stuck on a system permission dialog or a simulator. The Mac app can also share a local dev server to your phone; see preview localhost on your iPhone.

Side by side

Using both, or switching

You can run both. Just pick one app per session. CC Pocket's bridge and BotBus both read your local Codex and Claude history, so the same session can show up in both. Follow up and approve from one side at a time so two processes don't write to the same conversation. We haven't tested whether Claude sessions started by the bridge fire the hooks BotBus installs, so check which app actually gets the approval prompt before relying on it.

To move over to BotBus:

1. Install the desktop app from the download section. Get BotBus on your phone (iPhone and Apple Watch on the App Store; the Android app is out too) and scan the pairing code.
2. Install the Claude Code hooks from BotBus settings. Codex needs no extra setup.
3. If you no longer need it, stop the CC Pocket bridge service and remove any Tailscale devices or rules you added only for it.
4. To finish tasks you started through the bridge, resume them from the agent's own CLI (claude --resume, codex resume), and they'll appear in BotBus as usual.

Limits

• What you can do depends on the connector and the task. Some tasks are view-only. Approving, following up, starting and interrupting all need the computer online and an agent that supports the action.
• The computer has to stay on. That's true of both apps: if the machine sleeps, the agent stops. See keep your Mac awake for AI agents.
• The relay is required. You can't self-host it or connect directly, and the server sees device IDs, online status, update times and payload sizes. If that's a dealbreaker, CC Pocket fits better.
• Some features are Mac-only. Screen control and dev previews are only in the Mac app. On Linux and Windows, working on the computer means files and a terminal.
• Sending images from the phone works with Codex and Claude Code only, up to 10 MiB per attachment.
• Not open source. The protocol, connectors and fixtures are public. The apps aren't.

FAQ

Does CC Pocket need Tailscale?

Not on your home network, where a QR scan or mDNS is enough. For remote access the README recommends Tailscale, and as of October 20, 2026 the official pages don't mention a hosted relay. BotBus needs no VPN because both ends connect through its relay.

Which is more secure, CC Pocket or BotBus?

They make different trade-offs. CC Pocket has no third-party relay, so its security comes down to your network, whether you use wss://, and whether you set an API key. Tailscale's tunnel is encrypted. BotBus goes through a relay, but content is end-to-end encrypted and the server only sees metadata, except for dev previews. Either way, your code stays on your computer.

I already use CC Pocket. Is there any reason to add BotBus?

If you only run Codex and Claude, start everything from CC Pocket and don't mind keeping a tailnet going, CC Pocket covers it. Consider BotBus if you want sessions from your terminal or desktop apps to show up on their own, one-tap approvals on your wrist, several computers, or agents like Hermes and Pi.

What other alternatives have you compared?

This series also covers Happy Coder, Paseo and CloudCLI (Claude Code UI), one product per post.