Short answer
Happy (formerly Happy Coder) is a free, MIT-licensed project that runs Claude Code, Codex and other agents through its own happy command or the Happy Desktop app, and syncs those sessions, end-to-end encrypted, to iOS, Android and a web client. It's a polished, complete tool.
The biggest difference with BotBus is how it hooks into your agents. BotBus doesn't ask you to launch agents through a different command. It sits on your computer and picks up the sessions you already start with codex, claude or the desktop apps, then puts them on your phone and watch. If you care most about fully open source code, self-hosting the relay, a web client or multiplayer sessions, stay with Happy. If you want to keep using your agents exactly as you do today, and you'd like an Apple Watch app, remote control of the computer and several machines in one place, BotBus is worth a look.
Everything about Happy below comes from its GitHub repository and official docs, checked on October 9, 2026. Happy ships fast, so treat its site as the source of truth.
What Happy looks like today
Happy now has two things you can run on the computer:
- The original Happy CLI. Install it with
npm install -g happy(the oldhappy-coderpackage moved to this name), then runhappy claudeinstead ofclaudeandhappy codexinstead ofcodex. It can also launch the Antigravity CLI, OpenClaw and any ACP-compatible agent. The CLI runs a background daemon so the phone can start new sessions while the computer is online. - Happy Desktop. A desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux (v0.0.91 shipped on October 9). It brings its own runtime, Happy Agent, which uses the Claude Code, Codex and Grok CLI sign-ins already on your machine. You can switch between vendors' models inside one session. The default Auto mode lets reads and in-workspace edits run freely and sandboxes everything else at the OS level. Parallel work gets its own git worktree, and you can invite someone else into a session.
On the phone there are iOS and Android apps plus a web app at app.happy.engineering. According to the docs you can send messages (with encrypted images), answer permission requests and questions, stop the current turn, switch model and effort, change the permission mode, start a session in a directory, read and search files, and get push notifications. There's also a conversational voice agent.
On security, the computer and phone share a key through a QR code and the relay only stores and forwards ciphertext. The relay server is open source and self-hostable. The apps send pseudonymous product analytics to PostHog (no messages or code), which you can turn off in settings. Happy is free.
When Happy is the better choice
These are real strengths, and BotBus doesn't match them today:
- Fully open source. Happy's mobile app, CLI, desktop app and relay server are all MIT-licensed. You can audit and build every piece. BotBus's apps are not open source; what's public on GitHub (
botbus-io/botbus-protocol) is the protocol, the connectors and the test fixtures. - Self-hosted relay. Happy documents how to run your own relay so nothing touches its servers. BotBus doesn't offer a self-hosted relay.
- A web client. Happy works in a browser. BotBus only has native phone and watch apps.
- Cross-vendor models in one session, and multiplayer. A Happy Desktop session can move between Claude, GPT and Grok, and teammates can watch and steer it with you. BotBus lets you switch model and reasoning effort when you continue a chat, but only among the models that agent itself supports, and it has no shared sessions.
- Voice conversations. Happy's voice agent talks back. BotBus has voice input (speech to text) only.
If any of those is a hard requirement, Happy is the right tool.
How BotBus is different
No new launch command
Per Happy's docs, what reaches your phone are sessions started through happy or inside the Happy Desktop runtime. BotBus works from the other direction:
- Codex. BotBus reads the session databases under
~/.codexread-only, about every 2 seconds, so Codex sessions you start on the computer show up on the phone. Actions from the phone go through Codex's owncodex app-serverinterface; BotBus never writes to the database. To drive the same session from both the Codex desktop app and the phone, launch the desktop app once from the BotBus menu bar. - Claude Code. Click Install Hooks in BotBus settings. It merges its own hooks into
~/.claude/settings.jsonand leaves the rest of your config alone. After that you keep using Claude Code in the terminal or the desktop app as usual, and those sessions, including their permission prompts, appear on the phone.
In other words, you keep working the way you already do, and BotBus carries the state to your phone. When you start or continue a task from the phone, BotBus launches the right agent on the computer for you.
More agents out of the box
Besides Codex and Claude Code, BotBus has built-in support for Hermes, Pi, OpenClaw and DeepSeek Harness, and any agent that speaks ACP (OpenCode, for example) can be connected, see connecting an agent. Happy also supports OpenClaw and ACP agents. The lists differ, so check them against the agents you actually use.
Watch, remote control, artifacts
- Apple Watch. BotBus has a standalone watch app. It syncs pairing from the iPhone, then connects on its own, so you can check progress and approve or deny from your wrist. More in this post. As of the check date, Happy's docs don't mention a watch app.
- Control computer. Open the computer's files and a terminal from the phone. On a Mac you can also see the live screen and tap and type, which helps when an agent is stuck on a system dialog or a login box. Screen and input are end-to-end encrypted, and input starts locked.
- Results on your phone. In Codex and Claude Code tasks started from the phone, the agent can send screenshots, files and videos back to the task. On a Mac it can also share a local dev server for you to preview, see viewing localhost on your phone.
Several computers in one list
Multiple computers and phones can pair with each other. On the phone you pick a computer, then see its tasks grouped by agent and project. The Mac version also has a menu bar icon that tells you at a glance when something is waiting on you.
Side by side
| Happy (checked 2026-10-09) | BotBus | |
|---|---|---|
| Computer | CLI (Node.js); Happy Desktop for macOS, Windows, Linux | macOS 26 or later, Linux (x86_64 / aarch64), Windows 10 / 11 |
| Phone | iOS, Android, web | iOS 26, Apple Watch (watchOS 26), Android 8.0 or later |
| How agents connect | Launch through happy, or open sessions in Happy Desktop |
Picks up existing sessions (Claude Code needs hooks); BotBus launches the agent for phone-started tasks |
| Open source | MIT, including the relay | Apps closed; protocol and connectors public |
| Self-hosted relay | Yes | No |
| Encryption | Content end-to-end encrypted | Content end-to-end encrypted, except dev previews |
Can you use both, and how to switch
Having both installed on one computer is fine as long as each handles its own sessions. We haven't tested what happens when one Claude Code session is wrapped by Happy and also has BotBus's hooks installed, so we suggest letting only one of them handle approvals for a given session. Otherwise you may get the same prompt in two places.
To move to BotBus:
- Install the desktop app from the download section, install BotBus on your phone, and scan the pairing QR code on the computer.
- In BotBus settings, install the hooks for Claude Code. Codex needs no extra setup.
- Go back to running
claude,codexor the desktop apps as usual, without thehappyprefix.
If you stop using Happy, uninstall it following its own docs. They explicitly warn against deleting the ~/.happy directory on a whim, since it holds session history and account state.
Limits
- What you can do depends on the connector and task state. Some tasks are view-only. Approving, continuing, starting and stopping all need the computer online and an agent that supports the action. While the computer sleeps, the phone only shows what has already synced.
- The security boundary, stated plainly. Tasks, conversations, commands and the remote screen are end-to-end encrypted, but the server sees device IDs, online status, update times and data sizes. Dev previews have to be proxied by the server and are outside end-to-end encryption. Details in the security docs.
- Not open source, not self-hostable. This is the biggest gap between BotBus and Happy. If it matters to you, Happy fits better.
- Some features are Mac-only. The live screen and dev previews exist only on the Mac version. On Linux and Windows, Control computer gives you files and a terminal.
- Sending photos is limited. Sending images from the phone to an agent currently works with Codex and Claude Code only.
FAQ
Is BotBus a fork of Happy or based on its code?
No. They're independently built products with different designs: Happy wraps how agents are launched, while BotBus observes the sessions already on your computer.
Do I need to type a different command after installing BotBus?
No. Keep using claude and codex. For Claude Code, install the hooks once in BotBus settings.
Both say end-to-end encrypted. What's the difference?
Both encrypt on your devices and the relay only sees ciphertext; each has its own key-management design. The practical difference is that Happy's relay is open source and self-hostable, while BotBus runs its own relay and spells out in its security docs which metadata the server can see and the dev-preview exception.
I only use Claude Code. Should I switch?
If Happy already works for you, there's no need. Consider BotBus if you want sessions you start at the computer on your phone too, approvals on your watch, or you also run Codex and other agents. If you only use Claude Code, the official option is worth a look as well, see Claude Code Remote Control alternatives.