vs DIY setup
Maude vs Termius, Blink and tmux for coding agents
An SSH app plus tmux already gets Claude Code, Codex or any other terminal agent onto your phone, for little or no money. Here's what that setup does well, where it gets awkward, and what an agent-specific app changes.
Quick answer
You can run Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Grok Build or Antigravity from your phone today with an SSH app like Termius (free Starter plan) or Blink Shell (Blink+ $19.99/year) attached to a tmux session. It's cheap and complete, but you're driving a full-screen terminal UI through a soft keyboard. Maude renders agent sessions natively, with an inbox, Allow/Deny push and files and git views, and still gives you a real terminal tab. Stay with SSH and tmux if the terminal doesn't bother you; pick Maude if your phone is where you supervise agents.
If an agent already runs on your server, you can reach it from your phone without buying anything new. Install an SSH client such as Termius or Blink Shell, attach to a tmux session, and the agent's terminal UI is right there. This works the same for Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Grok Build and Antigravity's agy, because they're all terminal programs. Plenty of people work this way and are happy with it.
This page won't pretend that setup is broken, because it isn't. Maude exists because of how it feels on the twentieth use, not the first.
What the SSH setup gets right
- It's cheap. tmux is free and open source, Termius has a free plan, and Blink is a small yearly subscription.
- It's complete. You get the agent's real interface, so every slash command, panel and prompt behaves exactly as on your desktop. Nothing is missing because nobody had to reimplement it.
- tmux makes sessions durable. Detach, lose signal, come back and reattach, and the session is still there. Mosh, supported by both Termius and Blink, helps on flaky mobile connections.
- It works for everything. The same app tails logs, restarts services and edits config. It isn't tied to one tool or one agent.
Our guide to tmux, mosh and Tailscale for coding agents walks through building this setup properly.
Termius and Blink: prices and plans
According to Termius's pricing page, the free Starter plan includes a local vault, SSH and SFTP, AI-powered autocomplete and port forwarding. Pro is $10 a month billed annually and adds a personal cloud vault, sync across mobile and desktop, session logs and snippets. Team ($20/seat/month) and Business ($30/seat/month) are aimed at shared infrastructure. Termius runs on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows and Linux, and its changelog covers Mosh sessions.
Blink Shell is a free download on Apple platforms (iPhone, iPad, Mac and others), with SSH and Mosh. The App Store lists Blink+ at $19.99/year with a 14-day free trial, plus separate Build subscriptions for its hosted dev environments. It isn't on Android.
Both are good general-purpose terminals. Neither is built around agent sessions, and that's where the differences start.
What gets awkward with agents
Each problem is small, but they add up, and they all come from the same thing: coding agents present a full-screen terminal UI designed for a keyboard and a wide window, and a phone is neither.
- Reflow. A TUI draws to a fixed grid. On a narrow screen, diffs, tables and boxes wrap into a mess. Landscape helps but halves the visible lines.
- The keyboard. Permission dialogs, model pickers and question menus are arrow-key driven. Esc, Ctrl and the arrows live behind a modifier bar.
- Key collisions. Esc, Ctrl-C and tmux's prefix all compete. Sooner or later you detach a session you meant to interrupt, or interrupt one you meant to leave alone.
- Scrollback. Reading back through a long run of tool calls in tmux copy mode with touch scrolling is slow going.
- Knowing when to look. The terminal doesn't know an agent is waiting for approval. A notification when Codex finishes or Claude needs a decision is something you set up yourself with hooks and a push service. Our guide to approving agent permissions from your phone covers how.
- Several agents, several servers. Each one is another host, another tmux window and another TUI to read.
What Maude changes
Maude also starts from SSH, but it uses the connection to set itself up. You add a server by address, a pasted ssh … command or a QR code, and the app deploys its own daemon there. It installs each agent at a tested, pinned version and keeps both updated, so nothing is installed by hand. After that the app talks to the daemon through Maude's relay, end-to-end encrypted with a per-server key so the relay only sees ciphertext. That works behind NAT or a firewall with no open inbound port, and SSH stays as the fallback.
Sessions are rendered as an app rather than a terminal. Replies are formatted text, tool calls are cards, and permission prompts and questions are buttons. Model, effort and permission mode are chips. An inbox collects errors, finished work and prompts across every server. Push notifications carry Allow and Deny. Each session has a Files tab, a Git tab (review the diff hunk by hunk, commit, push, open a PR through gh) and a real Terminal tab. When you do need a shell on that box, you don't have to leave the app.
Maude drives Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Grok Build and Antigravity, and you can hand an idle session from one agent to another.
Side by side
| Termius + tmux | Blink + tmux | Maude | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free Starter; Pro $10/month billed annually | Blink+ $19.99/year, 14-day trial | $2.99/week (3-day trial) or $29.99/year (7-day trial) |
| Platforms | iOS, Android, desktop | Apple platforms only | iOS, iPadOS, Android |
| Agents | Any terminal agent | Any terminal agent | Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Grok Build, Antigravity |
| Installing agents on the server | By hand | By hand | Automatic, pinned versions, self-updating |
| Session persistence | tmux, reattach yourself | tmux, reattach yourself | A daemon owns sessions; reopen the app |
| Connection | SSH, Mosh | SSH, Mosh | E2E-encrypted relay, SSH fallback |
| Approvals | The agent's TUI dialog | The agent's TUI dialog | Buttons, inbox and push with Allow/Deny |
| Agent-aware notifications | Set up yourself | Set up yourself | Built in |
| Diff review and commit | In the shell (git, lazygit…) | In the shell | Git tab, hunk by hunk |
| Shell access | Full terminal | Full terminal | Terminal tab per session |
| Other servers and general admin | Yes | Yes | Only servers you've added |
Termius and Blink prices checked on their pricing page and App Store listing on 1 October 2026. Prices can vary by country.
Verdict
Stay with an SSH app and tmux if you mostly check on runs rather than steer them, if you need every agent command exactly as on desktop, or if the terminal UI on a phone doesn't bother you. It's cheap or free and it's complete. Termius if you're on Android or want sync across devices; Blink if you live on an iPad and want a fast Mosh terminal.
Pick Maude if your phone is where you actually supervise agents: approvals as buttons, one inbox across servers and agents, push you can act on, and diff review that doesn't happen in a 40-column terminal. You'd also get nothing to install by hand and a terminal tab for when you need one.
They also work side by side. Maude's servers are ordinary SSH hosts, so keep Termius or Blink for general admin on other machines. If you haven't set up a server yet, start with running Claude Code on a VPS.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use Claude Code in Termius?
Is Blink better than Termius for coding agents?
Do I lose anything compared with a real terminal?
Do I still need tmux with Maude?
What changed
- — Rewritten for Maude 2: covers every agent, not just Claude Code. Added current Termius and Blink prices and Maude's terminal, files and git tabs, relay and new pricing.
- — First published.
