- You use Codex in the ChatGPT desktop app, not in a terminal.
- The computer is a Windows PC.
- You want a notification today when a task ends.
- You want nothing more to install than ChatGPT.
Grenade or Codex Remote?
Codex Remote lets the ChatGPT app on your phone reach work on a computer running the ChatGPT desktop app. Grenade reaches the Codex CLI in your terminal, beside Claude Code and your shells.
Codex Remote and Grenade.
| Codex Remote | Grenade | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Part of ChatGPT: the mobile app reaches work on a connected Mac or Windows computer | A daemon on your Mac that runs each agent in a tmux session, with apps for iPhone, Android and Mac that show them all |
| What it controls | Codex in the ChatGPT desktop app. It cannot be set up from the Codex CLI or the IDE extension | The Codex CLI in a terminal session, and Claude Code and shells beside it |
| The computer | A Mac or a Windows PC | A Mac |
| Where you answer from | ChatGPT on iOS or Android | The Grenade app on iPhone and Android, and the Grenade Mac app. No browser client |
| Account | A ChatGPT account with Codex access; the computer and the phone signed in to the same account and workspace | None. A phone is paired by scanning a QR code on the Mac |
| How traffic travels | Through what the docs call a secure relay layer between your ChatGPT devices. They do not say it is end-to-end encrypted | Directly on your Wi‑Fi, or through a relay that forwards bytes it cannot read. End-to-end encrypted both ways, and you can host the relay |
| Approvals | Approve commands and other actions from the phone | In Codex's own terminal on the phone, with Enter, Esc and the arrows on a key row; its trust dialogs as cards |
| Several sessions | Switch between connected computers and chats | Sessions grouped by project, each with a color: needs an answer, finished, working, idle |
| Notifications | Yes: when a task completes or needs your attention | Not yet in the store apps |
An honest pick.
Choose Codex Remote when
Choose Grenade when
- You run the Codex CLI in a terminal and want that session on your phone.
- You run Codex beside Claude Code and want one list for both.
- You want no account, and a connection nobody in the middle can read.
How Grenade's pairing and encryption work, and who can read what: Security.
Where this comes from.
What this page says about Codex Remote was read from its own pages, listed here. If something has changed since, the source is right and this page is late.