- The agent runs on a Linux server or a cloud machine, not on a Mac.
- You want the plain terminal, and nothing on the Mac but tmux.
- You are at home with tmux keys on a phone keyboard.
- You want to pay nothing: Tailscale Personal and Termius Starter are free.
Grenade or SSH, tmux and Tailscale?
tmux, a VPN such as Tailscale and an SSH app such as Termius or Blink give you your whole terminal on your phone, for free. Grenade is the same tmux with what a phone needs on top: who is waiting, cards to tap, and no VPN.
SSH, tmux and Tailscale and Grenade.
| SSH, tmux and Tailscale | Grenade | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | Turn on Remote Login on the Mac, install Tailscale on both devices under one account, install tmux, add the Mac to an SSH app, then attach to the tmux session | brew install holdgrenade/tap/grenade, grenade setup, scan a QR code |
| What you see | A terminal, one session at a time | A list of every session with its status, then that session's terminal |
| Which one needs you | You attach to each session and look. The write-ups that have notifications built them from hooks and a webhook | A color on each session: amber needs an answer, green has finished |
| Answering | Typing in a phone terminal. The write-ups call the tmux keys awkward on a phone keyboard | A card to tap for Claude Code's permissions, questions and plans; a key row; hold the mic and talk |
| The network | Your own VPN between the devices. Tailscale's Personal plan is free | Wi‑Fi directly, or an encrypted relay. No VPN, and Remote Login stays off |
| After a drop | Reconnect and attach again by hand, or use Mosh | The phone reconnects by itself |
| Works with | Anything in a terminal, on any machine you can reach by SSH | Claude Code, Codex and shells, on a Mac |
An honest pick.
Choose SSH, tmux and Tailscale when
Choose Grenade when
- You run several agents and want to see which one is waiting without attaching to each.
- You would rather tap a card or talk than type in a terminal on a phone.
- You do not want to run a VPN or turn on Remote Login.
The two work together. A Grenade session is a tmux session with gr- before its name: over SSH, tmux attach -t gr-api attaches to the session api, and the Grenade app shows the same one.
How Grenade's pairing and encryption work, and who can read what: Security.
Where this comes from.
What this page says about SSH, tmux and Tailscale was read from its own pages, listed here. If something has changed since, the source is right and this page is late.