Phone and remote access

Your sessions run on your computer, but you do not have to sit at it. AgenC Desktop offers four ways to reach work from somewhere else:

• A phone or another browser can open the sessions you choose, to watch them or to control them.
• Another computer running AgenC Desktop can open the workspace a computer shared with it.
• SSH lets this computer talk to AgenC Core running on another machine.
• Telegram agents are agents on this computer that you message from your own Telegram account.

All of this lives in Settings > Connections, which has three tabs: Control this computer, Control other devices and SSH.

Connect a phone

The fastest way is the phone icon next to your name at the bottom of the sidebar, "Connect from phone". It opens the Connect phone dialog, which does the setup for you:

1. It picks the chat to share: the open chat if it is in Ask or Plan mode, otherwise the newest such chat in the same project.
2. It turns on connections if they were off, and shows a QR code with an expiry countdown.
3. Scan the code with your phone's camera. The page that opens, "Connect to AgenC", has the pairing code filled in from the link. Tap Connect. The phone then says "Approve this phone on your computer."
4. Back on the computer, the dialog shows "Device waiting". Click Approve. Only approve a device you recognize.

The phone then shows the AgenC interface with that chat, and can control it. When a device is connected, the phone icon says so, for example "1 phone is connected and can control this computer".

Only chats in "Ask for every tool" or plan mode can be controlled from a phone. If the open chat accepts edits automatically or bypasses permissions, the dialog says so and offers Switch to Ask and share. A chat without a project folder cannot be shared. On Windows, where every session runs in Bypass permissions, sessions cannot be controlled from a phone, but they can be shared with View only in Settings > Connections.

The dialog's other buttons: Copy link copies the pairing link, Refresh QR makes a new code, Connect another adds a device, and Stop disconnects every browser device and cancels the invitation. Telegram agents keep running. Connection settings opens Settings > Connections.

Share sessions with more control

Settings > Connections > Control this computer gives you the full set of choices.

1. Turn on Allow connections: "Share selected AgenC sessions with a browser. New devices require your approval."
2. Click Pair a device.
3. Choose the Project folder, then the Sessions to share in it.
4. Choose Access: View only (the default) or Control sessions.
5. Optionally allow Browse project files and, with Control, Resolve tool approval requests.
6. Click Create QR code, scan it, and approve the device.

The invitation expires after a few minutes, and only one can be open at a time. View only works for a session in any permission mode. Control sessions works only for sessions in "Ask for every tool" or plan mode. Before a controlled session is shared, the app reopens it in Core without sending anything; if that fails, no access is granted. A session with a running turn, or a routine's session, cannot be shared for control.

The same tab lists your devices with their access and how many sessions they have. Revoke removes one. Turning Allow connections off disconnects every device.

You must be signed in to your AgenC account on the computer. Core must stay running: connections stop when you quit AgenC.

What a phone can do

With View only, the phone can read the shared sessions and their transcripts, which refresh every few seconds.

With Control sessions, it can also:

• send messages, without attachments;
• stop a running turn;
• start new sessions in the same project, with the computer's defaults;
• answer tool approvals once, if you allowed approvals. The choices are Allow once and Deny.

A phone cannot answer the agent's questions or approve a plan: those say "Answer this request on your computer." It has no Whisper, Routines, Plugins, Settings or Desktop tools, and it can change the model only if Core grants that. Messages are never sent twice: if delivery cannot be confirmed, the phone says so and asks you to check before retrying.

The agent's tools keep the computer's permission rules. Sharing a session gives access to that session; it is not a sandbox for the computer's files.

How the connection travels

The phone does not connect to your computer directly. The page is served from remote.agenc.tech, and both sides connect through AgenC's relay over encrypted WebSockets, using short-lived tickets. Every device needs your approval on the computer, and your AgenC sign-in.

Keep the computer running

• Keep this computer awake: "Prevent automatic sleep while connections are enabled and AgenC is open." It applies only while browser access or a Telegram agent is on, and it turns off again at every launch.
• Closing the window while connections are on asks "Keep AgenC running for your remote devices?" with Keep running (the app stays open, minimized), Stop connections and close, or Cancel.
• Quitting AgenC, shutting down or closing the laptop lid stops access.

Open another computer's workspace

Settings > Connections > Control other devices lists computers this one has paired with as a browser, up to eight, with Open workspace. Set up under "Connect to another computer" pairs with a new one using its pairing code. Remote workspaces open in a separate "AgenC Remote" window. This computer's provider keys and local sessions are never shared with that window.

SSH connections

Settings > Connections > SSH connects to AgenC Core that already runs on another machine, over SSH. You can pick one of its tasks, read it, send messages, stop a turn and answer approvals. It does not touch the Core on this computer.

1. Enter a Name, the SSH host (user@host or an alias from your SSH configuration), an optional Port, and an optional Remote Core home when that machine runs Core from a different data folder.
2. Click Add host, then Connect.

The app uses your system's ssh client with your existing keys, SSH agent and known hosts. It never asks for a password, never stores a key, checks host keys strictly and does not forward your agent. It saves only the name, host, port and Core home of up to 16 hosts. Clear errors explain an unknown host key, a failed sign-in, a missing SSH client, or a host where Core is not running.

Telegram agents

A Telegram agent is an agent on this computer that you message from your own Telegram account. You give it a name, a project folder and instructions, and it answers from this computer.

Set one up

1. Open Settings > Connections > Telegram agents > Manage agents, or the Telegram card in the Connect phone dialog.
2. Create a bot in Telegram with BotFather (Open BotFather) and copy its token.
3. Step 1 of 2 · Connect agent: enter a Name, the folder it may use (Workspace access), its Instructions ("What should this agent do?") and the BotFather token. Click Continue.
4. Step 2 of 2 · Link account: open the bot in Telegram (scan the QR code or Open Telegram) and tap Start. Back in the app, check the account it shows ("Is this your Telegram account?") and click Confirm account. The link expires after a short time; Create new link makes another.
5. Turn the agent on.

How it works

• Only the confirmed account can use the agent, and only in a private chat. Groups, forwarded messages and other accounts are ignored.
• Each message runs in Core on this computer, in the agent's folder, with Core's default model (the one set under Defaults in Settings > Providers) and in "Ask for every tool" mode. The computer must stay online.
• Approvals are answered on the computer, not in Telegram.
• The token is kept in your system's secure credential store. If that store is locked or missing, the app refuses to save the token as plain text.
• Stop the agent to edit it. Manage offers Replace token, Relink account and Remove agent. Removing an agent deletes its token and account link from this computer; running tasks continue, and your Telegram account is not affected.

Telegram agents need a Core version that supports them; an older Core says to update.