[FEATURE] Start new Claude Desktop Code sessions from the mobile app
Preflight Checklist
- [x] I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
- [x] This is a single feature request (not multiple features)
Problem Statement
I use the Claude Code tab in the Claude Desktop app (Windows) for almost all my work. With "Enable remote control by default" turned on, I can continue sessions that are already open in Desktop from the Claude mobile app. But I can't start a new session in a local project folder from my phone. I have to be at the PC to open one first.
Proposed Solution
A "New session" option in the mobile app's Code tab that targets my paired Claude Desktop app and lets me pick one of Desktop's recent project folders. The session opens in Desktop like any other, so it shows up in the sidebar and I can continue it at my desk later.
Alternative Solutions
claude remote-control(server mode) supports new sessions from claude.ai/code. But it's a separate CLI process I have to keep running and autostart, and its sessions don't live in the Desktop app.- Dispatch can spawn Desktop Code sessions, but it routes indirectly (Dispatch decides whether a task becomes a Code session), and there's no clear way to choose the working folder.
Priority
Medium - Would be very helpful
Feature Category
Other
Use Case Example
- I'm away from my PC and think of a task for a project that lives on it.
- In the Claude mobile app, I open Code, tap New session, and pick my paired desktop and a recent folder.
- The session starts in Claude Desktop in that folder, and I drive it from my phone.
- Back at my desk, the session is in the Desktop sidebar and I continue there.
Additional Context
Related server-mode issues: #91991, #87193 (the new-session flow for claude remote-control environments).
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3 Comments
+1 — same setup here: Windows, Claude Desktop Code tab, no CLI. I'd love to tap New session on my phone, pick my paired Desktop and a recent project folder, and have it show up in the Desktop sidebar. Running
claude remote-controlseparately just for this isn't a great fit when everything else lives in Desktop.+1. Another side effect of the current setup: sessions started from the phone and sessions started in Claude Desktop end up in two separate lists in the Desktop sidebar, even when they run in the same folder on the same Mac.
I run
claude remote-control --spawn same-dir --name homelab-itunder launchd so I can start sessions from the iOS app. Those show up under "homelab-it · andrew", while sessions I start in Desktop in the same repo show up under "homelab-it · ~/git". The phone-started ones also can't be put into the custom sidebar groups I use for Desktop sessions.If phone-started sessions ran in Desktop itself, as this issue asks, they would land in the same list. Failing that, merging Remote Control sessions into the matching project list in the sidebar would solve most of it.
+1, same setup on Windows. Right now I can only reach my PC from the phone if I already ran
claude remote-controlin that exact project folder before I left.What would solve it for me is how Codex does it. A small opt-in background service that registers the machine once and only sees folders I allow. From the phone I pick the machine, pick a project from that list and a new local session starts there. No server running per project.
If it can open the session in the Desktop app as this issue asks, even better. But the daemon part matters most to me, so it also works when Desktop isn't open.