How to Use Claude Code from Your Phone via Telegram
You're away from your laptop. A bug just got reported. You know the fix — it's a two-line change. But your terminal is at home.
Sound familiar?
Claude Code is the most powerful AI coding assistant out there. But out of the box, it only works through a terminal on your local machine. The moment you step away from your desk, you lose access.
Clautel fixes this. It's a Telegram bridge that connects your phone to Claude Code running on your machine. Same model, same capabilities — just through a chat interface you already use every day.
Here's exactly how to set it up.
What You Need Before Starting
- Node.js 18+ on your machine (the one running Claude Code)
- An active Claude Code subscription from Anthropic
- Telegram on your phone (free, works on iOS and Android)
- 5 minutes
That's it. No Docker, no VPN, no port forwarding.
Step 1: Install Clautel
Open your terminal and run:
npm install -g clautel
This installs the Clautel CLI globally. It weighs almost nothing — it's a lightweight bridge, not a heavy application.
Step 2: Run the Setup Wizard
clautel setup
The setup wizard walks you through three things:
- Creating a Telegram bot — It'll guide you through @BotFather (Telegram's built-in bot creator). Takes about 60 seconds. You'll get a bot token.
- Linking your Telegram ID — This ensures only YOU can send commands to your bot. Nobody else can access your machine through it.
- Activating your license — Enter your Clautel license key (grab one from clautel.com).
The wizard holds your hand through all of this. No config files to edit manually.
Step 3: Start the Daemon
clautel start
This launches Clautel as a background process (daemon) on your machine. It keeps running even after you close the terminal. Your machine is now listening for Telegram messages.
On macOS, you can also install it as a launchd service so it starts automatically on boot:
clautel launchd install
Step 4: Add a Project
Open Telegram on your phone. Find your new manager bot and send:
/add my-project /path/to/your/project
This creates a dedicated worker bot for that project. Each project gets its own Telegram chat — like having a separate conversation thread for each codebase.
Step 5: Start Coding from Your Phone
That's it. You're set up.
Open the worker bot chat for your project and start typing — exactly like you'd type in a Claude Code terminal:
- "Fix the typo in the 404 page" — Claude reads the file, makes the edit, shows you the diff
- "Why is the login test failing?" — Claude investigates, reads test files, traces the error
- "Add input validation to the /users POST endpoint" — Claude writes the code, you review it in chat
- "Run npm test and show me the results" — Claude executes the command and sends output
Everything Claude Code can do on your desktop, it can now do through Telegram. File edits. Bash commands. Multi-file refactors. Codebase-wide searches.
How It Works Under the Hood
Here's what's actually happening when you send a message:
- You type a request in Telegram on your phone
- Telegram delivers it to your bot
- Clautel (running on your machine) receives the message
- It passes your request to the Claude Code SDK
- Claude Code executes — reads files, writes code, runs commands — on your machine
- The results are sent back through Telegram to your phone
Your code never leaves your machine. Claude Code runs locally, just like it does when you use it in the terminal. Clautel is just the communication layer.
Managing Multiple Projects
This is where Clautel really shines. If you work across multiple codebases, each one gets its own bot:
/add frontend /Users/you/projects/frontend
/add backend /Users/you/projects/backend
/add infra /Users/you/projects/infrastructure
Switch between them by switching Telegram chats. No cd commands, no terminal tabs, no "wait, which directory am I in?"
List all your projects anytime:
/list
Useful Commands
Manager bot commands:
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
/add name /path | Register a new project |
/list | Show all your projects |
/remove name | Remove a project |
Worker bot commands (per project):
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
/model | Switch between Claude models |
/cost | Check token usage and costs |
/clear | Clear conversation context |
/stop | Stop a running task |
Security: Only You Have Access
Clautel verifies every incoming message against your Telegram user ID. If someone else messages your bot, nothing happens. No response, no acknowledgment, no access.
This is owner-only access — hardcoded to your Telegram account during setup. No passwords to leak, no tokens to share. Your Telegram ID is your key.
Tips for Getting the Most Out of It
Use it for small, focused tasks. Nobody wants to architect an entire system from their phone. But a quick bug fix? A config change? A "what does this function do?" question? Perfect.
Let Claude Code do the heavy lifting. Instead of dictating exact code, describe what you want. "Add error handling to the payment endpoint" works better than trying to type out a try-catch block on a phone keyboard.
Check costs as you go. Use /cost in the worker bot to keep an eye on token usage. Helpful if you're on a metered plan.
Use /clear between unrelated tasks. This resets the conversation context so Claude doesn't carry over irrelevant state from a previous request.
What This Changes
The pitch here isn't "code on your phone." Nobody wants to write 500 lines of React on a 6-inch screen.
The pitch is: your best ideas don't wait for your laptop, so your tools shouldn't either.
The bug fix you thought of on the train. The config change you remembered at dinner. The quick investigation you need before a morning meeting. These are 2-minute tasks trapped behind a "wait until I'm at my desk" bottleneck.
Clautel removes the bottleneck. That's it.
Get started in 30 seconds: npm install -g clautel. Plans start at $4/mo at clautel.com. Built in Bangalore by Anas & Saif.