Building a phone remote for a desktop app that has no API

说明与用途

Relaymote 通过读取会话文件并使用 Chrome DevTools Protocol 执行操作，实现了从手机控制 Claude Code 会话，同时提供安全性和 UI 序列化保障。

问题

The author needed to view and answer Claude Code sessions from a phone, but the desktop app had no public API.

结果

Relaymote allows phone users to list, view, and control Claude Code sessions without a public API, while keeping the UI interactions safe and secure.

工作流

• Read session metadata and transcripts from JSON files, starting from the end for fast load.
• For actions, attach to the app’s main‑process debugger via CDP on 127.0.0.1.
• If the app exposes an internal method for the action, call it; otherwise drive the UI via CDP.
• Serialize all UI interactions through a single lane and gate them on human idleness to avoid race conditions.
• Secure the control port by binding to loopback, requiring an access key on every request, and verifying Cloudflare Access JWTs if used.
• Implement auto‑resume by recording reset times for usage limits and sending a “continue” request when the limit resets.
• Poll the sidebar every 30 seconds to update status dots and unread state without opening sessions.

证据

Claude Desktop writes a small JSON file per Code session (title, folder, model, archived), and Claude Code writes each conversation as a .jsonl transcript.

来源

Relaymote reads those directly, and reads transcripts from the end, so a long session opens fast.

来源

Acting goes through the app’s main-process debugger (Chrome DevTools Protocol on 127.0.0.1).

来源

Every UI action goes through one serialised lane and waits for an idle gate: no keyboard or mouse input for a short while.

来源

The control port binds to loopback only.

来源

The app port requires an access key on every request. Pairing is a QR link whose key is exchanged once for an HttpOnly cookie.

来源