Codex and Claude Code from Your Terminal¶

openbase codex and openbase claude start Codex or Claude Code the way Openbase starts them, so a session you begin at the keyboard shows up in the Openbase app and on your phone, and the dispatcher can see and steer it.

openbase codex                 # new Codex session in this folder
openbase codex "fix the build" # with a first prompt
openbase codex resume --last   # any Codex arguments work
openbase claude                # new Claude Code session
openbase claude -c             # continue the last conversation

openbase-coder codex and openbase-coder claude are the same commands; openbase forwards to them. Everything after the command name goes to the agent unchanged, except the two Openbase flags below, which must come first.

Plain codex and claude are never changed. Openbase does not alias, wrap or reconfigure them; use the openbase commands when you want the session to be part of Openbase, and the plain ones when you don't.

What the launcher adds¶

Codex runs with Openbase's Codex profile (-p openbase, or -p openbase-cloud when an Openbase Cloud backend is selected — the files are ~/.codex/openbase.config.toml and openbase-cloud.config.toml) and attaches to this computer's Openbase-managed Codex app-server (--remote unix://), the same one the dispatcher and Super Agents use. The folder you are in is passed explicitly (-C); an attached session otherwise starts in the app-server's own folder.

• Over the shared app-server Codex applies the profile's model, reasoning effort and permissions. MCP servers and hooks come from the app-server's own configuration (your ~/.codex/config.toml), where openbase-coder profiles install registers Openbase's Super Agents server by default.
• If the app-server is not running, the launcher says so in one line and starts a standalone session instead; that session is not visible to the phone.
• With an Openbase Cloud backend, sessions currently run standalone: the Cloud model provider is defined only in Openbase's profile, which the shared app-server cannot load for a terminal session.
• Codex subcommands that don't open a session (exec, mcp, login, …) run here with the profile and nothing else.

Claude Code runs with Openbase's settings and MCP layer (--settings ~/.openbase/profiles/claude/settings.json --mcp-config ~/.openbase/profiles/claude/mcp.json) and Openbase's instructions appended to the system prompt. The settings layer registers the session with Openbase when it starts, which is what lets Openbase steer a terminal session. With an Openbase Cloud backend, the session uses Openbase Cloud's models. Claude Code subcommands that manage the installation (mcp, doctor, update, …) run plain. openbase claude status and openbase claude login stay Openbase's own login helpers.

If a profile is missing, the launcher stops and tells you to run openbase-coder profiles install.

Send a message to a running session¶

From any other terminal, openbase-coder threads list shows the sessions you have open and openbase-coder threads send submits a message. Managed idle sessions start a new turn; active sessions receive steering. A foreign Claude Code terminal inbox returns an unconfirmed submission, not proof of resumed work. Inspect that thread before retrying an uncertain submission.

openbase-coder threads list
openbase-coder threads send "fix the build" "use pnpm instead of npm"
openbase-coder threads send build "run the tests" --wait   # part of a name works; prints the reply

See threads for names, stdin, and what a Claude Code session does with a message from outside.

Laptop and hub¶

If you use Openbase Sync with an always-on hub, running openbase codex or openbase claude on the laptop (the edge) starts the session on the hub and attaches your terminal to it, when:

• this computer is a paired edge,
• the folder you are in is synced (and not excluded), and
• the hub's Openbase is reachable over your Openbase network.

Synced folders have the same path on both computers, so the session opens in the same folder there. It keeps running on the hub if the laptop sleeps or the connection drops (for up to 8 hours with no terminal attached); the terminal reconnects to it automatically, and the conversation stays available in the Openbase app. Keys, including Ctrl-C, go to the agent; resizing the window resizes the session.

When one of those conditions is not met, the session runs on the laptop and the launcher prints one line saying why (for example ~/Scratch is not in a synced folder; running locally.). On a computer that is not paired, and on the hub itself, sessions always run locally and nothing extra is printed.

No SSH is involved: the terminal talks to the hub's Openbase over the same authenticated connection the Openbase app uses, signed in as you.

Troubleshooting¶

• The hub could not open a remote session (HTTP 500); its Openbase may need an update. The hub runs an older Openbase. Update it, or use --local.
• A Codex session doesn't appear on the phone. Check whether the launcher printed that it started a standalone session; start Openbase's services (openbase-coder services start) and launch again.
• Codex asks whether to trust the folder. That is Codex's own first-run prompt for a new folder; it appears once per folder.