How to vibe code from your phone

Short version: vibe coding from a phone works when the agent is not running on the phone. It runs on a computer that stays awake, with your repositories and your tools already there. Your phone opens a terminal on that computer. If you have Codex, you can talk to it. The smallest Layerbase Agent Server is $10 a month. That price is the machine. Claude Code accepts a Claude subscription or an Anthropic API key. Codex offers ChatGPT Free access subject to usage limits and feature availability, or you can use an OpenAI API key with separate usage charges. Grok uses a SuperGrok or X Premium+ subscription, or an xAI API key. OpenCode can start on a free model, so the $10 machine is the whole new bill.

I run Layerbase. Agent Servers are the VPS product. This is the reason they exist.

Contents

• A VPS is a computer that does not sleep when you do
• What you actually do from the phone
• The agents, and what each one costs
• Talking to Codex
• Set it up once, at a desk
• FAQ

A VPS is a computer that does not sleep when you do

A VPS is a virtual private server: a Linux machine in a data center, with its own CPU, memory, and disk, that keeps running when your laptop lid is closed. You reach it over the internet. Nothing about that idea is new. What is new is using it as the place a coding agent lives.

A Layerbase Agent Server is that machine, already pointed at the job. It runs Ubuntu, with Node.js, pnpm, Docker, and Git installed. You connect GitHub, choose the repositories it may touch, and install the agent you already use. The agent reads and edits those repos, runs tests, and opens pull requests on the server. Your laptop is optional after that.

The phone is a window onto the session, not the computer doing the work. That is why this is different from balancing a laptop on the arm of a couch so a long agent run does not die when the machine sleeps. Close the phone. The shell is inside tmux on the server. Come back and the session is still there, as long as the server itself was not stopped or rebooted.

Three sizes cover different workloads:

Starter is the one to buy if you want a single agent on a single project, which is most phone use. Builder is the step up when that project needs Docker or you keep more than one repo on the box. Power is the one for several agents running at the same time. Stopping the server does not pause the bill. Cancel when you want the renewal to end. The machine is in US East or US West.

Agent Servers are in beta. There is no uptime SLA. Push your work to GitHub. The server is not your backup.

What you actually do from the phone

Layerbase is a progressive web app. There is no App Store install. On an iPhone, open the site in Safari and use Share > Add to Home Screen. On Android, use the browser's Install app or Add to Home screen. The icon opens the same site. It needs a network connection. Adding it to your home screen does not download the machine or make the terminal work on a plane.

From the icon: sign in, open Agent Servers, open the machine, and resume the session you started earlier. You get a real shell. Claude Code, Codex, Grok Build, and OpenCode are the same programs you would type into on a laptop. The keyboard is worse. That matters less than people expect, because the agent is the one typing the code. You are the one describing the change and reading what it did.

The terminal guide covers the phone controls: a sessions bar, a movable keyboard button, and a way to scroll back through output without fighting the page. A terminal in your pocket is the shorter version of the same idea. This post is about the habit, not every button.

The agents, and what each one costs

The dashboard installs the agents. You sign each one into the account you already have. The server subscription does not include model usage.

• Claude Code uses your Claude subscription or an Anthropic API key.
• Codex supports ChatGPT accounts, including Free subject to usage limits and feature availability, or an OpenAI API key billed separately. Check the current plan and CLI availability before choosing how to sign in on the server. This is also the agent with voice, below.
• Grok Build uses a SuperGrok or X Premium+ subscription, or an xAI API key.
• OpenCode can start with no account. It comes up on a free model. Inside it, /models lists the others marked Free. Availability and limits change, and they are OpenCode's, not ours. Their docs are the current list. Paid models are optional.

Cursor CLI, Devin CLI, and Gemini CLI install the same way if those are the tools you already pay for.

OpenCode is the path when you do not have Claude or Codex. You still get a terminal agent that can read the repo, edit files, and run commands. You do not get Claude's models, and you should not expect to. What you get for $10 a month is the computer, the GitHub connection, and a phone-sized way back into the session. If you later sign OpenCode into a paid model, that usage is separate from the server.

GitHub is a first-class part of the setup, not a weekend project. You install the Layerbase GitHub App and pick the repositories this server may reach. They live under ~/dev once you clone them. On each repo you set the production branch and whether work lands on a feature branch into production or through a staging branch. The agents are told to open pull requests and not to push the production branch directly. A .layerbase/project.toml already in the repo wins over those dashboard settings. You can also leave shared instructions so every agent on the box sees the same project rules.

Talking to Codex

Typing on a phone is the part people dread, and it is optional when the agent is Codex.

Start Codex in a terminal session on the server and leave the prompt empty. Start voice sits with the session controls. The first tap asks the browser for the microphone. That tap sends Codex's own /voice command. From there you talk in ordinary English: what is broken, what you want changed, what you refuse to ship. Codex works in the repository on the server. The terminal remains the record. You still see the commands, the diff, and any approval it asks for. Voice does not quietly turn approvals off. If you want Codex to proceed without asking, that is a separate choice you make when you start it, not something the microphone button does for you.

A normal spoken loop looks like this. You are away from the desk. You open the home-screen icon, resume the Codex session, and tap Start voice. You say the bug the way you would say it to a coworker: which page, what you expected, what happened instead. It looks, it edits, it runs the check you named. You hear enough to know whether to keep going. When you are done, you stop voice. The session stays on the server. Later, on a real keyboard, you read the branch before you merge it. Talking is how the change gets made. Reading is still how it gets shipped.

A few limits, so the first try is not a mystery. Start voice is there when Codex is the program in front of you and the prompt is empty. Typing /voice yourself starts Codex voice, but it does not grant the browser microphone. The phone has to be online. One voice session owns the audio on that Linux user. Update server tools from the server's settings if the terminal asks you to. The rest of the agents on the box stay typed. Voice is a Codex feature.

Set it up once, at a desk

The first hour is awkward on a phone, so do it on a computer.

1. Create an Agent Server. Starter at $10/month is enough for one agent. Setup is usually a few minutes.
2. Install the GitHub App and select the repositories.
3. Install Codex, Claude Code, Grok Build, or OpenCode from the agents panel and finish its sign-in.
4. Clone the repo, start a named terminal session, and give the agent one small task you can check.
5. Add Layerbase to your phone's home screen. Tomorrow, resume that session instead of opening the laptop.

The click-by-click version is Claude Code and Codex on mobile. Account sign-in for Claude is in Claude Code on a VPS.

If the work matters, commit it and push it. A reboot interrupts a running process. A server you cancel does not keep your files after the paid period ends.

FAQ

Do I need a Claude or Codex subscription?

A paid subscription is not the only option. Claude Code accepts a Claude subscription or an Anthropic API key. Codex supports ChatGPT Free subject to usage limits and feature availability, or an OpenAI API key billed separately. Check the linked plan details for CLI access. The server does not include their usage. OpenCode can run on its free models with no extra subscription. Grok Build needs a SuperGrok or X Premium+ plan, or an xAI API key.

Is $18 the plan for several agents at once?

No. $18/month is Builder: more CPU and RAM for several repos and Docker. Several agents at once is Power, at $25/month. One agent on one project is Starter, at $10/month.

Can I do this without a laptop at all?

You can, and the first GitHub and agent sign-in is nicer with a desktop browser. After that, the phone is enough to resume, talk to Codex, and check what it changed.

Does the phone keep working if I lose signal?

No. The terminal is a connection to the server. The session on the server keeps running. Your screen catches up when the phone is online again.

Get an Agent Server. Put one agent on it, add the icon to your home screen, and leave the laptop shut.