FAQ
Do I need an account?
Section titled “Do I need an account?”No. There is no sign-up and no server-side user. Devices are authorised against your host by scanning a QR code.
Does Offsite charge for tokens?
Section titled “Does Offsite charge for tokens?”No, and it could not. The agent CLIs call your provider directly from your host under your own subscription — Offsite is not in that path. See The big picture.
Is my code sent anywhere?
Section titled “Is my code sent anywhere?”No. Session traffic goes between your own devices, encrypted; if it takes the relay, the relay sees ciphertext only. The one exception is a push notification: it carries readable text — the session and workspace names, so your lock screen can show which agent wants you — through Firebase and Apple. Never code, prompts or output. Full list: Security and privacy.
Do I have to enable Remote Login / SSH?
Section titled “Do I have to enable Remote Login / SSH?”Not for This Mac and not for normal operation. A remote Mac needs it once, for the initial install.
Does it work when my Mac is closed or asleep?
Section titled “Does it work when my Mac is closed or asleep?”Sessions survive sleep and continue on wake. If you need the host to keep working with the lid closed, use Keep the host awake; if you need it to come back after a restart, use Always reachable.
What happens if I lose connection mid-turn?
Section titled “What happens if I lose connection mid-turn?”Nothing, to the agent. It runs on the host and keeps going; you reconnect and find the output waiting. See Sessions.
Can I use several agents at once?
Section titled “Can I use several agents at once?”Yes — Claude, Codex and Grok side by side on one board, each in its own card and its own permission mode.
Does my AGENTS.md / MCP setup / skills work?
Section titled “Does my AGENTS.md / MCP setup / skills work?”Yes. Offsite starts the real CLI in your workspace folder with your shell environment, so everything the CLI would find on its own, it finds.
Can I run it on Linux?
Section titled “Can I run it on Linux?”As a host, yes — see A Linux host. There is no Linux client; you drive a Linux host from the Mac, iPhone and Watch apps. Note that Claude Code needs AVX2 on x86_64.
Can an agent see my screen?
Section titled “Can an agent see my screen?”Only if you turn on Computer Use and unlock a specific session for it. Off by default, macOS hosts only, revocable in System Settings.
Can one agent message another?
Section titled “Can one agent message another?”It can read another session and it can hand context to a new session, but it can never type into a running one. The reason is a real incident, described in Hand off and ask.
Can I test what the agent built, from my phone?
Section titled “Can I test what the agent built, from my phone?”Yes: a tunnelled dev server, a mirrored iOS Simulator, or the build installed on the phone in your hand — see Testing what you build.
Which machines can be a host?
Section titled “Which machines can be a host?”Apple Silicon Macs, and Linux on x86_64 or arm64 — your own box, a machine
in the other room, or a VPS. See A Linux host.
Is there telemetry?
Section titled “Is there telemetry?”No analytics SDK and no crash reporter. Feedback reaches us only when you send it from the app.
Something is broken
Section titled “Something is broken”Troubleshooting first, then Get help.