Hosts, sessions and clients
The big picture explains why Offsite works the way it does. This page names its three pieces, which the rest of the docs assume you know.
The three pieces
Section titled “The three pieces”A host is a machine that runs your work: This Mac, another Mac, or a Linux server. It holds your repositories, runs the agent CLIs, and keeps every session alive whether or not a client is connected.
You can have several hosts at once and switch between them. Each one is set up individually — see Prerequisites for what a machine needs.
Sessions
Section titled “Sessions”A session is one long-running program on a host, shown as a card:
- an agent CLI (Claude Code, Codex, Grok),
- a plain terminal,
- or one of the built-in tools — the iOS Simulator, your own browser, and the Agent Browser that runs on the host for your agent.
Sessions live in tmux on the host, so closing the app, losing Wi-Fi or putting your Mac to sleep does not stop them. Your agents keep working; you reconnect and find the output waiting.
Clients
Section titled “Clients”The clients are how you see and drive those sessions:
- macOS app — the full board, with cards you can drag, resize and focus.
- iPhone / iPad app — the same sessions, live, with the same input.
- Apple Watch — notifications, agent questions you can answer by tap or dictation, and a live status complication. It works through your paired iPhone.
All clients show the same host-owned session. There is no separate mobile version of your work: what you see on the phone is the terminal that is running on your Mac, in real time.
How your devices reach the host
Section titled “How your devices reach the host”Offsite tries every available path and uses the fastest one that works:
- Direct on the local network,
- Tailscale, if the machines share a tailnet,
- Relay — an optional, end-to-end-blind path for when neither of the above is reachable. It can be switched off per host.
The connection pill in the app always names the path actually in use, and switches live when a better one appears — for example when you walk back into your own network.
Nothing of yours on our side
Section titled “Nothing of yours on our side”- No account. There is no sign-up and no user record on our side. Devices pair with your host by scanning a QR code.
- No telemetry. No analytics SDK, no crash reporter. Feedback reaches us only when you send it from the app.
- No model of its own. Offsite bills you nothing for tokens because it never touches them; the agent CLIs talk to your provider directly.
Start with Prerequisites, then Install & set up.