I built Redock, an iOS terminal app for AI coding agent mobile workflows
Hi everyone,
I’m the developer behind Redock, an iOS and iPadOS terminal app I recently launched for SSH, tmux, and AI coding agent workflows.
The idea came from a small but recurring situation in my own workflow. Sometimes I am not at my desk. I might be outside, on the couch, waiting in line, or just away from my Mac. But that is often exactly when a small product idea, bug fix, or implementation detail comes to mind.
In the past, I would usually write it down and deal with it later. But with tools like ClaudeCode, Codex, and other terminal based coding agents, a lot of development work can now be started and verified remotely. I wanted a way to turn those small moments into actual progress, not just notes for later.
With Redock, you can connect to your dev machine from your iPhone or iPad, talk to your coding agent, start builds and keep real terminal workflows moving remotely.
A few workflow features I built on top of SSH:
Projects
Group a host, working directory, and common context together.
Actions
Turn repeated commands like starting an agent, running tests, deploying, or opening a project directory into tappable tasks.
Agent TUI friendly terminal
Scrollable history, gesture navigation, voice input, CJK input support, and a draft input area so you can prepare a prompt before sending it.
Built-in tmux workflow
Create, resume, and keep sessions alive even if your phone disconnects. This is especially useful for long running agent sessions, builds, or deployment scripts.
Some of the iOS specific challenges were:
- Making terminal interaction usable on a small touch screen
- Supporting agent style TUI output without making the app feel like a generic SSH client
- Handling text input, voice input, and CJK composition in a way that feels reliable
- Designing a workflow around session persistence, since mobile network interruptions are common
The main technical direction is terminal-first rather than chat-first. Redock connects to your own machine over SSH and uses tmux for persistence, so the app does not need to proxy your coding session through my server.
App home page: https://redock.dev
I am curious how other iOS developers think about this kind of mobile development workflow. For me the goal is not to replace a desktop setup. It is more about capturing those moments when you are away from the desk, but still have enough context and energy to move something forward.
Do you ever do real development work from an iPhone or iPad? Or prefer to keep coding strictly tied to a desktop setup?