afk — Away from keyboard, not away from control

Two-way, in real time

Tap on your phone. Zed already knows.

Messages, approvals and settings sync both ways the moment they happen. Try it: tap Allow on the phone, send a quick reply, or switch the model.

Add dark mode to settingsClaude Agent

Add dark mode to settings

Message Claude Agent

Live: the agent is working on your Mac.

The gap

Agents don't stop working when you leave. They stop to ask.

01

An agent needs a permission or an answer. It waits.

02

You're making coffee, in a meeting, on the train. It keeps waiting.

03

afk sends it to your phone. You answer. It carries on in Zed.

Features

Zed's agent panel, wherever you are.

Not a remote desktop and not a chat app. afk speaks the same protocol as Zed, so your phone sees exactly what Zed sees, and can do what Zed does.

Live mirror

Your threads, exactly as Zed shows them.

Same projects, same threads, same order as Zed's sidebar. Replies stream in as they're written.

Rendered like Zed: plans, diffs, tool calls, tables, code, Mermaid.
Two-way: type in Zed or on the phone; both update instantly.
At a glance: spinners, unread dots and "needs you" warnings, even on collapsed projects.

afk sidebar: projects with working, waiting and unread threads

Needs you

When an agent asks, your phone knows.

A push when a thread needs permission, asks a question, or finishes. Answer in a couple of taps and the agent picks up in Zed.

Permissions: Allow, Always allow or Reject, with the exact command.
Questions: the same "Input requested" card as Zed, multiple choice included.
Trust a thread: approve everything in it with one switch.

An agent question with multiple-choice options in afk

Steer

Everything you'd do at the desk.

Reply, queue the next step, switch the model. The composer is Zed's, made for thumbs.

/ commands and @ files with fuzzy search; photos and screenshots too.
Message queue: send while it works; it goes out when the turn ends. Or send now.
Model, mode, effort, Fast: the same controls as Zed, in sync both ways.

Model picker in afk: Opus, Sonnet, Haiku

Review

See the diff. Ship it.

Check what the agent changed in each project, then commit and push, before you're back at your desk.

Per-file diffs with added and removed lines.
Commit and push in one step, or discard the files you pick.

Review changes in afk: file list with a diff, commit and push

Several Macs

Personal and work. One switch.

Pair the phone with every Mac you code on. See one at a time, and know when the other one needs you.

Switcher at the top, with an "elsewhere" badge.
Notifications from all of them, labelled with the Mac's name.

The afk Mac switcher with Work MacBook and Personal

At a glance

Know before you unlock.

Home-screen widgets show what needs you and what's running, and start a new thread in one tap.

Four widgets: the thread list, a large list, a "needs you" counter and Quick start.
Live: they update as your agents work, in light and dark.

Zed agents2 need you1 running

!Migrate payments to the new APIpocket-ledger · needs you · 1m

✓Fix flaky checkout e2e testaurora-ui · finished · 6m

+1 more · Open inbox

afk

2 need you 1 running

New aurora-uipocket-ledger

And the details

Small things that add up.

Needs you inbox

Everything waiting on you, in one list, with a badge.

Home-screen widgets

Threads that need you, a counter, and one-tap new threads, on Android.

Quick replies

"Continue", "Run the tests", "Commit it": one tap, instant feedback.

Share into a thread

Send a link, text or screenshot from any app straight to an agent.

Find, rename, archive

Search inside a thread; tidy your list with a swipe.

Continue here

Pick up a thread that isn't open in Zed. Zed shows the new turns later.

How it works

Built on the protocol Zed already speaks.

Zed talks to its agents over the open Agent Client Protocol (ACP). afk sits quietly in that conversation. Nothing to fork, nothing to patch.

editorZed

Unchanged. You keep using it exactly as before.

ACP

afk relayMirrors every message

Sits between Zed and each agent; can send prompts, answers and settings back.

local

afk hub · your MacThreads & history

Reads Zed's sidebar, keeps history, sends notifications.

network

afk appYour phone

Same projects, same threads, same order as Zed.

No fork of Zed

No patched binary, no extension. Setup adds a few clearly marked lines to Zed's settings, backed up first.

If afk stops, Zed doesn't

The relay passes everything through. With the hub down, Zed and your agents keep working normally.

Claude Agent, Codex, more

Fully live with Claude Agent and Codex today; other ACP agents in Zed through a synced entry.

Private by design

Your Mac is the server. There's no afk cloud.

Stays on your Mac

Threads, history and code never leave your machine for an afk server, because there isn't one.

A key per phone

Pair by scanning a one-time code. Each phone gets its own key; revoke any of them in one command.

Encrypted anywhere

Away from home, afk connects through Tailscale over HTTPS. Nothing is exposed to the open internet.

App lock

Fingerprint or Face ID after the time away you choose.

One honest caveat: push notifications are delivered by Expo and Google (Firebase). A notification contains the project name, the thread title and a short snippet of the agent's message. Details.

Install

One line on the Mac. One scan on the phone.

Run the installer
It brings its own Node.js if needed, syncs Zed's agents, starts the hub and sets up Tailscale if you have it.
Scan the code
Open the afk app and scan the QR code the installer prints. Your phone gets its own key.
Step away
Restart Zed once if setup asks. That's it.

macOS Zed + Claude Agent or Codex Android · iPhone soon Tailscale optional

$ curl -fsSL https://goafk.dev/install.sh | sh
==> Installing afk into ~/.afk
==> Running setup

Setting up afk

  ✓ Zed found
  ✓ Synced agents: Claude Agent, Codex
  ✓ Hub running in the background
  ✓ Reachable anywhere over Tailscale
  ✓ Reachable on this Wi-Fi

Scan with your phone's camera (or in the afk app → Add a Mac):
Pairing code K7MQ2-XR4TB · valid 15 min, one phone

Mobile app

Coming to the App Store and Google Play.

Get one email when afk lands in the stores. No newsletter, no spam.

FAQ

Questions, answered.

Is afk free?

Yes. The Mac side and the app are free, and the code is MIT licensed.

Which agents work with it?

Claude Agent and Codex in Zed are fully live: every thread, both ways. Other agents that Zed runs over ACP work through a "(synced)" entry that setup adds to Zed.

Do I need Tailscale?

No. On the same Wi-Fi the phone talks to your Mac directly. Tailscale (free for personal use) lets it reach your Mac from anywhere, encrypted, without opening any ports. Setup configures it for you if it's installed.

Is my code sent anywhere?

No afk server exists: your threads and code stay on your Mac, and the phone reads them from it. The exception is push notifications, which travel through Expo and Google and carry the project name, thread title and a short snippet.

What does it change in Zed?

Setup adds a few lines to Zed's settings.json and keymap.json, between clear afk:begin / afk:end markers, after backing both files up. afk uninstall removes them.

What if my Mac is asleep?

The hub runs on your Mac, so it needs to be awake for live use. Starting a brand-new thread from the phone also needs Zed running, since afk opens it there for you.

Can I use it with two Macs?

Yes. Install afk on each and scan each Mac's code. The switcher at the top shows one Mac at a time and badges the other when it needs you.

iPhone?

The app is built cross-platform; the iPhone version is on its way to the App Store. Android works today.

Windows or Linux?

Not yet. The hub is macOS-only for now.

Step away. Keep them moving.

curl -fsSL https://goafk.dev/install.sh | sh

Then open the docs if you want the details.