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Tealhand docs

What is Tealhand

Tealhand is an open-source app that turns your phone into a remote for your own computers. You can see what a computer is doing, browse the folders you shared on it, send it files, put it to sleep, shut it down, and save rules on it such as “shut down when the render finishes”.

The problem

Section titled “The problem”

More people run long jobs and AI models on computers at home: a GPU box under the desk, a workstation, a small server. Reaching those computers from far away is already solved by several free tools. Doing it safely is harder. One popular home agent had about 42,000 copies found open on the internet, with full shell access.

Tealhand does not give your phone a shell. It gives it a short, fixed list of actions, and the computer checks every request against that list and against a signature made by a device on your own list.

What it does

Section titled “What it does”
  • Status. CPU, GPU, memory, battery, uptime and the busiest programs of each connected computer.
  • Rules. “When blender.exe closes, shut down.” “When the GPU has been idle for 10 minutes, sleep.” The rule is saved on the computer and runs even when your phone is offline.
  • Files. Browse the folders you shared on a computer, play a video from it without copying it, send it a photo or a file, and have it download a link. Only the folders you shared at the computer are visible.
  • Power. Sleep now, or shut down after a 60-second notice that you can cancel.
  • A confirmation card for every action. The card is a title and one plain sentence that says what will happen and on which computer. A later time and an undo line show only when they matter. Risky actions also ask for your fingerprint or PIN on the same card.
  • From one computer to another. At one computer, open your others in the Tealhand app: status, power, files and a terminal, each change on a card. Your phone is told of every change.
  • AI apps that only read. Let Claude Desktop, LM Studio or Cursor on a computer read your other computers’ status and shared files through MCP. Off until you turn it on, and they can never change anything.
  • Signed commands. A computer obeys only commands signed by a device on the list your phone signs: your phone’s hardware key, or one of your computers. The relay and the planner hold no keys, so a hacked server cannot command your computer.
  • Your own servers. Everything works with a relay you run yourself, or on your local network with no server at all.

What it is not

Section titled “What it is not”
  • Not a VPN and not remote desktop. Tealhand works at app level, next to any VPN.
  • Not an open shell. The phone sends only actions from the action list; a terminal works only while SSH access is turned on at the computer itself.
  • Not an account service. There is no sign-in in M1.

Where to go next

Section titled “Where to go next”