The Tealhand app on a computer

The Tealhand app is the settings-first side of Tealhand. It runs Tealhand Host inside its own process, so a computer with the app needs nothing else. It sits in the tray: closing the window keeps the Host running, and Quit Tealhand in the tray menu stops it.

The pages

Status: this computer’s numbers (CPU, GPU, memory, battery), the busiest programs, the rules saved here with Cancel rule, and the remote control switch.
Devices, in the same sections as the phone app:
- You: this computer, first.
- Connected devices: your other computers. Each row says whether it is online, or when it was last seen, and opens its page (below). With none, it says how to add one: on your phone, Devices, Connect a device.
- Devices that manage ⟨this computer⟩: the phones on your device list, each with Disconnect, and Connect a phone at the end. Connecting shows a QR code to scan, then the check code, then Connect here too.
Activity: what happened on this computer, newest first, in plain lines.
Settings, from top to bottom:
- Network: This network only, Public relays, or My own relay (with an optional certificate fingerprint). Save network settings starts the Host again with the new choice.
- This computer: its name (rename it from your phone), Remote control, SSH access and Start with Windows.
- Shared folders: see Share folders. Share a folder opens the folder dialog, then asks for the name phones see and Read only. Each folder shows Read only or Default for downloads under its name. A folder that is neither has Set as default, and every folder has Stop sharing.
- Saved commands: the commands phones run by name. Save commands saves the whole list at once.
- AI apps: let AI apps on this computer read your other devices. See Use Tealhand from your AI app.
- Appearance: Follow system, Light or Dark.

Buttons answer on their own label: after a change goes through, the button shows the result for a moment (“Saved”, “Shared”, “Default set”, “Turned on”), then its own word again. If something goes wrong, the reason shows right under it.

The notice window stays on top of every app: the 60-second countdown before a shutdown or sleep, with Cancel shutdown (or Esc), and “⟨phone⟩ took a picture of this screen”.

First start: with no phone connected yet, the app shows how your phone will reach this computer, then a QR code to connect it.

Ctrl+K

Ctrl+K, or Search in the sidebar, opens a palette over the page. It searches the action list and the app’s own pages and settings (“Settings › SSH access”, “Connect a phone”). Use the arrow keys, Enter and Esc.

A read, such as “Show status”, opens Status.
Sleep and shut down open their card for this computer. Shut down asks for Windows Hello.
“Add a rule” asks for the program, or the minutes the GPU must be idle, in a small form first.
Without the power helper, “sleep” finds nothing, and the palette says why.

The palette acts on this computer only. Destructive actions, and actions only a phone sends, never show in it.

Your other computers

A computer on your device list can control your other computers, as your phone does (Control your other computers from a computer). Open one in Devices. Its page has four tabs:

Status: its numbers and busiest programs.
Power: Sleep, Shut down (it shows a 60-second notice first), and Wake ⟨computer⟩ while it is offline (a Wake-on-LAN signal from this computer). Add a rule opens a short form (when a program closes or the GPU is idle, then shut down, sleep or notify me), and that computer’s rules are listed right under it, each with Cancel rule.
Files: the folders it shares. Open a folder; Download copies a file to a folder on this computer that you pick; Upload files, New folder, Rename and Delete. Under the folder, Uploads and downloads lists each copy with its progress and Stop.
Terminal: its SSH access as it is set there, Open terminal, and its saved commands with Run. A terminal, and a saved command that asks for the fingerprint, wait for your phone to approve with the fingerprint: Confirm spins and says “Waiting for an approval on the phone…” (Your phone approves terminals).

Every change is a card. There is no Windows Hello on these cards: that computer’s own switches decide.

When the page can’t do anything, it says why:

What the page says	Why
Remote control is off on ⟨computer⟩, so nothing changes from here.	Its remote control switch is off
Offline · last seen 14:02. Changes come back when it’s online.	It isn’t reachable. Its rules still run on it
Not on this network	Network is set to This network only, and that computer isn’t on it. Open network settings sets Public relays or your own relay
⟨computer⟩ doesn’t list this computer any more.	It was removed from your device list. Connect them again from your phone
⟨computer⟩ and this computer run Tealhand versions that can’t talk.	Update the older one

Windows Hello

Changes that lower your protection ask for Windows Hello (PIN, face or fingerprint), checked in Rust and not by the page: turning remote control on, sharing a folder, turning SSH access on, changing saved commands, turning AI apps on, disconnecting a phone, and shutting this computer down from the palette. Turning things off asks nothing.

On a system without Windows Hello (Linux today), the app refuses those changes and says so. Use tealhand-host in a terminal there: share add, share default, ssh on, mcp on and commands add (Command line).

Supported systems in M1

System	Status
Windows 11 x64	Built from source; installer planned for M1
Linux x64 and arm64	Built from source; Windows Hello changes are refused (use `tealhand-host`); package planned for M1
Windows 11 on Arm	Next milestone
macOS	Later

Without the app

Build and run Tealhand Host from a terminal: Windows or Linux.
Share folders for the phone with tealhand-host share: Share folders.
Connect a phone with tealhand-host connect: Connect your phone.
A computer without the app can be controlled from your other computers, and can let a local AI app read them (tealhand-host mcp on), but it can’t open another computer’s pages.