Claude Controls Mac

How to set up your spare Mac for Claude Code to fully control - a step-by-step guide

Here's a full step-by-step guide on how to turn your spare Mac into an always-on machine Claude Code can fully control, with computer use enabled. You'll be able to talk to it from your phone through the Claude app, or from your main Mac over SSH.

In case you're reading this on GitHub Pages, here's [the repo version](https://github.com/ykdojo/claude-controls-mac).

Why do this?

I wanted to create a separate environment Claude Code can control on its own, so I can delegate tasks I don't necessarily want to run on my own machine - certain types of research tasks, and development tasks.

Claude Code, especially with the `--dangerously-skip-permissions` flag on, carries inherent risk when run on your main machine. You can eliminate / mitigate these risks by creating a separate environment on your spare Mac with everything it needs to have access to.

It has an added bonus of being able to talk to Claude Code anytime, anywhere from your phone. I've personally found it really useful because I often prefer to talk to Claude Code instead of regular Claude on the mobile app - Claude Code is often more capable.

The following guide assumes you have your main Mac as well as a spare Mac you can set up for this, but you should be able to take inspiration from it and apply it to any combination of two machines.

Why this setup?

First, let's quickly address a few questions you might have.

Why not run it in a container?

I'm a big proponent of running it in a container - I even built [an entire environment for doing so conveniently](https://github.com/ykdojo/safeclaw). However, I've found it has a few limitations. First, it still runs on your main machine, so it's not completely separated. For example, network requests it sends still go through your main machine.

Second, there are limitations to the container's capabilities. For example, I wanted my agent to be able to run Unity f