CloakCode — drive GitHub Copilot from your phone
Watch, unblock, and steer your GitHub Copilot chat sessions from a phone (or another
machine) — with zero code-sync to GitHub. Your code never leaves your machine; only
prompts and minimal, redacted context ever cross the bridge.
The problem
You kick off a long Copilot agent task in VS Code, then step away from your desk. Minutes
later Copilot is blocked — waiting on a question or a tool-call approval — and it just
sits idle until you're back. The existing remote options don't cover it either: the Copilot
web/CLI flows don't help when the repo isn't on GitHub, when you use your own models,
or when the session is already running in your editor.
What CloakCode does
CloakCode mirrors your existing VS Code Copilot chat to a phone-first web app, so you can:
- See your live sessions and transcripts, and get notified the moment one is blocked.
- Answer a question or steer the agent with a new message.
- Stop a running turn, or queue the next instruction.
- Approve / deny a tool call from your phone.
…all while you keep using VS Code's own Copilot UI at your desk — pick up on the phone, drop
back to the desktop, no context lost.
How it works
- A tiny bridge runs inside VS Code (bound to
127.0.0.1) and serves a phone-friendly PWA.
- It mirrors your Copilot transcript and detects blockers (an interactive tool call awaiting
input); your replies are relayed back into the session.
- Your phone reaches it over your own private tunnel — never through GitHub.
- Zero code-sync: CloakCode adds no path that uploads your workspace anywhere. The mirror and
your replies cross only localhost and your authenticated tunnel.
Get started — local / same machine (no tunnel)
- Install the extension and reload VS Code.
- Run CloakCode: Show Phone Link from the Command Palette.
- In Codespaces / a remote, this gives a URL your phone can open directly (VS Code
forwards it for you).
- In local VS Code, the URL is loopback (
127.0.0.1) — great on the same machine, but a
phone can't reach it. Add a tunnel for phone access (next section).
Open the link (or scan the QR) and you'll see your live Copilot sessions.
Get started — phone access via a private Dev Tunnel
To reach your sessions from a phone off your network, CloakCode can host a private Microsoft
Dev Tunnel for you — sign-in required to open the link, never anonymous:
Install the devtunnel CLI once → https://aka.ms/DevTunnelCliInstall
Enable it — either accept the one-time "Enable Dev Tunnel?" prompt on first activation, or
set it yourself:
"cloakcode.tunnel": "devtunnel"
Run CloakCode: Set Up Phone Tunnel. If you're not signed in, CloakCode opens a terminal and
runs devtunnel user login for you (choose GitHub or Microsoft — device-code is offered for
containers/remotes). Finish in the terminal, then click Set Up Phone Tunnel again.
Run CloakCode: Show Phone Link and scan the QR on your phone.
Enabling the setting is all it takes — CloakCode drives the CLI-install prompt and the login for
you. Prefer your own tunnel? Set the CLOAKCODE_PUBLIC_URL environment variable to its URL and
CloakCode uses that instead.
Live blocker overlay (optional)
CloakCode installs a small Copilot notifier hook (a single per-environment file) so your phone
sees a pending tool call the instant it appears. The hook only notifies — it never approves or
denies anything. It's on by default (cloakcode.installHook); turn it off to manage it yourself.
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
What it does |
cloakcode.tunnel |
off |
off = VS Code's automatic forwarding; devtunnel = host a private Dev Tunnel and get a phone URL automatically. |
cloakcode.gatewayUrl |
(empty) |
Connect to a standalone gateway instead of hosting in-editor. Empty = embedded. |
cloakcode.gatewayToken |
(empty) |
Shared secret to register with a gateway that requires provider auth (machine-to-machine; never shown to the phone). |
cloakcode.port |
(auto) |
Localhost port (bound to 127.0.0.1). Unset → try 3543 then an ephemeral port; a fixed value keeps the phone URL stable. |
cloakcode.installHook |
true |
Install the Copilot notifier hook that powers the live-pending overlay. |
cloakcode.surfaceDebounceMs |
3000 |
Wait this long before showing a pending tool call, so VS Code's fast auto-approvals resolve first. |
cloakcode.logLevel |
info |
Verbosity of the CloakCode output channel. Local only — no telemetry. |
Commands
Run from the Command Palette (prefix CloakCode:):
| Command |
Purpose |
| Show Phone Link |
Open the QR / phone URL for this window. |
| Set Up Phone Tunnel |
Guided Dev Tunnel setup (install + sign-in). |
| Reconnect |
Re-establish the bridge / gateway connection. |
| Set Instance ID |
Name this machine for a stable, distinct phone URL. |
| Install / Repair Copilot Hook |
(Re)install the notifier hook. |
| Remove Copilot Hook (all workspaces) |
Remove the per-environment hook. |
| Show Diagnostics |
Dump current status for troubleshooting. |
Sharing one hub across windows — the standalone gateway
By default the bridge runs inside VS Code. To let several windows or machines share one phone
endpoint, run the standalone CloakCode gateway
(npx @cloakcode/gateway or the Docker image) and point the extension at it:
"cloakcode.gatewayUrl": "ws://<gateway-host>:7900"
If the gateway is unreachable at startup, the extension logs a warning and falls back to embedded
mode. See the gateway package for npm / Docker usage.
Privacy & security
- No code-sync. CloakCode never pushes or uploads your workspace to GitHub or anywhere else.
- Localhost + your tunnel only. The bridge binds
127.0.0.1; remote access is via your
private Dev Tunnel (sign-in required), never a public or anonymous endpoint.
- Local logs only (View → Output → CloakCode) — no telemetry.
Troubleshooting
- "Phone link is loopback" — you're in local VS Code without a tunnel. Set
cloakcode.tunnel: devtunnel (and run Set Up Phone Tunnel), or set CLOAKCODE_PUBLIC_URL.
- Logs: View → Output → CloakCode (raise
cloakcode.logLevel to debug).
- CloakCode: Show Diagnostics dumps the current state.
Install from a .vsix
Every GitHub Release attaches the .vsix plus
install.sh / uninstall.sh:
code --install-extension cloakcode-<version>.vsix
# or, from the downloaded folder: ./install.sh (CODE_BIN=code-insiders for another editor)
CloakCode is open source (MIT) — https://github.com/lsiddiquee/CloakCode.
