I was at the gym when I got the notification that our production API had completely gone down and users couldn’t access the service. I SSH’d into the server directly from my phone while literally standing at the squat rack, diagnosed the issue, and had it fixed in just 8 minutes.
Using Termius as your SSH client, a basic $12 per month Digital Ocean droplet as your development server, and Claude Code running on that server for AI assistance, you can genuinely ship real production code from your phone anywhere you happen to be. I’ve personally deployed complete features from airports while waiting for flights, fixed critical bugs while relaxing at the beach, and started entire new projects while standing in line waiting for my coffee order. This approach actually works in practice.
Table of contents
Open Table of contents
The Stack
Termius is a professional SSH client available for both iOS and Android that saves all your server connections, supports secure key-based authentication, and works reliably over both cellular data and WiFi networks. Digital Ocean provides cloud servers starting at just $12 per month where you can set up a fully pre-configured development environment that’s always running and accessible from anywhere in the world. Claude Code runs as a CLI-based AI assistant directly on your server, providing natural language coding assistance, seamless file operations, and integrated git workflow management.
The complete workflow looks like this: You open Termius on your phone, SSH into your Digital Ocean server where your complete development environment and Claude Code are already running, make your code changes with AI assistance, commit everything to git, and deploy directly to production.
Setup
Step 1 - Create your Digital Ocean droplet: Log into Digital Ocean, click Create Droplet, select Ubuntu 24.04 as your operating system, choose the $12 per month plan which provides plenty of resources for development work, and click Create to provision your server.
Step 2 - Generate and configure SSH keys on your phone: Open Termius and navigate to Settings then Keys, generate a brand new SSH key pair, copy the public key to your clipboard, then in Digital Ocean go to Settings then Security, click Add SSH Key, and paste your public key to enable secure authentication.
Step 3 - Configure your development environment on the server: SSH into your new droplet, run curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_lts.x | sudo -E bash - && sudo apt-get install -y nodejs git to install Node.js and git, install Claude Code following their official instructions, clone all the repositories you’ll need to work with, and configure your git credentials so you can commit and push changes.
Step 4 - Save your server connection in Termius: In Termius, tap to add a new host, paste your droplet’s IP address, select the SSH key you generated earlier for authentication, save this connection for future use, and tap Connect to verify everything works correctly.
Mobile Workflow
Leverage voice input whenever possible: Both iOS and Android provide surprisingly accurate voice dictation that works great for issuing commands and even writing code through natural language instructions to Claude Code.
Take advantage of Termius autocomplete: Termius will automatically suggest and complete commands you’ve typed before, dramatically speeding up your workflow compared to typing everything manually.
Pre-save your most common command sequences: Create saved snippets for commands you run frequently like git add . && git commit -m and your most-used Claude Code prompts so you can execute them with just a few taps.
Always work inside a screen session: Start a persistent session with screen -S dev that you can safely detach from and reconnect to later from anywhere, ensuring your work sessions persist even if you lose your connection or switch locations.
Real Scenarios
Fixing a production bug on the go: Pull out your phone, SSH into your server through Termius, tell Claude Code claude "fix the error in api.js line 47", review the proposed fix to make sure it’s correct, commit the changes, and deploy to production, all while you’re away from your desk.
Adding a complete new feature: Use voice input to describe what you want built, let Claude Code generate the implementation, run tests to verify it works correctly, and push the changes to your repository, completing the entire workflow from your phone.
Starting a brand new project from scratch: Tell Claude claude "create an Express API with full CRUD endpoints for user management" and it generates all the boilerplate code for you, then you customize it to match your specific requirements and deploy it to production.
Deploying a new blog post: Write your markdown content, then simply run claude "optimize this blog post for SEO and deploy it to production" and you’re done in seconds.
Best Practices
Keep your mobile coding sessions relatively short: Aim for 5-20 minute sessions since your phone isn’t a laptop, focusing on quick bug fixes, small feature additions, or deployment tasks rather than attempting major refactoring projects that genuinely need a proper keyboard and large screen.
Rely heavily on Claude Code instead of typing: Never try to manually type code on your phone’s tiny keyboard when you can just use natural language instructions like “Add error handling to this function” instead of painstakingly typing out try/catch blocks character by character.
Prepare your development environment in advance: Save useful command aliases, configure Claude Code with your personal preferences and coding style, and keep all your common repositories already cloned so you don’t waste time setting things up when you actually need to code from your phone.
Always test on staging before touching production: Don’t engage in reckless cowboy coding by making production changes directly from your phone while you’re at a bar or coffee shop, instead test everything thoroughly on staging first and use your phone for genuine urgency or convenience, never for recklessness.
Maintain a solid backup plan for when things go wrong: If your phone battery dies unexpectedly or your Digital Ocean server goes down, make sure you know exactly where your laptop is and can access it quickly to continue working.
Limitations
Mobile coding isn’t suitable for everything: Major refactoring projects, complex debugging sessions that require seeing multiple files simultaneously, detailed UI work that needs visual feedback, and learning completely new frameworks all genuinely require a proper laptop with a large screen and real keyboard.
Phone keyboards are genuinely terrible for writing code: The tiny virtual keyboard on your phone is absolutely awful for typing code with all its special characters and precise syntax, which is exactly why Claude Code is absolutely essential since you can use natural language instead.
Battery drain is a serious concern: Running SSH connections, keeping the screen on constantly, and typing commands will absolutely destroy your phone’s battery life, so always bring a portable charger or power bank with you.
The small screen size severely limits context: You simply can’t see the full context of large files or complex architecture on a phone screen, which is why this approach works great for targeted small changes but fails completely for comprehensive architecture overhauls.
Why This Matters
Development becomes truly portable for the first time: Your ability to write and ship code is no longer tied exclusively to having your laptop with you, meaning anywhere you can get an internet connection you can be genuinely productive.
You can capture inspiration and ship ideas immediately: When inspiration strikes while you’re at the gym or out for a run, you can actually ship that feature or fix that bug right then instead of losing the idea by the time you get back to your desk.
You can unblock your entire team from anywhere: If production goes down and your team is completely stuck while you’re traveling or away from your laptop, you can fix the critical issue from your phone and let your team continue working instead of everyone being blocked until you get back.
This represents a fundamental mental shift in how we think about coding: Software development is no longer exclusively a sit-at-your-desk activity chained to a specific location, and a mobile-first lifestyle naturally enables and encourages mobile-first development practices.
Conclusion
Yes, you absolutely can vibe code effectively from your phone, and this isn’t about replacing your laptop for all development work, it’s about powerfully complementing it for scenarios where you’re away from your desk.
I’ve personally shipped real production features, fixed critical bugs that were blocking users, and even started entire new projects completely from my phone using nothing but this setup. It genuinely works in practice, and while it’s definitely not always the ideal development experience, it’s always technically possible when you need it.
The complete stack is remarkably affordable and simple: Termius costs between $0-$10 per year depending on which features you need, Digital Ocean provides solid servers for just $12 per month, and Claude Code is available in both free and paid tiers, giving you a complete mobile development environment for minimal cost.
Try this setup yourself and see how it works for your specific workflow. The next time inspiration strikes while you’re out running errands or production breaks while you’re traveling, you’ll be completely ready to handle it.
Your phone is genuinely a capable development machine now. Act accordingly and take advantage of this newfound freedom.