Get afk running.

Requirements

• macOS with Zed, and Claude Agent and/or Codex added in Zed's Agent panel.
• An Android phone. The iPhone app is coming to the App Store.
• Optional: Tailscale on the Mac and the phone, to reach your Mac from anywhere. Without it, afk works on the same Wi-Fi.

You don't need Node.js installed: the installer downloads its own copy if yours is missing or older than 22.18.

Install on the Mac

curl -fsSL https://goafk.dev/install.sh | sh

The installer only touches your home folder. It:

1. uses your Node.js 22, or downloads a checksum-verified private copy into ~/.afk/runtime;
2. installs afk into ~/.afk and adds the afk command to ~/.local/bin;
3. runs afk setup, which syncs Zed's agents, starts the hub in the background, makes the Mac reachable (Tailscale on port 8443 and/or your Wi-Fi), checks everything, and prints a pairing QR code.

If setup says so, quit and reopen Zed once so running agents start syncing. Want to read the script first? It's at /install.sh.

Get the app

afk for Android is available as an APK while the Google Play listing is on its way; the App Store version follows. Download links appear here as soon as each is live.

Pair your phone

1. Open afk. On first launch it shows Connect your Mac.
2. Scan the QR code from afk setup, or run afk pair for a new one. You can also scan it with the phone's camera, or copy the link and tap Paste pairing link.
3. That's it: your projects and threads appear.

Codes work once and expire after 15 minutes. Each phone gets its own key; the Mac's master key never leaves the Mac.

Several Macs

Install afk on each Mac, then in the app tap the Mac's name at the top of the home screen → Add a Mac and scan that Mac's code (or Settings → Computers → Add a computer). The switcher shows one Mac at a time and badges the others when they need you. Rename Macs from the same sheet.

Themes and appearance

afk starts in its own theme. In Settings → Appearance you can pick:

• Match Zed: uses the theme set in Zed (light and dark), including themes from extensions, and follows when you change it.
• A popular theme: One, Catppuccin, Ayu, Gruvbox, Tokyo Night, Rosé Pine, GitHub, Solarized, Nord or Dracula.
• Mode, text size, code font and density, and whether the agent's thinking starts expanded.

Settings are kept on the phone. Match Zed needs a current hub: if the app says the hub is too old, run the install command again on the Mac.

Commands

Troubleshooting

The app can't reach my Mac

Make sure the Mac is awake. At home, the phone must be on the same Wi-Fi; away, Tailscale must be on for both. Run afk setup again: it reports which addresses work.

A thread shows as read-only

Its agent process isn't running. Open the thread in Zed, or tap Continue here in the app to load it into a running agent.

I don't get notifications

Open Settings → Notifications. If permission is off, tap Allow (or Open settings if the system won't ask again). Then tap Send a test notification: it goes from your Mac through the same path as real ones, so if the test arrives, everything works.

"Tailscale Serve could not start"

Tailscale asks you once to enable HTTPS / Serve for your tailnet. Follow the link setup prints, then run setup again.

New threads from the phone don't open

Zed must be running, and afk needs a one-time macOS permission: run afk permissions.

Uninstall

afk uninstall          # removes the Zed settings blocks and the background service
rm -rf ~/.afk ~/.local/bin/afk

Your Zed settings were backed up to ~/.afk/backups before every change.