Copilot sessions can now follow you off the desktop

Parallel agentic work is standard practice: one Copilot session might be restructuring a codebase while another debugs failing tests and a third scaffolds a new feature. That workflow has historically been tied to a single machine. The moment you closed the laptop, every running session became invisible.

Remote control for GitHub Copilot sessions changes that equation by decoupling a session from the device that started it.

What’s available now

Remote control is now generally available on github.com and the GitHub Mobile app. It also ships in VS Code and JetBrains IDEs, extending Copilot across desktop, web, and mobile surfaces.

Starting a session the usual way in VS Code or Copilot CLI is the first step. Then the /remote on command forwards that session to the web or mobile, turning your laptop into just one of several devices. The mechanism works with any repository and with directories that don’t belong to a repository.

Monitor, steer, and ship

Once a session is remote, any device with access shows its live state — the plans being researched, files being read, edits being made, and commands being executed. You can interrupt an agent that seems off track by sending a follow-up instruction in plain language, ask it to broaden the task, handle permission prompts, and generally keep sessions under control without touching your original machine.

Because the full developer workflow survives the transfer, a typical sequence could look like this:

  1. /plan and scaffold the change in Copilot CLI.
  2. Run /remote on to monitor progress from the mobile app or web.
  3. Send steering instructions based on what you see.
  4. Review the rendered implementation plan and proposed changes over the phone.
  5. Open and review a pull request, then merge without returning to the desktop.

Privacy is built into the design: sessions stay visible only to the account owner, so nothing gets shared as a side effect of going remote.

First steps

Existing users of the latest GitHub Copilot CLI or Copilot in VS Code need no extra install — attach /remote on to an active session to move it. New CLI users need to install GitHub Copilot CLI before anything else. The remote control documentation for CLI, VS Code, and JetBrains has setup specifics. For phone-based sessions, grab the GitHub Mobile update from Apple App Store or Google Play Store.