Back to deals
CatClaw Terminal

Developer Tools

Free

CatClaw Terminal

by Liqun Chen

5.0 (3) v1.4.0 26 MB Universal 4+

Description

ClawTerminal turns your iPhone or iPad into a full mobile dev environment. SSH terminal, AI chatrooms, file browser, multi-agent orchestration, and a Mac-class workflow that fits in one hand.

Start a refactor on the train. Review a PR at lunch. Diagnose an outage from bed. Your Mac does the heavy lifting; your phone is the remote control.


WHAT'S NEW IN v1.4.0

- Apple Intelligence on-device - Save as Skill, /standup, and /whatif run entirely on iPhone 15 Pro and newer or M1+ iPads (iOS 26 with Apple Intelligence). No API key needed. Free, instant, private.
- ?prefix Search Mode - start any message with ? to run propose-evaluate-refine in parallel. Pin the winner to ground every follow-up.
- Save trajectories as Skills - long-press Select on any research or job trajectory, tap Save as Skill, auto-loads when a similar question matches.
- Push when jobs finish - /notifier setup (Apple Push from your Mac) or /notifier telegram (your own bot, no developer account).
- iOS 26 Writing Tools in the input bar and skill editor; SpeechAnalyzer for /voice and Speak with Search.


WHAT YOU GET

A Real Terminal
- Full SSH client with persistent sessions, themes, autocomplete
- Vim, htop, tmux, mosh - everything just works
- AI ghost-text suggestions; tap errors for instant explanations
- SFTP file browser with batch operations
- iPad multi-window, drag and drop, cursor support

Multi-Tool AI Chatrooms
- Claude, Codex, Gemini, or Aider - switch tools per chatroom
- Direct API mode or CLI mode over SSH to your Mac
- Apple Intelligence on-device when no API key is set (NEW)
- ?prefix routes a message through parallel exploration (NEW)
- Cross-session memory and custom skills tailored to you

Power Commands
- /research - in-app propose-evaluate-refine for about a penny per run
- /whatif - predict 3 likely outcomes before a risky command
- /frugal - strip the preamble for cheaper, faster answers
- /duck - Socratic rubber-duck debugging
- /standup - daily standup from yesterday's chat plus git log
- /wrapped - Spotify Wrapped style dev-activity summary

Multi-Agent Orchestration
- /batch, /team, /race, /orchestrate - parallel agents, side-by-side
- Quality, Balanced, or Budget model-routing presets
- Git worktree isolation per agent with --vcs

Background Jobs with Push (NEW)
- /submit runs long jobs in the background; push when they finish
- /notifier setup for APNs from your own Mac (Apple Developer account)
- /notifier telegram for universal push via your own bot
- Per-job cost tracking, budgets, auto-recovery

DevOps Toolkit
- /git, /health, /monitor, /security, /pr, /preview, /conflicts
- AI code review, live web preview, merge conflict resolver

Context-Aware AI (OPT-IN)
- Time, calendar, motion, battery shape Claude's tone and length

The Learn Hub
- 6 interactive tutorial tracks, 43 hands-on steps
- 36 written tutorials and 33 examples, bundled offline

Cross-Device
- /handoff between phone and Mac tmux sessions
- Shared chatrooms, iCloud-synced profiles, Apple Watch companion

Voice and Camera
- /voice and Speak with Search (iOS 26 SpeechAnalyzer)
- Snap and Code - point camera at a whiteboard, get code

Privacy First
- All credentials in the iOS Keychain
- On-device AI when supported - your prompts can stay on the phone
- No telemetry, no tracking, no ads


WHO IT IS FOR

- Developers who want their Mac available everywhere
- Indie founders shipping from the road
- DevOps engineers handling incidents from anywhere
- Anyone who wants Claude Code, Codex, or Gemini from a phone

Requires an SSH-reachable Mac or Linux server for heavy work. AI chatrooms also work fully offline from your Mac via direct API mode or Apple Intelligence on iOS 26.

What's new (v1.4.0)

Apple Intelligence on-device, ?prefix search mode, push when jobs finish, and one-tap Save as Skill from any trajectory - the biggest update since launch.

APPLE INTELLIGENCE ON-DEVICE (NEW, iOS 26)
Save as Skill, /standup, and /whatif now run entirely on your iPhone or iPad when no Anthropic API key is set. Free, instant, fully private - Apple's FoundationModels framework, nothing leaves the phone. Cascade is API key first (best quality), then Apple Intelligence on-device, then Claude CLI on your Mac as a final fallback. Supported devices: iPhone 15 Pro and newer, M1+ iPads. Toggle in Settings - AI Intelligence (defaulted ON when supported).

? SEARCH MODE
Start any message with ? to route it through propose-evaluate-refine - three chains explore different angles, refinement rounds polish the best ones. Tap the result to open the trajectory graph: chains as columns, rounds as rows, best attempt highlighted with a star. Long-press send for "Send with Search" (one-off trigger) or "Speak with Search" (voice). Pin the winner to ground every follow-up message in that conclusion.

SAVE TRAJECTORIES AS SKILLS
Long-press Select on any research result or background job trajectory, pick 2 to N entries, tap Save as Skill (N). Auto-loads next time a similar question matches its keywords. Works with an API key (3 to 5 seconds) or via Claude CLI on your Mac (30 to 60 seconds).

PUSH NOTIFICATIONS WHEN JOBS FINISH
Two paths: /notifier setup wires Apple Push Notifications from your own Mac (paid Apple Developer account), or /notifier telegram routes through your own Telegram bot for universal-reach push without a developer account. Either way - real iPhone banners when background jobs complete.

NATIVE /research ENGINE
/research no longer needs SimpleTES installed on your Mac. The new in-app loop runs propose-evaluate-refine entirely against the Claude API at about a penny per run. Live progress sheet, full trajectory graph, "Send as Message" to paste the winner.

iOS 26 NATIVE
- Writing Tools (Rewrite, Proofread, Make Friendly) in the chatroom input bar and skill editor
- SpeechAnalyzer for /voice and Speak with Search - better accuracy, lower latency

POLISH
- Slash palette tip-of-the-day surfaces underused commands (/effort, /btw, /think, /duck, /recap, /context, /retry, /pin, /wrapped, /whatif)
- ? typing hint chip below the input bar
- Skill library "Last fired" badges and a Sort by Last used menu
- Cleaner Search section in Background Jobs (auto-prunes ?prefix jobs older than 7 days)
- "What's New" sheet on first launch after every update

Plus everything from v1.3.0 unchanged: Learn Hub, /frugal, /duck, /whatif, /standup, /wrapped, /screenshot, Code Postcards, Context-Aware AI, Proactive Insights.