NightdeskGet the app

AI assistants

Plug your AI assistant into your phone.

Nightdesk for Mac and Linux are MCP servers. Connect Claude Code, Codex or Claude Desktop on your computer, then ask it to make a deck page for your repo, send the APK to your phone, or buzz you when the tests pass.

01Set it up

One line, then just ask.

Nightdesk 1.39 or later, on the computer and on your phone. Nightdesk has to be running on the computer; your assistant starts the small bridge to it by itself. Nightdesk’s window has these lines too, under AI assistants, with Copy.

On a Mac

Claude Code

claude mcp add nightdesk -- /Applications/Nightdesk.app/Contents/MacOS/Nightdesk --mcp

Codex

~/.codex/config.toml
[mcp_servers.nightdesk]
command = "/Applications/Nightdesk.app/Contents/MacOS/Nightdesk"
args = ["--mcp"]

Claude Desktop

claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nightdesk": {
      "command": "/Applications/Nightdesk.app/Contents/MacOS/Nightdesk",
      "args": ["--mcp"]
    }
  }
}

On Linux

Claude Code

claude mcp add nightdesk -- ~/.local/bin/nightdesk-host mcp

Codex

~/.codex/config.toml
[mcp_servers.nightdesk]
command = "/home/you/.local/bin/nightdesk-host"
args = ["mcp"]

Any other MCP client

its mcpServers settings
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nightdesk": {
      "command": "/home/you/.local/bin/nightdesk-host",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

In a settings file, put your own home folder in place of /home/you: ~/.local/bin/nightdesk-host mcp --help prints these lines with it filled in.

For apps that want a web address, the running app also answers at http://127.0.0.1:52710/mcp, on this computer only, with a token: Nightdesk’s window (on Linux, nightdesk-host mcp --help) shows it in a line to paste.

Then ask in your own words

  • “make me a Control Deck page for this repo’s scripts”
  • “notify my phone when the tests pass”
  • “build a debug APK and send it to my phone”
  • “add a key that opens Figma to my Design page”

02What it can do

17 tools, in plain words.

Build your Control Deck

  • See what keys can be made of on your phone: icons, colours, page templates, the computer’s actions, media keys, press styles and your AI tools’ commands.

    list_deck_options

  • Read your pages, and every key on them with what it does.

    list_deck_pagesget_deck_page

  • Make a page (empty, from a template, or with its keys), rename it, choose the app or AI tool that brings it up, move it or delete it.

    create_deck_pageupdate_deck_pagemove_deck_pagedelete_deck_page

  • Add, change, move and delete keys: a shortcut, text, an app, one of the computer’s actions, media, an AI tool’s command, a macro or MIDI, with any press style.

    add_deck_keyupdate_deck_keymove_deck_keydelete_deck_key

Reach your phone

  • Send files, text or a link to your phone while it’s linked. Files land in Download › Nightdesk, text comes with a Copy button, a link opens with a tap.

    send_to_phone

  • Notify it: at once if it’s linked, else kept for up to 7 days and shown the next time it links.

    notify_phone

Read the computer

  • Its name, system and Nightdesk version, and who’s linked right now.

    get_computer_status

  • Live stats: CPU, GPU, memory, power and battery, disk, network and the busiest processes.

    get_system_stats

  • Your paired phones and tablets, and which one is linked now.

    list_phones

  • The apps installed on it, for keys that open them.

    list_apps

03Good to know

Your deck stays yours.

  • Both ways, with Undo

    An assistant’s change shows on your phone at once, with Undo for a few seconds. What you change on the phone goes back to the computer, so the assistant always sees the deck you have. If you both changed the same key, yours wins.

  • When the phone is away

    Deck changes, and notifications for up to 7 days, wait for the phone’s next link. Files, text and links go to a phone that’s linked.

  • On your computer only

    Your assistant talks to Nightdesk on the same computer, and nothing is reachable from another machine. Assistants that run on the internet, such as ChatGPT, are coming.

  • What it never does

    No tool runs commands, types, clicks or presses a deck key. Your assistant already works on your computer; Nightdesk only looks after the deck and the phone.

  • Private

    Nightdesk notes which tool was used and how it went, never the files, text or notifications themselves. Your phone’s link stays end-to-end encrypted.

  • The first time

    Deck tools need your phone’s layout: open Nightdesk on the phone once while it can reach the computer. It sends its Control Deck every time it links.

04Stories

What it looks like on an ordinary day.

Sunday, 10:20 a.m.Elif, open-source maintainer

“Make me a page for this repo’s scripts.”

Elif’s project has a dozen scripts between its package.json and its Makefile, and she still types them from memory, flags and all. Making a deck key for each one, by hand on her phone, kept losing to actual work.

With Nightdesk

  1. She connects Claude Code to Nightdesk once, with the line Nightdesk’s window gives her under AI assistants.
  2. She asks: “make me a Control Deck page for this repo’s scripts.” Claude reads both files and makes a page called Repo, with a key for each script that types it and presses Return.
  3. It’s on her phone at once, with Undo. One more ask makes Release wait for a one-second hold, and brings the page up by itself whenever VS Code is in front.
  • AI assistants (MCP)
  • Control Deck

6:12 p.m.Mira, backend engineer

The tests passed. Her phone says so at the next stop.

Mira left Claude Code fixing a flaky test and running the full suite, forty minutes of it, and ran for her train. She didn’t want to keep linking in just to see whether it had finished.

With Nightdesk

  1. On her way out she adds a line to the prompt: “when the suite is done, notify my phone with the result.”
  2. The suite finishes while her train is in a tunnel. Her phone isn’t linked, so Nightdesk on her desktop keeps the notification for it.
  3. At the next stop she opens Nightdesk. As it links, the phone buzzes: “All 412 tests pass. Ready for review.”
  • AI assistants (MCP)
  • Notifications

1:40 p.m.Arjun, Android developer

Codex built the APK. It’s already on his phone.

Arjun asked Codex on his Mac to fix a crash in his app’s settings screen, then got pulled into a meeting two floors up. He wants to try the fix on his own phone before anyone else does.

With Nightdesk

  1. Nightdesk is linked on his phone. In Write he asks Codex: “build a debug APK and send it to my phone.”
  2. Codex runs the build, then hands the file to Nightdesk. It lands in Download › Nightdesk on his phone.
  3. He installs it under the table, opens settings, and the crash is gone.
  • AI assistants (MCP)
  • Files both ways
  • Write

Every story

Let your assistant reach your phone.

Free on the computer you control. The phone or computer you control it from: 14 days free, no account, no card.

Coming to Google PlayFor Mac and Linux