Claude Code can continue after you close the laptop you are using to watch it only if the execution environment remains available elsewhere—or the laptop itself remains awake under a supported setup. Closing a controller is different from putting the machine that runs the task to sleep.
For a normal local Claude Code process, assume sleep or shutdown interrupts execution. A phone view does not change that. Anthropic's Remote Control documentation distinguishes local execution from cloud sessions and requires the local host and process to remain running.
Identify three separate things
Write down the execution host, the control device, and the saved state.
- The execution host runs commands and reads the repository.
- The control device displays the conversation or desktop.
- Saved state includes files, conversation history, and any recoverable task information.
A task can have saved history without a live process. A live process can also be waiting for a human rather than making progress. The persistent-session guide covers those distinctions in more detail.
Match your situation to the right expectation
This is a reasoning framework, not an uptime guarantee. Every path can still stop on a failed command, approval, usage limit, or unavailable dependency.
Consider a test suite running on a Mac at home. Closing the browser on your travel laptop does not itself shut down the home Mac. Putting the home Mac to sleep is a different event. The useful troubleshooting question is “which machine stopped?” rather than “which screen closed?”
Test a short, reversible task first
Use a test project with no external side effects. Ask for one existing read-only check and a saved result containing its completion time. Confirm the execution location before starting.
Disconnect the viewing device, then reconnect after the expected completion window. Inspect the saved output and the process or task status. Do not infer success from a spinner, a notification, or an answer that merely repeats the request.
If the task did not finish, determine whether it lost its execution host, waited for input, exceeded capacity, or failed its own check. Those causes require different changes. Do not grant broad unattended permissions simply to remove a pause.
Choose a separate host only when it solves your problem
A dedicated Mac can make sense for Mac-specific software or a persistent development environment you do not want tied to your travel laptop. A supported cloud workspace may be simpler when the project does not need macOS. An existing Mac may be enough if you can maintain its availability and security.
The workspace selection guide provides the project-level comparison. Agent.Space's Dedicated Mac page describes the rented hardware option; model subscriptions and usage remain separate considerations.
Leave an approval and recovery plan
Before a longer task, define its stopping conditions: a product decision, a destructive change, a purchase, or production access should not become automatically authorized because you are away. Save a checkpoint and a recovery instruction for the next session.
Choose the host first, prove it can finish a small task, then increase the workload. If you want a shared place for instructions, files, and review evidence, start an Agent.Space workspace. Remote access is useful, but a clear completion check is what tells you the work actually continued.