Run PowerShell, Command Prompt and Git Bash on your Windows PC from your phone
Originally published at Agent Terminal's blog . There are three ways to do it. Only one keeps your shell running when your phone disconnects. Best for When the phone disconnects Cost 1. OpenSSH Server Quick commands on your home Wi-Fi Session ends Free 2. OpenSSH + mesh VPN The same, from anywhere
Posted on Oct 24 • Originally published at 4nuva.dev
Originally published at Agent Terminal's blog.
There are three ways to do it. Only one keeps your shell running when your phone disconnects.
OpenSSH Server is the SSH server built into Windows 10 (build 1809) and later. Turn it on and any SSH app on your phone can open a shell on the PC over your home Wi-Fi: Command Prompt by default, or PowerShell or Git Bash. The catch: the shell belongs to the connection, so when your phone locks or switches network, the shell ends. tmux, the usual fix, has no native Windows version. Its install guide covers Linux and macOS; on Windows it runs inside WSL, or through MSYS2 or Cygwin.
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH" -Name DefaultShell -Value "C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\pwsh.exe" -PropertyType String -Force Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode For Git Bash, use C:\Program Files\Git\bin\bash.exe as the value.
Source: Microsoft's OpenSSH setup guide and server configuration page.
A mesh VPN such as Tailscale puts your PC and phone on one private network, so Option 1 works from anywhere without opening a port to the internet. Tailscale's Personal plan is free for non-commercial use. The catch: it changes where you can connect from, not what happens when you disconnect.
A host app runs the shells on the PC and lets your phone attach and detach. Agent Terminal works this way on Windows and macOS: download it, click the phone icon, scan the QR code.
Diagram on the original post: where the shell session lives. With SSH (Options 1 and 2), the shell belongs to the connection and ends when it drops. With a host app (Option 3), the shell belongs to a host process on the PC, and the phone only attaches to it, so when the phone drops the shell is still running.
Why the session survives in Option 3: the phone attaches to a shell the PC owns.
Your phone sees every PowerShell, Command Prompt, Git Bash and WSL tab on the PC, and gets a notification when a long command finishes. It is still SSH underneath, with keys only ( how to check ). Free and self-sustained on your own Wi-Fi. Away from home, the free plan relies on n0's public relays, best effort and not guaranteed; Pro gives you remote access you can rely on ( plans ).
Not natively. You can run it inside WSL, or through the MSYS2 and Cygwin packages. WSL’s tmux keeps a Linux shell alive rather than your PowerShell, Command Prompt or Git Bash session.
Windows opens port 22 for it. Behind a home router that is not forwarding the port, only your own network can reach it. Use keys, and never forward port 22 to the internet.
No. The desktop app is the SSH server, and pairing is one QR scan.
Checked against Microsoft, Tailscale and tmux documentation on 20 October 2026. Written by Edward, from the team that builds Agent Terminal.