Pocketty – iPhone SSH terminal that pings you when an agent is blocked

Hello~! pocketty is an SSH terminal for iPhone and iPad, made for herdr. herdr keeps your agent panes alive on your computer and knows the state of each one: working, needs you, or done.I made this in anger/desperation for the latter half of my recent paternity leave. Nap traps are sweet, but there's only so much doom-scrolling and movie-watching I can handle... In any event, I've been using it for the last couple months and no longer have to be my desk anymore to be productive. Now the nap-traps are still productive (when i want them to be) !How it works:- The app talks to your computer directly over plain SSH. Tailscale is the easy way to reach it from anywhere but any SSH host you can reach works.- A small Rust daemon on the host watches herdr. When a pane needs you, it seals the alert to your phone's key with HPKE (X25519, ChaCha20-Poly1305). A stateless relay (pocketty's) on Cloudflare Workers passes the sealed bytes to APNs (Apple Push Notification servers), and a notification extension opens them on the phone. The relay can't read them and keeps nothing.- Your SSH key is made in the Secure Enclave and can't be exported.- The terminal uses libghostty-vt for state and draws with wgpu on Metal, so full-screen TUIs look like they do on your desk, albeit narrower.- Diffs for each agent turn, a file browser, and previews of `localhost` dev servers your agent starts, all through the same SSH connection. No port forwarding to set up.herdr and the daemon are optional. Without them, it's a normal SSH client.There's no account to set up and no analytics or tracking in the app. The app runs a 14-day free trial, with full feature access. Then, if you're as happy as I am with it, then it can be yours forever with a one-time purchase: $99 for the first two weeks (launch promo) then $129 after that.Happy to answer anything about the sealed push setup or running libghostty on iOS.

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FL score

78

out of 100

Verdict

VALIDATE

high confidence

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Pocketty is a secure iOS SSH terminal that alerts developers when remote agents need attention, enabling productive remote work without being tied to a desk.

The pain

Developers running long-lived SSH agents remotely often miss critical alerts and must stay at their desks to monitor progress, reducing flexibility and productivity.

The gap

Existing SSH clients lack integrated, secure push notifications tied to agent states, forcing users to rely on manual checks or complex setups.

Build angle

A technically sophisticated, privacy-focused app leveraging secure enclave keys and encrypted push notifications, built by a solo developer with Rust and iOS expertise.

Strengths

  • Clear and specific pain point for remote developers
  • Strong technical implementation with security and privacy
  • No account or tracking lowers friction and privacy concerns
  • One-time purchase model simplifies monetization

Risks

  • Niche market limits growth potential
  • High price point may deter casual users
  • Dependence on herdr and Rust daemon adds setup complexity
  • Limited appeal outside advanced developer users

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