OpenCode on iPad: 3 Ways to Run It

You can run OpenCode on an iPad today, but not directly on iPadOS. The fastest path is Cosyra on the App Store. The same iOS app runs natively on iPad Pro, iPad Air, and iPad mini, and the Ubuntu container it provisions has Anomaly's opencode CLI already installed alongside Claude Code, Codex CLI, and Gemini CLI. Pair a Magic Keyboard, connect a model provider, type opencode, and the agent is up. Sign up gets you 1 hour free, no credit card. The two other real options, running opencode web on your own box and opening it in Safari, or SSH from Blink Shell into a machine where you installed it, are covered below, because OpenCode has no native iPad app and the path you pick decides what babysits the host.

This guide is the iPad-specific companion to our OpenCode on your phone walkthrough, which is our most-read guide. The phone version covers iPhone and Android generically, and there is a dedicated OpenCode on iPhone guide for the iOS-only host paths; this one focuses on what changes when the screen gets bigger: Magic Keyboard, Split View, Stage Manager, and the way an iPad plus a real keyboard turns into a serious coding client. If you want the broader picture of all four AI agents on mobile, start there. If you are weighing OpenCode against Anthropic's agent, our Claude Code vs OpenCode comparison lines them up feature by feature, and our Claude Code on iPad guide is the sibling to this one for the same form factor.

Why is there no OpenCode app for iPad?

There is no OpenCode app for iPad because OpenCode is a CLI binary, not a phone app. It is Anomaly's open-source AI coding agent (the project was previously under the SST org). It is MIT-licensed, multi-provider across Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and local models, with a TUI by default. As of 2026-06-27 it sits at roughly 180,000 GitHub stars on v1.17.11, and the install matrix in the README covers macOS, Linux, and Windows. iPadOS is not on that list, and unlike OpenAI's Codex there is no managed cloud agent you can just open in a browser.

Here is the opinion that the "just SSH into a server" crowd pushes back on: chaining your iPad to a Linux box in a closet at home defeats the reason you reached for an iPad in the first place. The whole appeal of a tablet is that it goes on the train and the couch with nothing tethering it. The moment your home box sleeps or the network drops, an SSH-only setup has nothing to talk to. That is why we run the container in the cloud: there is no machine of yours to keep awake, and the same OpenCode session is reachable whether you are on the iPad now or an iPhone in a waiting room later.

A note before the options, because a quick search for "OpenCode iPad" turns up native iOS apps: those exist, but they are community-built clients (for example opencode-mobile) that connect to an OpenCode server you run, not the agent running on the tablet. They are honest, useful projects, but they still need a host. Every iPad path lands on the same question: whose Linux box runs OpenCode, yours or ours.

What are the three ways to run OpenCode on iPad?

There are three real ways to run OpenCode from an iPad as of 2026-06-25: a cloud container with OpenCode pre-installed (Cosyra), opencode web on your own remote box opened in Safari, and SSH from Blink Shell into a machine where you installed OpenCode yourself. They are not interchangeable — the difference is who provides the always-on Linux host. We walk through each below.

1. Cosyra (cloud terminal, OpenCode pre-installed)

This is what we build. The Cosyra iOS app is a universal binary that runs on iPad with the full iPadOS UI: multitasking, Slide Over, Split View, Stage Manager, external display. You get a persistent Ubuntu 24.04 container with OpenCode, Claude Code, Codex CLI, and Gemini CLI already installed, 30 GB storage, and session hibernation that resumes exactly where you left off. Because the container is x86_64 Ubuntu with glibc and Node 20+ — exactly the environment OpenCode's Linux build expects — the Termux misdetection bug and the missing-arm64 postinstall failure that plague phone installs simply do not happen here. The same container is reachable from iPhone, Android, or web.

• Works when: you want zero setup on iPad and OpenCode running on a real Linux host without owning one.
• Breaks when: you have no internet (the container is in the cloud), or you need a local macOS toolchain like Xcode (the container is Ubuntu, not macOS).
• Cost: 1 hour free on signup, no credit card. Extend with a 10-hour, 7-day trial when you want more. After that, $29.99/month or $300/year. OpenCode is MIT-licensed and free; you bring your own provider key and the provider bills you for tokens. See pricing.

2. opencode web on your own box, opened in Safari

OpenCode's client/server design is the genuinely clever part here, and it is where OpenCode beats every closed agent: opencode web starts a headless server with a browser UI you can drive from anywhere. The catch is the binding. Per OpenCode's web docs, the command "starts a local server on 127.0.0.1 with a random available port" — localhost only. To reach it from an iPad you run opencode web --hostname 0.0.0.0 on the host and set OPENCODE_SERVER_PASSWORD, then open the host's address in Safari. The same applies to the opencode serve HTTP API that the community iOS clients connect to.

• Works when: you already run a VPS or always-on desktop and want OpenCode's own UI on the iPad's big screen.
• Breaks when: the host sleeps, you skip the password and expose the server, or the mobile browser UI hits the rough edges users report (see the FAQ). You are also responsible for the TLS/tunnel to do this safely over the open internet.
• Cost: free software plus whatever the host machine costs.

3. SSH from Blink Shell to your own machine

The classic remote-into-your-own-box path, and the most battle-tested. Blink Shell is a paid iOS terminal ($19.99 annual subscription as of 2026-06-25 per the App Store listing) with Mosh and tmux support refined over years. You SSH into a desktop or VPS where you ran npm i -g opencode-ai, start tmux so the session survives app switching, and drive the opencode TUI from there.

• Works when: you already have an always-on Linux box or Mac and are comfortable with SSH plus tmux.
• Breaks when: the host sleeps or the VPN drops. Chaining the iPad to a machine in the closet defeats the portability that made you reach for an iPad.
• Cost: Blink Shell ($19.99/yr) plus whatever the host machine costs.

How do you run OpenCode on iPad with Cosyra?

You set up OpenCode on iPad in about three minutes: install Cosyra from the App Store, pair a Magic Keyboard (optional but recommended), connect a model provider, and type opencode. No npm install, no --hostname 0.0.0.0, no SSH tunnel, no box of your own. The steps below are exactly what we run on a fresh iPad.

Step 1: Install Cosyra on iPad

Open the App Store on your iPad and search for Cosyra. The app is a universal iOS binary, so the same listing covers iPhone, iPad Pro, iPad Air, and iPad mini. Sign in with Apple, Google, or email and the app provisions a fresh Ubuntu 24.04 container on first launch, with OpenCode already on the PATH. The first launch takes about 15 seconds in our testing.

Step 2: Pair a Magic Keyboard and arrange Split View

Attach the Magic Keyboard or any Bluetooth keyboard with a trackpad. The trackpad is the part that matters: it gives you a cursor for text selection, link tapping, and scrollback that the on-screen interface cannot. Then pull a second app in as Split View — we usually keep Safari on the right with the GitHub repo open and Cosyra on the left with the OpenCode TUI. On M-series iPads (any M1/M2/M3/M4 iPad Pro or iPad Air from 2022 onward) you can switch to Stage Manager for floating, resizable windows and a second display over USB-C.

Step 3: Connect a provider and run opencode

OpenCode is provider-agnostic, so the first step is telling it which model to use. The interactive way is opencode auth login, which walks you through Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, or a local backend. The key-export way is the most predictable inside a container:

Clone a repo and start a session:

OpenCode reads the repo and starts working. It ships two built-in agents: the default build agent has edit access, and the plan agent is read-only for when you want analysis before any changes. Switch models mid-session with --model provider/model — that one flag is OpenCode's signature trick and the reason a lot of people keep it in the rotation next to Claude Code. On iPad, the larger screen means you can read the full diff without scrolling, which is the single biggest ergonomic win over the phone.

Which iPad keyboard shortcuts matter for OpenCode?

The iPad shortcuts that matter for OpenCode are the iPadOS multitasking ones, not in-app ones. Cosyra is a normal terminal, so the OpenCode TUI gets Ctrl-C, Ctrl-D, and the arrow keys once a hardware keyboard is attached. The system-level shortcuts worth memorizing:

• Globe key + Q — show the App Library to pull Safari in next to Cosyra.
• Globe key + Up arrow — open the multitasking switcher to set up Split View or Stage Manager groups.
• Cmd + Tab — cycle apps, the same as macOS.
• Cmd + Space — Spotlight. Type "cosyra" to jump straight to the terminal from any app.
• Press and hold the mic key on the Magic Keyboard to dictate a task. Dictation is faster than typing for the natural-language part of an agent session, and OpenCode tasks are usually a sentence or two.

What does iPad OpenCode look like in practice?

iPad OpenCode in practice looks like Cosyra on the left with the TUI, Safari on the right with the repo or docs, and short typed or spoken tasks driving the agent. Two workflows we run from an iPad regularly:

Couch feature work with Split View

Evening on the couch, you want a small endpoint added before tomorrow. Open Cosyra, pull the branch, drag Safari in with the repo, switch OpenCode to the model you want, and hand it the task:

OpenCode writes the handler, wires the route, adds the test, and runs the suite, streaming each step. You read the diff on the big screen and commit with git commit from the same terminal. No laptop in the loop.

Plan agent first, build agent second, on an external display

Plug an M-series iPad Pro into a USB-C display and enable Stage Manager. Start with opencode --agent plan in one window to get a read-only analysis of how a refactor should go, then run the default build agent in a second window to execute it, with Safari showing the staging environment. Because both run in the same Ubuntu container, they see the same files and git history, so you are not syncing anything. The iPad is the workstation; the container is the source of truth.

How do the iPad OpenCode options compare?

The options compare cleanly when you line them up against what matters for an agent: does OpenCode actually run, who supplies the always-on host, and what happens when that host sleeps. The table covers the three real iPad paths as of 2026-06-25. For the wider field of editors and cloud terminals beyond OpenCode, our coding on iPad guide lines every option up the same way.

Choose Cosyra if you want OpenCode genuinely running with no machine of your own and the same container across iPad, iPhone, and Android. Choose opencode web if you already run a box and like the browser UI. Choose Blink plus SSH if you want full control of your own host and trust your tmux setup. The honest tie-breaker is the closet test: if there is a machine at home you are willing to keep awake forever, the self-hosted paths are free; if there is not, the cloud container is the only one that survives the train.

Frequently asked questions