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@otani_ai_memo

Claude Code remote-control Not Working? 3 Error Patterns and Complete Fix Guide

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This article was co-written with AI.

Are you hitting "Channels are not currently available" or "Remote Control is not yet enabled" on a Max plan? The root cause is likely the same โ€” telemetry-disabling env vars break all feature flags. See GitHub Issue #36460 for the channels-specific discussion.

๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต ๆ—ฅๆœฌ่ชž็‰ˆใฏใ“ใกใ‚‰ / Japanese version

Introduction

Claude Code's remote-control feature lets you operate Claude Code sessions from a browser or mobile device. It's incredibly useful for checking sessions from your phone or sending instructions from a different device.

However, many users on the Max plan are encountering "Remote Control is not yet enabled for your account." even though they should have access. The same root cause also affects Channels (--channels ignored (Channels are not currently available)) and other gated features โ€” see Issue #36460.

I ran into this issue myself, encountering 3 different errors before finding the solution. Here's a complete guide for anyone facing the same problem.

Environment

Item Value
Claude Code Version 2.1.81
OS macOS (Darwin 24.3.0)
Plan Max
Install Method Homebrew (brew install --cask claude-code)
Terminal Multiplexer cmux

The 3 Errors I Encountered

Error 1: Unknown argument: <UUID> 

$ claude remote-control
Error: Unknown argument: bd96b1c1-3b61-4776-979e-dfe768c7595b
Run 'claude remote-control --help' for usage.

A mysterious UUID is passed as an argument, causing the error.

Error 2: /rc Doesn't Work Inside a Session

> /remote-control
Unknown skill: remote-control

The slash command inside an existing session is interpreted as a skill instead.

Error 3: Remote Control is not yet enabled for your account. 

$ claude remote-control
Error: Remote Control is not yet enabled for your account.

The account reports the feature as disabled despite being on the Max plan. This is the most common error.

Cause 1: cmux Wrapper Interference (Fixing Error 1)

Why It Happens

If you're using cmux, the claude command runs through a wrapper script.

$ which claude
/Applications/cmux.app/Contents/Resources/bin/claude  # โ† wrapper, not the actual binary

This wrapper auto-injects --session-id <UUID> for session management. However, the remote-control subcommand doesn't expect this argument, so the UUID is treated as an invalid argument.

Fix

Edit the cmux wrapper script to add remote-control to the passthrough list.

File: /Applications/cmux.app/Contents/Resources/bin/claude

Before:

case "${1:-}" in
    mcp|config|api-key) exec "$REAL_CLAUDE" "$@" ;;
esac

After:

case "${1:-}" in
    mcp|config|api-key|auth|remote-control) exec "$REAL_CLAUDE" "$@" ;;
esac

Adding auth also ensures claude auth login/logout bypasses the wrapper.

Note: This change may be overwritten when cmux updates. Re-check after updates.

Alternative

If you don't want to edit the wrapper, call the binary directly:

/opt/homebrew/bin/claude remote-control

Cause 2: Telemetry Disabling Breaks Feature Flags (Fixing Error 3)

This is the most important cause. Many users are affected by this.

Why It Happens

Claude Code uses GrowthBook to manage feature flags (enabling/disabling features). Whether remote-control is available is also controlled by these feature flags.

The problem: setting the following environment variables completely disables GrowthBook feature flag evaluation.

Environment Variable Effect
CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC=1 Disables feature flag fetching and evaluation
DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 Same effect

When flag evaluation is disabled, remote-control and all gated features default to false (disabled). Even with Max plan permissions, the flags aren't evaluated, so you're told the feature "is not yet enabled."

How to Check

# Check current shell environment
env | grep -i -E "DISABLE_TELEMETRY|NONESSENTIAL"

# Check .zshrc
grep -i -E "DISABLE_TELEMETRY|NONESSENTIAL" ~/.zshrc

# Check settings.json
grep -i -E "DISABLE_TELEMETRY|NONESSENTIAL" ~/.claude/settings.json

Fix

Remove the relevant lines from .zshrc (or .bashrc, .zprofile):

# Delete these lines
export CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC=1
export DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1

If DISABLE_TELEMETRY is in ~/.claude/settings.json, remove it from there too.

After making changes, open a new terminal. Old environment variables persist in existing terminals.

โš ๏ธ Important: It's understandable to want to disable telemetry for privacy. However, in the current Claude Code implementation, disabling telemetry also kills feature flag evaluation. If you want to use gated features like remote-control, telemetry must be enabled.

Cause 3: Authentication Cache Inconsistency

If fixing telemetry settings doesn't resolve the issue, the token cache from login may be stale.

Fix

Logout and re-login to refresh the cache:

claude auth logout
claude auth login

A browser will open for the OAuth flow. Log in again.

About /rc Inside Sessions (Error 2)

The issue where /remote-control or /rc returns Unknown skill inside a session has been a known bug since late February 2026.

The current workaround is to use claude remote-control as a CLI subcommand instead of the in-session slash command.

Complete Recovery Steps

Here's the definitive step-by-step guide covering all 3 causes:

Step 1: Remove Telemetry Disabling

Delete these lines from ~/.zshrc:

export CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC=1
export DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1

Step 2: Open a New Terminal

You must open a new terminal to pick up the environment variable changes.

Step 3: Update Claude Code

brew upgrade --cask claude-code

Step 4: Logout and Re-login

claude auth logout
claude auth login

Step 5: Fix cmux Wrapper (cmux Users Only)

# Edit /Applications/cmux.app/Contents/Resources/bin/claude
# Add remote-control to the case statement (see Cause 1)

Step 6: Launch remote-control

claude remote-control

remoteControlAtStartup Setting

Instead of running claude remote-control every time, add this to ~/.claude/settings.json to auto-enable it at session start:

{
  "remoteControlAtStartup": true
}

Note: This setting has no effect if the telemetry issue hasn't been resolved. Complete Step 1 first.

Quick Reference

Symptom Cause Fix
Unknown argument: <UUID> cmux wrapper injects session ID Add passthrough to wrapper
Remote Control is not yet enabled Telemetry disabling breaks flag evaluation Remove env vars from .zshrc
Unknown skill: remote-control In-session /rc is a known bug Use claude remote-control from CLI
None of the above works Stale auth cache claude auth logout โ†’ login

Related Links

This Issue Also Affects IDE Terminals

This problem isn't limited to standalone terminals โ€” IDE integrated terminals are affected too.

IDE terminals load your shell profile (.zshrc etc.) on startup, so DISABLE_TELEMETRY and CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC are inherited by Claude Code.

Confirmed in Antigravity

I was using Claude Code in Antigravity (Google's IDE) and remote-control wasn't available. After removing the telemetry env vars from .zshrc and restarting Antigravity, /remote-control appeared correctly.

remote-control working in Antigravity
After fixing .zshrc, /remote-control shows up in Antigravity's terminal

Potentially Affected IDEs

Any IDE with an integrated terminal may be affected:

IDE Terminal Status
Antigravity Built-in terminal Confirmed
VS Code / Cursor Integrated terminal Likely affected
JetBrains (WebStorm, IntelliJ, etc.) Built-in terminal Likely affected
Windsurf Built-in terminal Likely affected

In all cases, removing the env vars from .zshrc and restarting the IDE resolves the issue.

"Telemetry" vs Claude App Privacy Settings โ€” They're Different

If you're thinking "I disabled telemetry for privacy, and now I have to re-enable it?" โ€” here's the clarification.

Claude App Privacy Settings

The location metadata and improvement data settings in the Claude desktop app (claude.ai) control how Anthropic handles your conversation data on their servers. These are unrelated to this issue and can stay off.

Claude Code Telemetry (This Issue)

DISABLE_TELEMETRY and CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC in .zshrc control usage statistics from the Claude Code CLI tool itself. This is a separate system from the desktop app's privacy settings.

Setting Controls Location
App privacy settings Conversation data usage, location Claude app settings UI
DISABLE_TELEMETRY etc. CLI usage stats, feature flags .zshrc or settings.json

Is It Safe to Enable Telemetry?

When you use Claude Code, your code context and prompts are already sent to Anthropic via API calls. This is required for the product to function, regardless of telemetry settings.

Telemetry only adds usage statistics (which features you used, error data, performance metrics). Disabling telemetry doesn't stop your code from being sent.

In short, disabling telemetry has almost no privacy benefit, but breaks feature flags โ€” that's the current situation.

Conclusion

Many of us disabled telemetry for privacy reasons โ€” myself included. But currently, disabling telemetry is coupled with feature flag evaluation, which means remote-control and all other gated features stop working.

This is a design issue that Anthropic should address. Telemetry opt-out and feature flag evaluation should be independent controls.

I hope this helps anyone struggling with the same issue.

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