TextMe

Overview

njerschow/textme is a local daemon that bridges inbound iMessages (via Sendblue) to a Claude Code session on the user's machine. Whitelisted phone numbers can text, send voice notes, send images, and drive Claude through filesystem operations, code execution, and cd-based directory navigation — turning the user's phone into a remote control for Claude on their laptop. This is the inbound counterpart to outbound notification patterns ([[sendblue-notify]]): textme is phone → Claude; sendblue-notify is Claude → phone.

When to Use This Skill

• Use when the user says "text Claude", "text my laptop", "drive Claude from my phone", "I want to send iMessages to Claude", or "let me code from my phone".
• Use when the user is heads-down away from their desk and wants to kick off, supervise, or interrupt a Claude session via SMS/iMessage.
• Use when setting up a long-running headless workstation that the user wants to remote-control while travelling or away from the keyboard.
• Pair with [[sendblue-notify]] for bidirectional flow — outbound completion pings + inbound commands on the same Sendblue account.
• Do not use for outbound-only "text me when X finishes" patterns. That is [[sendblue-notify]] and does not need a daemon.

Prerequisites

• macOS or Linux host that stays online (the daemon polls Sendblue continuously).
• Node.js 18+.
• An active Sendblue account with API credentials and a provisioned iMessage number — set up via [[sendblue-cli]] (sendblue setup, then sendblue show-keys to surface API key/secret).
• Claude Code installed and authenticated on the host (npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code).
• Optional: an OpenAI API key for Whisper voice-note transcription.

How It Works

Step 1: Install the daemon

git clone https://github.com/njerschow/textme.git
cd textme/daemon
npm install
npm run build
mkdir -p ~/.config/claude-imessage

Step 2: Configure credentials and the whitelist

Create ~/.config/claude-imessage/config.json:

{
  "sendblue": {
    "apiKey": "YOUR_SENDBLUE_API_KEY",
    "apiSecret": "YOUR_SENDBLUE_API_SECRET",
    "phoneNumber": "+1SENDBLUE_NUMBER"
  },
  "whitelist": ["+1YOUR_PHONE"],
  "pollIntervalMs": 5000,
  "conversationWindowSize": 20
}

The whitelist is the only authorization gate between an inbound iMessage and code execution on the host. Treat it as a security boundary, not a UX preference. Add only phone numbers the user controls; never add a shared, work, or family number "just in case".

For voice transcription, optionally add to .env in the daemon directory:

OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...

Step 3: Run the daemon

For a quick test run:

cd textme/daemon
npm start

For persistent operation (recommended once the user has verified behavior):

pm2 start dist/index.js --name textme
pm2 save
pm2 startup

Or, on macOS, install the launchd service:

./scripts/install-launchd.sh

Step 4: Drive Claude from iMessage

Once the daemon is running, an iMessage from a whitelisted number to the Sendblue phone number reaches Claude. Built-in commands:

Anything else is treated as a Claude prompt and routed to the active session.

Step 5: Verify before relying on it

Before using textme in unattended workflows, the user must:

1. Send status from the whitelisted phone — should get a directory + state reply.
2. Send a benign command (pwd, ls) and confirm output arrives.
3. Send something from a non-whitelisted number and confirm it is ignored, not echoed.
4. Pull the plug: kill the daemon and confirm messages stop being processed (no zombie process).

If any of these fail, do not enable launchd / pm2 auto-start.

Examples

Example 1: Initial setup walk-through

# 1. Make sure sendblue CLI is set up and creds work
sendblue whoami

# 2. Grab Sendblue API key & secret (these are NOT the CLI's bearer token)

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