Direct answer: DigitalOcean Cuttlefish is a free iPhone app for starting, watching, steering, pausing, and approving actions from AI coding agents running in DigitalOcean Managed Agents. It supports agent harnesses including Codex CLI, Claude Code, OpenCode, OpenHands, Hermes, LangGraph, and CrewAI, but the service is still in public preview and DigitalOcean says not to use it for production or sensitive workloads.[1][4]
Quick facts
- App: Cuttlefish by DigitalOcean
- Availability: Apple App Store; iPhone-focused
- Requirement: iOS 26.5 or later and a DigitalOcean team with Managed Agents access.[2][3]
- App price: Free; Managed Agents and related services are billed separately.[3][4]
- Best use today: Test repositories, disposable environments, supervised agent experiments, and low-risk workflows.
- Avoid for now: Production systems, sensitive data, or approvals you cannot properly review on a phone.[4]
What Cuttlefish actually does
Cuttlefish is a mobile control surface for AI agents that run on DigitalOcean rather than on the iPhone. Closing the app or locking the phone does not stop the cloud session. You can follow replies, reasoning, and tool calls; send corrections; stop, pause, or resume work; and allow or deny tool requests.[1][2]
For approvals, the app displays the full command, path, or diff rather than only a short summary. Requests that Cuttlefish classifies as risky can require Face ID or the device passcode.[1][2]
It can also browse workspace files, upload files or photos, preview artifacts, create checkpoints, roll back, and fork a session. DigitalOcean says the app works with the supported harness your team runs on Managed Agents rather than locking you to one coding agent.[1][2]
Before you install it
Use this preflight checklist:
- Confirm the iPhone runs iOS 26.5 or later.
- Confirm your DigitalOcean team has access to Managed Agents.
- Use a test repository or a reversible branch.
- Remove real customer data, production credentials, and unnecessary secrets.
- Set a device passcode and Face ID before approving agent actions.
- Decide which commands should be allowed automatically, which must ask, and which must always be denied.
- Create a rollback point before giving the agent write access.
The first two items are product requirements. The remaining items are risk controls based on the preview status and DigitalOcean’s warning that risk labels may not identify every dangerous action.[2][4]
How to install and connect Cuttlefish
- Open the official App Store listing for Cuttlefish by DigitalOcean.
- Install the app and tap Sign in with DigitalOcean.
- Complete sign-in in the browser sheet.
- Choose a team that has Managed Agents access.
- Accept the OAuth scopes required for reading, creating, operating, and managing agent sessions, plus Action Gateway and GenAI access.
- Select an existing environment or use the guided form to create one.
- Choose the agent harness and model, review the sandbox size and displayed hourly price, and start a test session.[2][3]
If sign-in fails with “Cuttlefish needs access to Managed Agents to work,” DigitalOcean’s documentation says to confirm that all requested scopes were allowed and that the selected team can use Managed Agents.[2]
A safer first-session test
Do not make your first task “deploy the site” or “fix production.” Use a reversible test:
- Create a temporary branch.
- Ask the agent to inspect the repository and write a short plan without changing files.
- Ask it to edit one non-critical file.
- Review the exact diff in Cuttlefish.
- Deny one request and include a reason, to confirm the feedback loop.
- Allow a harmless request.
- Create a checkpoint.
- Ask for a second small change, then test rollback or fork.
- Review the result on a desktop before merging anything.
This sequence tests visibility, approval, denial, checkpoint, and recovery behavior before the agent can touch important systems.
Safe approval checklist
Before tapping Allow, check all of the following:
- Command: Is this the exact command the task needs?
- Target: Is it operating on the expected file, directory, branch, account, and environment?
- Scope: Could a wildcard, recursive flag, or broad path affect more than intended?
- Privilege: Does it use
sudo, elevated access, or a privileged token? - Network: Does it download or pipe remote code into a shell?
- Git: Does it force-push, rewrite history, delete a branch, or merge without review?
- Data: Could it expose, overwrite, or delete secrets or customer data?
- Recovery: Is there a checkpoint, backup, or clean rollback path?
- Review: Can you genuinely assess the full command or diff on the phone screen?
Cuttlefish specifically flags patterns such as recursive deletion, force-pushes, sudo, and scripts piped from the internet, but DigitalOcean states that these warnings are conveniences and may not catch every risky action.[2][4]
If any answer is unclear, deny the request and ask the agent for a narrower command or a plain-language explanation. Device authentication confirms who approved an action; it does not prove that the action is safe.
Notifications and one important delay
Cuttlefish can notify you when a session needs approval, completes, or fails. Notifications are prompt while the app is open, but DigitalOcean warns that background delivery is controlled by iOS, may be delayed by many minutes, and stops after the app is force-quit.[2]
That means Cuttlefish should not be treated as a guaranteed real-time incident channel. For time-critical workflows, keep a separate monitoring and alerting path.
Current limitations
DigitalOcean lists several jobs that still require the Control Panel, doctl, or the API:
- creating or editing Toolbelts
- editing tools on an existing environment
- connecting provider accounts for Action Gateway tools
- answering questions the agent asks
- in-depth code review or code editing[2]
There is also an important distinction between a tool-call approval and a question from the agent. Cuttlefish can approve or deny a tool request, but it cannot currently answer an agent question; DigitalOcean directs users to doctl for that case.[2]
Privacy and data handling
DigitalOcean’s documentation says sign-in tokens stay in the iPhone Keychain and are revoked when you sign out. Cached transcripts and session lists are excluded from device backups and deleted at sign-out. Prompts, files, and photos you send are transmitted to DigitalOcean and to the model provider used by the environment.[2]
The preview terms also make the operator responsible for reviewing instructions, approvals, and AI output. The app is free, but agent compute and connected services can still incur charges.[4]
Who should try Cuttlefish now?
Cuttlefish is most relevant to developers and teams already testing DigitalOcean Managed Agents who want to supervise long-running coding sessions away from a desk. Its strongest practical feature is not “coding from a phone”; it is keeping a human approval step available when a cloud agent pauses for permission.
Wait if you need production guarantees, mature mobile code review, guaranteed instant alerts, or support for sensitive workloads. DigitalOcean provides the app as a preview without an SLA and says features may change or be discontinued.[4]
FAQ
Is DigitalOcean Cuttlefish free?
The app is free to download. DigitalOcean Managed Agents and other services used through it are charged separately.[3][4]
Does Cuttlefish run the AI agent on my iPhone?
No. Agents, sandboxes, and tool execution run on DigitalOcean infrastructure; the iPhone app supervises those sessions.[2][4]
Which coding agents does it support?
DigitalOcean lists Codex CLI, Claude Code, OpenCode, OpenHands, Hermes, LangGraph, and CrewAI among the supported harnesses on Managed Agents.[1][3]
Can I approve terminal commands from my phone?
Yes. Cuttlefish can show the full command, file path, or diff and let you allow or deny the request. Risky requests may require Face ID or the device passcode.[1][2]
Can I use it for production work?
DigitalOcean’s preview terms say the app is not recommended for production or sensitive workloads and recommend test data.[4]
What iPhone version is required?
DigitalOcean’s documentation and the App Store listing require iOS 26.5 or later.[2][3]
What happens if I close the app?
The agent session continues on DigitalOcean. Background notifications can be delayed, and they stop after force-quitting the app.[2]