How CTRL Micro works

The three pieces

The controller is the iPhone app: keys, a dial, a joystick, and a touch panel. It sends neutral input, not commands. It never talks directly to a desktop app or AI provider.

The Host is the Mac app. It receives that input, decides what the selected client should do with it, performs the action, and reports what actually happened.

The client is what the board currently controls: your Mac, Codex, Claude, Cursor, or something you built yourself. Switching clients changes the whole board.

Input goes from the controller to one selected Host and one selected client. CTRL Micro never sends an action to every client or every paired Mac.

Pairing

The Host shows a pairing code that you enter once on the iPhone. After that, the controller and Host connect locally. Pairing credentials stay on the paired devices.

You can pair more than one Mac. Exactly one is the Active Host, and only that Mac receives your controls.

Voice

Hold to talk and your Mac transcribes locally. The text goes to the selected client as a prompt or to the writable field that was focused when dictation began.

Permissions

The Host requests a permission only when a control needs it. Accessibility enables visible desktop controls and input. Microphone and Speech Recognition are requested only for the dictation engine that uses them. The Permissions page explains what each grant unlocks.

Notifications

Background notifications are optional. When enabled, a paired Host can send an encrypted task route for completion, attention, or failure. Notifications contain no prompt or task content, and opening one never sends a control action.

Offline use

No account is required to use CTRL Micro. License activation requires the internet once. After activation, purchased local access works offline and refreshes its signed lease periodically.