Guide
A Mac mini for Claude Code, or a computer in the cloud?
Once your agent works for hours at a time, your laptop is the wrong place for it. Here is how the other two compare.
The short answer
Your laptop is fine while you sit with it, but it sleeps, travels, and holds everything you own. A Mac mini at home stays on and runs macOS, but you buy it, keep it plugged in, and set up a way in from outside.
A computer in the cloud, like a tile, takes one line to set up and you can reach it from anywhere. It runs Linux, so work that needs Xcode stays on a Mac.
Checked . Other companies’ tools change often, so look at their own pages too.
Why your laptop is the wrong place for long jobs
- It sleeps. Close the lid and the job stops partway.
- It holds everything. An agent on your laptop can reach your files, your keys and your other projects.
- It’s the computer you’re using. Builds and tests slow down everything else you do.
Three places your agent can run
| Your laptop | A Mac at home | A tile | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keeps working when you close your laptop | No | Yes | Yes |
| macOS, for Xcode and the iOS Simulator | Yes | Yes | No. It runs Linux (Ubuntu 24.04). |
| Getting started | Nothing to do | Buy it, then set it up to stay on and to let you in from outside | One line in Terminal. Your project, tools and sign-ins come along. |
| Getting in from elsewhere | Not when it’s shut | A way you set up yourself, like SSH over a VPN | Run tiles ssh, or open it in any browser, your phone too |
| What your agent can reach | Everything on your laptop | Everything on that Mac | Only what you bring to it, and it asks before secrets |
| Open to the internet | No | Depends on how you set it up | No open ports |
| Looking after it | You do | You do: power, updates, your home network | Tiles does |
| Running models on it | Depends on your Mac | Yes, with enough memory | Not really. It starts at 2 GB of memory and grows to 16 GB. |
When a Mac mini is the right call
- You build iPhone or Mac apps, and need Xcode or the iOS Simulator.
- You want to run models on your own hardware.
- You’d like to own the machine, and you don’t mind looking after it.
What it asks of you
- Keep it plugged in and online.
- Turn off sleep, and set it to start again by itself after a power cut.
- Set up a way in from outside your home, like SSH over a VPN.
- Run your agent in tmux, so it outlives your connection.
- Keep macOS, Node and your tools up to date.
When a computer in the cloud is the right call
- Your work runs on Linux: a web app, a server, a script.
- You want to start today, without buying or setting up hardware.
- You’d rather your agent didn’t share a computer with your own files and keys, for instance to let it work without asking.
A tile is that computer, made for coding agents. It comes with Docker, Node.js, Python, Git, tmux, Claude Code and Codex. Claude Code and Codex use your own Claude or ChatGPT plan, and nothing reaches it from the internet: you get in only through Tiles.
curl -fsSL https://ai-tiles.com/computer.sh | sh
Paste it in Terminal on a Mac or Linux. On Windows, use WSL. Every step is in How to keep Claude Code running.
Give your agent a computer of its own.
Get your tileMore about Running agentsMore guides
- Keep Claude Code running after you close your laptopSix ways to keep your agent working, what each asks of you, and how to pick.
- Use Claude Code from your phoneFour ways to check on your agent and steer it from your phone, and what each one needs.
- Run Claude Code with --dangerously-skip-permissions, safelyLet your agent work without asking, on a computer where a mistake costs little.
- Put your Claude Code app online and share itA place to run, a database, keys and sign-in, and who can open it.