The Gateway needs a host that stays awake and connected for the tasks you expect it to perform. Your phone can be a chat client without running the Gateway.
Your options
- Your computer: a practical first trial. No extra hosting bill, but tasks stop when the host sleeps or shuts down.
- A VPS: useful for always-on work. You pay for hosting and must maintain remote access, updates, and backups.
- A home server: control over hardware, with power, network, and storage maintenance left to you.
Size for the workload
There is no universal hardware minimum that fits every setup. The Gateway with cloud inference is much lighter than running local models or several browser sessions. Check the current platform and installation requirements, leave memory and disk headroom, and monitor actual usage before scaling.
Keep remote access private
Do not expose an unauthenticated Control UI or Gateway directly to the internet. Use the official remote-access instructions, an authenticated connection, and a private tunnel where appropriate. A local 127.0.0.1 address refers to the device you are currently using—not automatically your remote server.
For Windows, consult the current Windows guide: native installation and WSL2 are distinct paths. Service startup and file paths vary by platform.