Claude Island

A macOS menu bar app that brings Dynamic Island-style notifications to Claude Code CLI sessions.

• Notch UI — Animated overlay that expands from the MacBook notch
• Live Session Monitoring — Track multiple Claude Code sessions in real-time
• Permission Approvals — Approve or deny tool executions directly from the notch
• Chat with Claude — Send messages to Claude directly from the notch UI
• Chat History — View full conversation history with markdown rendering
• Global Hotkey — Press Cmd+Shift+C anywhere to open notch and focus chat
• Open in iTerm — Jump directly to your terminal session with one click
• Multi-line Input — Write multi-line messages with Cmd+Enter to send
• Auto-Setup — Hooks install automatically on first launch

• macOS 15.6+
• Claude Code CLI
• tmux (required for chat functionality)

Download the latest release or build from source:

xcodebuild -scheme ClaudeIsland -configuration Release build

brew install tmux

1. Start a tmux session:

   tmux new -s claude

2. Run Claude Code inside tmux:

   claude

3. Open Claude Island notch:

   • Click on the notch area, or
   • Press Cmd+Shift+C (global hotkey)

4. Chat with Claude:

   • Select your session from the list
   • Type your message in the input field
   • Press Cmd+Enter to send (or click the send button)

Claude Island sends messages to Claude Code using tmux send-keys. Without tmux, the app cannot communicate with your terminal session.

iTerm/Terminal
  └── tmux (session manager) ← Claude Island sends messages here
        └── Claude Code

Click the terminal icon in the chat header to open iTerm and:

• Attach to the tmux session (if running in tmux)
• Or navigate to the working directory

Access settings by clicking the notch and selecting the menu icon:

• Notification Sound — Choose sound when Claude is ready for input
• Launch at Login — Start Claude Island automatically
• Share Analytics — Opt-in to anonymous usage analytics (off by default)
• Display Screen — Choose which screen to show the notch

Claude Island installs hooks into ~/.claude/hooks/ that communicate session state via a Unix socket. The app listens for events and displays them in the notch overlay.

When Claude needs permission to run a tool, the notch expands with approve/deny buttons—no need to switch to the terminal.

Claude Island uses Mixpanel to collect anonymous usage data (opt-in, disabled by default):

• App Launched — App version, build number, macOS version
• Session Started — When a new Claude Code session is detected

No personal data or conversation content is collected. You can enable/disable analytics in Settings.

Problem: Input field shows "Open Claude Code in tmux to enable messaging"

Solution: Make sure Claude Code is running inside a tmux session:

tmux new -s claude
claude

Problem: Cmd+Shift+C doesn't open the notch

Solution: Grant Accessibility permissions to Claude Island in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility

Problem: The notch UI doesn't show up

Solution:

1. Check if Claude Island is running (look for the menu bar icon)
2. Make sure you're on a display with a notch, or check "Display Screen" in settings

Apache 2.0