A menu bar pulse for your Claude Code sessions

What it does

Claude Status Bar is a macOS utility that parks itself in your menu bar and mirrors the live state of any running Claude Code session. It animates when Claude is thinking or running tools, flashes a yellow dot when it needs your permission, and counts elapsed time for the current turn. The app handles multiple sessions at once—terminal, Desktop Code tab, or even Cursor—and automatically starts and quits alongside them, so it never sits around wasting menu bar space.

The interesting bit

The app is essentially stateless: it polls hooks that it auto-merges into ~/.claude/settings.json on first launch, then aggregates activity across every live session into a single icon. It makes only one network call a day, to check for updates, and otherwise runs offline. The “Crab Walking” pixel-art animation option is a charming bit of unnecessary polish.

Key highlights

• Tracks Claude Code CLI, the Desktop app’s Code tab, and Cursor’s Claude Code extension
• Three animation styles: web-style Claude Spark, terminal glyph spinner, and a pixel-art “Crab Walking” crab
• Multi-session priority queue: permission requests always surface above thinking sessions, with a dropdown listing every live session
• Signed, notarized DMG with automatic hook installation—no manual wiring
• Runs fully offline except for a daily GitHub release check

Caveats

• macOS 12+ only; does not track Claude Desktop’s Chat/Cowork tab
• Per-tab focus tracking is still in progress (issue #19)
• Sessions opened before an app update won’t appear until they send a new prompt or restart

Verdict

Worth installing if you spend hours in Claude Code and want ambient awareness without another window. Ignore it if you primarily use Claude in the browser chat tab or on non-Mac hardware.