I built a free Mac app that tells you when Claude Code needs you (so you can stop watching your terminal)

February 5, 2026

The problem

I've been using Claude Code daily for months. It's incredible for productivity - until you realize you've been in a meeting for 40 minutes and Claude has been waiting for permission to edit a file since minute 2.

I tracked this for a week. Average time Claude sat waiting before I noticed: 34 minutes per session. With 4-5 sessions a day, that's 2+ hours of dead time. Every day.

What I built

Claude Code Notifier - a free macOS menu bar app that:

Hooks into Claude Code automatically (zero config, no wrapper commands)
Sends native notifications when Claude needs input
Stays silent when your terminal is in focus (this is the key - it won't spam you when you're already looking at Claude)
Tracks multiple sessions simultaneously
Has iOS + Android companions for responding from your phone

The key insight

The notification isn't the product. Getting your flow back 34 minutes sooner is the product.

And critically: notifications that fire when you're already at your terminal train you to ignore them. Smart suppression - knowing when to shut up - is what makes the difference between a tool you keep and a tool you disable.