What is Claude Pulse?

Claude Pulse is a free macOS app that lives in your MacBook notch. It monitors every Claude Code session running on your Mac and lets you approve tool calls, handle permission prompts, and track usage in two seconds — without switching away from what you're doing.

Is Claude Pulse free?

Yes, completely free. No subscription, no trial, no account. Download the DMG, drag to Applications, launch.

How is Claude Pulse different from other Claude Code notch apps?

Three things. Safety-aware batch approval: rm -rf, DROP TABLE, and force-push always require manual confirmation even in batch mode. Focus-aware expansion: identity is captured at the hook source inside the terminal tab, so the notch bounces instead of expanding when you're already looking at the session. And live Anthropic usage with no second login — Claude Pulse reads the Claude CLI's existing Keychain credentials.

Which terminals does Claude Pulse support?

Ghostty, iTerm2, Terminal.app, WezTerm, Kitty, Warp, Alacritty, Hyper, and Tabby. tmux is supported directly — approvals are routed to the right pane by PID or working directory.

What macOS version do I need?

macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later, on a MacBook with a notch (2021 MacBook Pro or newer). Apple Silicon required.

Does Claude Pulse send my session data to the cloud?

No. Claude Pulse runs entirely on your local machine. Session data, tool approval history, and configuration never leave your device. Plan usage data is read from the Claude CLI's existing Keychain credentials — Claude Pulse is a read-only consumer; it doesn't talk to Anthropic itself.

Does Claude Pulse work with Docker, Lima, or remote containers?

No. The Claude Code hook socket lives on the host filesystem and isn't reachable from inside a container namespace, so Claude Code sessions launched inside Docker, Lima, distrobox, or similar will not appear in Claude Pulse. Native host sessions and tmux are fully supported.

How do I install Claude Pulse?

Download the notarized DMG from claudepulse.app/download, drag Claude Pulse to Applications, and launch it. On first run, grant Accessibility and Automation permissions in System Settings. Setup takes about 30 seconds.

Changelog

What's new in Claude Pulse

v1.0 — April 2026

CORE

Core

Live session tracking

See all active sessions at a glance. Breathing status dots show what each session is doing.

Core

One-tap permission handling

Approve or deny from the notch with full context: tool name, input preview, last 3 completed tools.

Safety

Safety-aware batch approval

Batch-approve safe tools with one keystroke. Dangerous operations (rm -rf, DROP TABLE, force-push) always require manual confirmation.

Keyboard

Keyboard-first workflow

Double-tap ⌃ opens notch. Number keys select. Enter approves. Esc dismisses. Shift+Enter batch approves.

INTELLIGENCE

Intelligence

Focus-aware expansion

Identity captured at the hook source inside the tab. The notch bounces instead of expanding when you're already looking at the session. Covers Ghostty, iTerm2, Terminal.app, WezTerm, Kitty, Warp, Alacritty, Hyper, Tabby.

Intelligence

Automatic session discovery

Launch the app, it finds your existing Claude Code sessions automatically. No restart required. No setup.

Terminal

Deep tmux support

Sends approvals directly to tmux panes. Finds sessions by PID or working directory.

Intelligence

Per-session context usage

Ground truth from the CLI's own JSONL usage block, never estimated. Per-model limits: 1M for Opus 4.7 and Sonnet 4.6, 200k for Sonnet 4.5 and Haiku 4.5. A faint underlay on each session row tells you exactly how close to compaction you are.

Intelligence

Live plan usage, no second login

Live 5-hour and weekly limits from Anthropic, read-only via the Claude CLI's existing Keychain credentials. macOS asks once — Always Allow — silent forever. You see your limits before you hit them, without ever logging in twice.

POLISH

Polish

30-second setup

Arc-style cinematic walkthrough. Sign in with Apple or Google. Hooks install automatically.

Polish

Ambient instrument UI

Stochastic firefly heatmap. Breathing dots. The notch is alive, not just a status display.

Polish

Hover to peek

Hover the notch and it opens fast. Optional: auto-close on hover leave for mouse-heavy workflows. VoiceOver and Reduce Motion respected.