Simmer

Simmer is a lightweight macOS menu bar app that surfaces the live status of your Claude Code sessions. See at a glance whether Claude is working, waiting on you, or finished — and jump straight to the session that needs attention.

⬇ Download for macOS · ▶ Watch with sound

Features

• At-a-glance status in the menu bar — working, action needed, done, or idle.
• Multiple sessions tracked at once. The menu bar reflects the most urgent session; the dropdown lists every session with its current state.
• Audible and visual alerts when a session needs input or finishes.
• Jump to a session — click any session to bring its terminal window forward.
• Local only. No account, no network, no telemetry. All state stays on your Mac.

Requirements

• macOS 13 or later
• Claude Code
• Xcode (to build from source)

Install

Download (no Xcode needed):

1. Grab Simmer.zip from the latest release and unzip it.
2. Move Simmer.app to your Applications folder.
3. Simmer isn't notarized yet, so macOS flags it as from an "unidentified developer." Clear the quarantine flag once, in Terminal:
   copy

   xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Simmer.app
   

   (Or right-click Simmer.app → Open → Open.)

Or build from source (requires Xcode):

gh repo clone grantgws/Simmer && cd Simmer && ./install.sh

After installing:

1. Open the menu bar item and choose Connect to Claude Code. This registers Simmer's hooks in ~/.claude/settings.json.
2. Restart any running Claude Code sessions so the hooks take effect.
3. Optionally enable Launch at Login.

How it works

Claude Code emits hooks on session events — prompt submitted, tool use, awaiting input, and turn complete. Simmer installs a small hook script that records each session's state to a per-session file in ~/.claude/simmer/sessions/. The app watches that directory and renders the aggregate status.

Connecting writes Simmer's hooks to ~/.claude/settings.json (backing the file up first and refusing to modify it if it can't be parsed). Disconnecting removes those hooks cleanly, so uninstalling never leaves Claude Code in a broken state.

Permissions

• Notifications — to alert you when a session needs input.
• Automation (Terminal) — used only when you click a session to focus its terminal window. Simmer can raise a window; it cannot read or type anything.

Uninstall

Choose Disconnect from Claude Code in the menu (this removes Simmer's hooks), then quit Simmer and move it to the Trash.

Building and releasing

See SIGNING.md and RELEASING.md.

License

MIT. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic. "Claude" and "Claude Code" are trademarks of Anthropic.