ClaudeBar.
macOS menu bar tracker: see what Claude is doing without opening the terminal.
Claude runs invisibly.
When you work with Claude Code, the session runs in the background: tool calls, API requests, occasional long builds, occasional waits. In the terminal that’s visible. But anyone working in another window — browser, Notion, mail — has no view on whether Claude is still running, whether something errored, whether it’s done.
The standard workaround is tab switching every 30 seconds. It breaks flow.
A status line as a menu bar resident.
ClaudeBar sits in the top-right macOS menu bar and shows: current session, token usage in percent, whether a tool is running. Click the icon: dropdown with active sessions, context utilisation, recent logs. No notification spam, no tab switching.
Live in personal use since March 2026. DMG installer signed and notarised. Next phase: multi-account support, splitting Scholly’s and personal Claude sessions in separate views.
/ tech-decisions
Three decisions that mattered.
Native
Swift instead of Electron
Electron for a menu bar app is overkill: 200 MB RAM for a status indicator. Swift + AppKit gets it down to 30 MB RAM, instant cold start, native look. Steeper learning curve, worth it for a tool that's always running.
Distribution
Signed DMG installer
App Store distribution would be 99 €/year Apple Developer plus review cycles. Instead: notarised DMG download. No sandbox restrictions — the app reads Claude Code session files directly.
Data Source
Local JSONL files, no API
Claude Code writes session logs as JSONL into the home directory. ClaudeBar reads them directly — no API calls, no auth, no latency. Polling every 5 seconds on file change, costs ~0% CPU.
/ other apps