Claude Pet

Claude Pet is an independent macOS app by Thomas Lorenzini that shows a pixel pet in the MacBook notch and reacts to what Claude Code is doing. It listens to Claude Code's hooks, so it works with the claude CLI and the Code tab of Claude Desktop. The current release is version 0.3.0, and the source is published under GPL-3.0.

What It Is

Claude Pet is a menu-bar and notch companion for Claude Code users on Apple Silicon Macs. Each Claude Code hook event becomes a small animated scene: thinking, working with a per-tool icon, needing you, an error, done, or napping after ten seconds of quiet. With several sessions open, the pet follows the one that matters most, so a session needing input is never hidden behind one that is working.

Answering Claude from the notch

When Claude asks a question or requests a permission, a banner slides out of the notch. You can pick single or multiple choice answers, type your own with Other, or Allow, Deny or Ignore a permission request. Claude Code keeps the first answer it receives, whether it comes from the pet, the terminal or Claude Desktop. A menu-bar panel also shows rings for the 5-hour limit, the weekly limit and context window fullness. Account limits are opt-in and off by default.

Setup and privacy model

You drag the app from the disk image into Applications. On first launch a screen lists the hooks it will add to ~/.claude/settings.json and a status line relay, and settings are backed up before every write. Declining quits without writing anything. The app listens on 127.0.0.1 only and checks GitHub once a day for updates, which can be turned off. Uninstall from Settings removes only its own hooks and restores the original status line.

Requirements and limits

The download is built for Apple Silicon (M1 or later) on macOS 13 or later and does not run on Intel Macs, though it can be built from source. Without a notch, or on an external display, the pet floats on the desktop. The first launch requires bypassing Gatekeeper because the app is not yet notarized.