BUDDYBAR

BuddyBar is a native macOS menu bar app that gives Claude Code users a pixel art companion. An animated sprite lives in your menu bar and reacts to your Claude Code sessions in real time — thinking when code is being generated, celebrating when tasks complete, and alerting you when input is needed.

The CLAUDE.md Optimizer analyzes your current CLAUDE.md configuration against Anthropic's best practices and generates optimized suggestions with a single click. It automatically backs up your current config before applying changes, supports smart merge to preserve your custom rules, and lets you restore any previous version from the backup history.

The Skill Store is a built-in marketplace for discovering, installing, and managing Claude Code skills and plugins. You can browse curated collections, see trending picks and install counts, and install or uninstall any skill with one click — all without leaving BuddyBar.

BuddyBar displays all your active Claude Code sessions directly in the macOS menu bar. Each session shows a real-time status — idle, running, waiting for input, or completed — with color-coded indicators. You can handle approval requests with a single click without switching to the terminal window.

BuddyBar displays CPU usage and memory pressure right in your menu bar, so you can monitor your system load while Claude Code sessions are running. This helps you stay aware of resource consumption without opening Activity Monitor or any other utility.

Yes, BuddyBar is completely free. You can download it right now from the download section above or from the GitHub releases page.

Claude Code is Anthropic's AI coding assistant that runs in the terminal. BuddyBar enhances the Claude Code experience by providing a visual, always-visible status indicator in your macOS menu bar. You can monitor sessions, handle approvals, and stay aware of your AI assistant's state without switching windows.

BuddyBar requires macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later and is built as a universal binary, supporting both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. It is not available on Windows or Linux.

No. BuddyBar runs entirely on your Mac and does not upload any data to the cloud. It reads Claude Code session status locally through the filesystem and never records, transmits, or stores your code, conversations, or personal information on any remote server. Everything stays on your machine — you can use it with complete peace of mind.

If BuddyBar is running but not visible in your menu bar, it's likely hidden because you have too many menu bar apps installed. macOS hides overflow items when space runs out. To fix this, hold the Command (⌘) key and drag other menu bar icons to rearrange them — move less important ones to the right to make room for BuddyBar. On macOS 15 (Sequoia) and later, you can also check the hidden items section by clicking the arrow (›) on the left side of the menu bar. If BuddyBar still doesn't appear, try quitting and relaunching the app.

BuddyBar currently focuses on Claude Code integration. We are planning to support additional AI coding assistants such as Codex, Gemini, and others in the future. Stay tuned for updates!