Alien Desk

A little joy for your terminal.

A small panel on the side of your Mac shows every Claude Code tab. See which one needs you, which is working and which is done, and get there in one click. No more hunting for the tab that's waiting.

Download for MacSee Pro features

Free · macOS 14 or later · For Claude Code in Terminal, iTerm2 or Ghostty

The Alien Desk panel: one tab waiting for you, two working, one done tab offering to switch to a new Claude Code version, one resting

Every tab has a little alien at its desk.

T

Working

It types while Claude Code works.

T

Needs you

It stops and waits for your answer.

T

In the background

Agents are still busy behind the scenes.

T

Resting

Done for now, right where it left off.

Pro · Telepathy

With telepathy, your aliens team up and build something better together.

Link two tabs that depend on each other. When one changes something the other relies on, it says so, and the other reads the change itself before touching its own files.

Good for two jobs where a change in one breaks the other: a server and its client, a Mac app and its iPhone app, a product and its website.

No more copying messages between tabs. Deploys, deletes and other big calls always come to you. How it works and how we tested it →

Pocket Alien · iPhone · Coming soon

Your alien lives in your pocket, too.

While Claude works, take a break in your alien's little room. Toss the ball and it gives chase, or now and then pulls it back with telekinesis. The Panel tab shows what each tab on your Mac is doing, and Games has quick ones to play while you wait.

It never types into your terminal, and your tab information stays between your Mac and your iPhone.

See which tab needs you

A tab asking for permission moves to the top, and a dot appears on the menu bar icon. Finished tabs get a green dot until you look.

Jump straight to it

One click brings the right Terminal, iTerm2 or Ghostty tab to the front, even inside tmux. Nothing is typed for you.

Pick up after a restart

Pro: after a reboot, reopen the conversations you had open, in the folders they were in.

Keep an eye on your usage

Your 5-hour and 7-day Claude usage and when each resets, in the menu or at the top of the panel. Your own status line stays as it is.

UNDER THE HOOD

A small app,
built solid inside.

It stays open beside your terminal all day, so it has to be fast, quiet and trustworthy. Meet the four aliens and what each one looks after.

Speed

Claude never waits on it.

  • The hook that runs each time Claude uses a tool usually finishes in under 10 milliseconds. Heavier work runs separately, in the background.
  • We measure performance in CPU instructions, not by feel, and keep only changes that actually lower the count. That's how the alien animations became five times lighter.
  • On an M1 MacBook Air with 25 Claude tabs open, it typically uses 1–2% of one CPU core.

Stability

A panel that stays steady all day.

  • Left open for days, it doesn't slow down or keep growing in memory.
  • After sleep or a dropped connection, it picks up right where it left off.
  • Notes are kept in two copies, so they can be recovered if a file is damaged.
  • Designed so what you're typing survives quitting, restarting and updates.

Security and privacy

Alien Desk never sends your work anywhere on its own.

  • No account, analytics or tracking. It goes online only to check for updates and your license.
  • It only reads Claude's files, and types into your terminal only when you ask it to. Its own records are locked to your user account.
  • Notarized by Apple, and updates install only when their signature checks out.
  • It only talks to Claude when you ask: a one-line effort request with each prompt only if you turn it on, and a short telepathy note only on tabs you link. With telepathy, linked tabs can read (never change) files in each other's folder without a permission prompt; you can turn that off where you pick the partner.

Joy

A small companion beside a serious terminal.

  • Fifty pixel friends, drawn dot by dot, each with its own walk.
  • The 6×6 dots under each alien flow, blink and pause with the tab's state. When a job is done, the alien hops once to let you know.
  • Pocket Alien for iPhone, coming soon. While your aliens work, take a breather, watch what they're doing, and jot down notes.

Every number on this page is one we measured ourselves. If you'd like to know how, just ask, or read how we tested telepathy.

PRO

When Pro comes in handy

Restarted your Mac? Every conversation, right where it was.One click reopens the conversations you had open, each in its own folder.
Jot it down while Claude works. Paste it when it's done.A one-line note on each tab. Copy it straight into your next request.
The right effort for each request, before Claude starts.Claude suggests a reasoning effort. Click it, paste, and the tab switches.
Closed your terminal by accident? Get it all back at once.Tabs that closed together come back with their conversations.
Claude Code updated? Same conversation, new version.In Terminal, one click restarts a resting tab on the new version and picks up where it was.
The panel you see all day, the way you like it.Pixel and Warm Office themes, as well as Minimal.

Free

$0

Every tab, every state, one click to the right tab, your Claude usage and up to 3 notes.

Pro

$5, one time · lifetime license · special launch price

Telepathy between two tabs, reopen conversations after a restart, move a tab to a new Claude Code version without losing the conversation, unlimited notes, model and effort at a glance with a suggested effort for each task, themes. Try it free for 14 days.

Try free for 14 daysBuy now