# Claude Island Published January 1, 2026 · Updated August 10, 2026 Dynamic Island-style notifications for Claude Code CLI sessions Category: Developer Tools · Free · [Official website](https://claudeisland.com/) ## Install from the official site This app appears to be discontinued — it has no Homebrew cask and its website is offline. ## Quick take Claude Island (now Vibe Notch) remains a clever, free Mac companion for Claude Code multitasking: live notch status and permission buttons. Rename awareness is mandatory in August 2026. Install if you run long agent jobs on a notched MacBook; skip if you already dedicate a monitor to terminals. Pair with claude-devtools for full observability. Best for: Claude Code users on notched MacBooks, Developers who multitask during long agent runs, People who want approve/deny without finding the right terminal ## What is Claude Island? Claude Island is the original name of a macOS menu-bar utility that shows Dynamic Island-style live status for Claude Code sessions in the MacBook notch (or menu bar). As of 2026 the project is actively maintained under the name Vibe Notch (repository farouqaldori/vibe-notch), with README branding "Vibe Notch (previously Claude Island)". Search demand for "Claude Island" remains, so this page covers the rename clearly: same product lineage, new name, still free/open source (Apache 2.0). Problem it solves: Claude Code can run for minutes, reading files, applying patches, waiting on tests, while you are in a browser or Figma. Without a HUD you either babysit the terminal or miss permission prompts. Vibe Notch/Claude Island installs hooks into ~/.claude/hooks/, listens over a Unix socket, and expands a notch overlay with live session state, chat history snippets, and approve/deny controls for tool permissions so you can respond without Command-Tab gymnastics. Requirements: macOS 15.6+, Claude Code CLI, and a notched or menu-bar-capable Mac. v1.3 (April 2026) resumed regular maintenance after a break following v1.2 (December of the prior year). Analytics: Mixpanel collects anonymous app launch and session-started events, no conversation content per project docs, which privacy-sensitive users should note. Pricing: free. Not an Anthropic product. Complements claude-devtools (forensics) rather than replacing it. Competitors/adjacent: generic notch apps, Waygu-like HUDs, and simply keeping the terminal visible on a second monitor. Naming and discovery: Homebrew or blog posts may lag the rename. If a tutorial says `claude-island` and the binary fails Gatekeeper checks, switch to the vibe-notch releases. Assets in the repo may still show ClaudeIsland scheme names and app icons from the earlier branding, that is expected during transition, not proof of a fork war. Always prefer the maintained GitHub org/user farouqaldori/vibe-notch over random reuploads. Day-in-the-life detail: you start two Claude Code sessions, one migrating a Rails service, one fixing a TypeScript UI. You jump into Linear to triage bugs. The notch shows the Rails agent waiting on a permission to run db:migrate. You deny, type a safer command in the terminal, approve a narrower tool, and return to Linear. Without the island you would have discovered the stall twenty minutes later. That time-to-unblock is the product's core KPI. Limitations to set expectations: it will not visualise ChatGPT Codex or Cursor agents; it will not replace transcripts in claude-devtools; it will not fix bad prompts. It also cannot exceed macOS notification and accessibility permission rules, if your company disables accessibility APIs, parts of the overlay may not function. Battery impact is usually minor compared with the agent itself, but animated overlays still cost some energy on long days. Setup hygiene: after upgrading Claude Code, confirm hooks still fire. If status freezes, restart Vibe Notch, then Claude Code, then check ~/.claude/hooks contents. Keep the app updated when macOS minor versions ship (Tahoe 26.x point releases can tweak notch safe areas). For screenshots in documentation, be careful not to leak proprietary code shown in history peeks. Community sentiment on Reddit and X historically praised the novelty of a Dynamic Island for agents and asked for multi-agent ecosystems beyond Claude. Whether Vibe Notch expands beyond Claude Code is a roadmap question; today you should evaluate it strictly as a Claude Code companion. If your stack is Codex-heavy, look at other HUDs or stick to terminal layouts. In August 2026 the practical install path is still: search Claude Island, land on Vibe Notch, confirm macOS 15.6+, pair it with Claude Code on a paid plan, and keep claude-devtools for after-the-fact traces. The niche is small. The utility is real when you leave the terminal often. The rename is the detail most install guides still get wrong. ## Features - **Notch Dynamic Island UI.** Animated overlay expanding from the MacBook notch with session status for Claude Code. - **Live multi-session monitoring.** Track multiple concurrent Claude Code sessions without hunting terminal tabs. - **Permission approvals from the notch.** Approve or deny tool executions inline when Claude Code requests permission. - **Chat history peek.** View conversation history with markdown rendering from the overlay. - **Auto-setup hooks.** On first launch, installs hooks under ~/.claude/hooks/ and wires Unix socket communication. - **Menu bar fallback.** Works as a menu bar citizen when notch real estate is busy or unavailable. - **Focus jump to session.** Click through from the overlay to bring the relevant terminal session forward when attention is required. - **Maintenance cadence after v1.3.** April 2026 release messaging emphasises returning to regular updates and PR review after a multi-month pause. ## How to Install Claude Island / Vibe Notch on Mac Use the current Vibe Notch releases even if you searched for Claude Island. 1. **Install Claude Code first.** The app is useless without Claude Code CLI sessions. 2. **Download Vibe Notch.** Get the latest release from github.com/farouqaldori/vibe-notch (formerly Claude Island). 3. **Launch and allow hooks.** First run installs ~/.claude/hooks/ integrations. 4. **Start a Claude Code session.** Confirm the notch/menu bar updates with live status. ## Pros - Solves real Claude Code multitasking pain on notched MacBooks - Inline permission approvals save context switches - Free and open source with renewed 2026 maintenance (v1.3) - Auto hook setup lowers friction - Clear rename path from Claude Island to Vibe Notch documented upstream ## Cons - macOS 15.6+ requirement excludes older OS holdouts - Claude Code-specific, not a generic AI agent HUD for Codex/Cursor - Anonymous Mixpanel analytics may bother strict privacy policies - Depends on hook APIs that can break when Claude Code changes - Niche UI, some users prefer a second monitor terminal ## Notch UX for coding agents MacBooks with notches turned a decorative cutout into a status strip for long agent runs. On Reddit and X, people liked the novelty of a Dynamic Island for Claude Code and asked when other agents would get the same treatment. Vibe Notch still answers only the Claude Code case: if you run Codex or Cursor agents, look at other HUDs or keep a terminal pane always visible. The product KPI is time-to-unblock, not pretty animation. When a session freezes mid-permission, the overlay is faster than hunting the right tmux pane. ## FAQ ### Is Claude Island discontinued? It was renamed to Vibe Notch, not abandoned. Use the vibe-notch repository and releases. Older Claude Island builds may be stale. ### Does it work without a notch? Menu bar operation covers non-notch Macs, though the signature UI is notch-oriented. ### Is it free? Yes, Apache 2.0 open source. ### What macOS version is required? macOS 15.6 or newer per current README. ### Does Anthropic make Claude Island? No. It is an independent companion to Claude Code. ### Does it send my code to the cloud? The project documents Mixpanel analytics for app/session events without conversation content. It does not replace Claude Code's own network calls to Anthropic when you use the agent. ### Can I build from source? Yes, the README documents xcodebuild for the ClaudeIsland scheme. Most users should prefer signed release builds. ### Does it support external displays only? It is designed around the menubar/notch of the Mac running Claude Code; external display behaviour follows normal macOS menu bar rules. ### Is there an App Store version? Distribution is primarily via GitHub releases rather than relying on Mac App Store discovery; check the repo for current channels. ### How does this relate to Mobile for Claude Code apps? Third-party mobile controllers let you drive a Mac agent from iPhone; Vibe Notch is local Mac UI. They solve different distance problems. ### Should every Claude Code user install this? Install when you multitask away from the terminal regularly or need faster permission UX. Skip if you always watch the agent full-screen on a second display and dislike extra menu bar apps. ## Sources - [Vibe Notch README (previously Claude Island)](https://github.com/farouqaldori/vibe-notch) - [Vibe Notch README raw](https://github.com/farouqaldori/vibe-notch/blob/main/README.md) - [SourceForge mirror note](https://sourceforge.net/projects/claude-island.mirror/) - [Claude Code product](https://www.anthropic.com/claude-code) - [r/macapps Claude Island thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/macapps/comments/1pibmoq/claude_island_dynamic_island_for_claude_code/) - [claude-devtools companion](https://claude-dev.tools/) ## Related - [Cursor](https://bundl.run/apps/cursor) - [Claude Code](https://bundl.run/apps/claude-code) - [ChatGPT](https://bundl.run/apps/chatgpt) - [Claude](https://bundl.run/apps/claude) - [Codex](https://bundl.run/apps/codex) - [Windsurf](https://bundl.run/apps/windsurf) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://bundl.run/#organization", "name": "Bundl.run", "url": "https://bundl.run", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://bundl.run/og-image.png", "width": 1200, "height": 630 }, "description": "The Ninite for Mac. 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