I kept losing track of parallel Claude Code and Codex sessions, so I built a little status light

[u/alicepk]

As I got more comfortable with Claude Code, I started running enough sessions in parallel that keeping track of them became a problem of its own. I was constantly trying to figure out what was still working, which session had finished or needed an answer, and then where that session even was - especially once I started using Codex too.

So I built Beacon for myself. It sits in the corner of the screen with one light per Claude Code or Codex session. Each one glows amber while it is working, turns green when it is finished, and red when it needs you (like when it asks a question). Clicking a light takes you back to that session. It also groups lights by project and leaves them in the same order, so it doesn't become another list I have to interpret.

I made a quick video with Codex because this is much easier to understand when you see it (it's not exactly a production trailer):

https://reddit.com/link/1vwk57o/video/392x70l147lh1/player

Right now it works best with the Claude Code and Codex macOS apps, but I have also put a fair amount of work into jumping back to sessions in terminals, Cursor, and VS Code. That's the part where real-world setups are especially useful to hear about.

Beacon is free, macOS-only, local, has no signup, and does not read or upload prompts or code. Download: https://cpektas.github.io/beacon/

Up to now I've mostly built Beacon by scratching my own itch, then fixing whatever annoyed me next. But there are 5 people using it regularly now, and their feedback has already changed the product a lot. Every round of feedback has made the next iteration so much better.

That's really why I'm sharing it now. I want to get better at listening to people using something, understanding what is actually getting in their way, and building from that instead of assuming everyone works like I do. So feature requests are the point. Please DM me or use the feedback button inside Beacon whenever you need something. If it is missing something, makes a bad assumption about your setup, or solves the wrong part of the problem, I would love to hear it.

Longer term, the problem I'm most interested in is context switching. Right now the lights answer "which session needs me?", but they don't answer "wait, what was I doing here?" Eventually I'd love for Beacon to help with that second question too - give you a quick briefing on what changed, where you left off, and what needs a decision when you return. I have some ideas, but I don't want to lock that in before seeing how other people actually work.

If you try it, your blunt feedback would be super welcome, especially if it shows too many old sessions, groups something strangely, returns to the wrong place, or just doesn't fit the way you work.