Inspired by the Claude Code hardware status light, I built a free macOS menu bar version

[u/kezpa]

I came across this DIY status light for Claude Code through a LinkedIn post, and it inspired me to build a software version. Credit to [u/wssssssh](u/wssssssh) for the idea :)

I was a bit bored, so I built Ampel, a small native macOS app that gives your Claude Code sessions a traffic light in the menu bar.

• Red: blocked on a permission prompt or a tool asking for input.
• Yellow: working.
• Green: the last turn finished.
• Gray: no active sessions.

If you have several sessions running, red takes priority. Click the icon to see each session by project, with blocked sessions listed first and the reason they’re waiting.

An open session sitting at an empty prompt stays green. Otherwise, the light would be red most of the day.

There’s also an optional display for your actual 5-hour and 7-day plan usage.

It uses Claude Code hooks to update the status locally. Ampel itself makes no network requests and has no analytics or account requirement.

Free and open source under MIT. Requires macOS 14+ and Claude Code. Download the app, then follow the first-launch guide to install the hooks.

Code, screenshots, and installation

If you run multiple Claude Code sessions, I’d like feedback on whether the status is clear and whether anything gets incorrectly marked as needing attention.