Guide
The best Mac notch apps for Claude Code and Codex in 2026
The best notch app for Claude Code depends on your setup. Pick CodeIsland for the most complete free option, Vibe Island if you run many different agents and want to pay once, Crest for free approvals inside a full notch utility, Coucou for an iPhone companion, and Notchbird if your agents run on other machines or you share your screen often.
Quick picks
| If you want | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The most complete free app | CodeIsland | 30+ agents, approvals for many of them, usage meters, SSH hosts, signed and notarised |
| The most agents, paid once | Vibe Island | 25 to 30 agents, plan review, SSH remotes, $19.99 per Mac |
| Free approvals plus a calendar and shelf | Crest | Approvals for Claude Code, Codex and Copilot CLI on the free tier |
| Approvals on your iPhone too | Coucou | Free, with an iPhone app for Lock Screen approvals |
| Open source, in the style of Vibe Island | Open Island | GPL-3.0, 13 agents, signed builds |
| Claude Code only, with usage detail | Notch Pilot | 5-hour, weekly and per-model limits, plus dangerous-command warnings |
| Agents on servers, with nothing installed there | Notchbird | Reads Claude Code and Codex on a dev box over plain SSH |
| A notch that stays out of screen shares | Notchbird | Hidden from screenshots, recordings and sharing by default |
Side by side
| App | Price | Allow/Deny from the notch | Agents | Other machines | Usage meters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CodeIsland | Free, MIT | Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI and more | 30+ | SSH; installs a helper and hooks on the server | 5-hour and weekly, opt-in | Open |
| Vibe Island | $19.99 once per Mac, 1 year of updates; 2-day trial | Claude Code and a few others | 25 to 30 | SSH, auto-reconnect | Claude, Codex, Kimi, GLM, DeepSeek | Closed |
| Crest | Approvals free; Pro $14.99/yr, $2.99/mo or $24.99 once | Claude Code, Codex, Copilot CLI | 3 | Lists SSH hosts; details not documented | Not stated | Closed |
| Coucou | Free, MIT | Claude Code (with Always), Codex | 9 | No; iPhone app via iCloud | Claude 5-hour and weekly | Open |
| Open Island | Free, GPL-3.0 | Yes; depth varies by agent | 13 | No | Claude and Codex | Open |
| Ping Island | Free, Apache-2.0 | Yes | 14 | SSH; installs a bridge binary on the server | Forwards usage over SSH | Open |
| AgentPeek | $14.99 once for 1 Mac, $24.99 for 2, $34.99 for 3; 3-day trial | Supported prompts for a subset of agents | 26 | Remote Hermes connections only | Token usage | Closed |
| Vibe Notch (Claude Island) | Free, Apache-2.0 | Claude Code | 1 | No | No | Open |
| Notch Pilot | Free, MIT | Claude Code (with Always) | 1 | No | 5-hour, weekly, per model | Open |
| Notchbird | $24/yr, $3/mo or $49 once; 14-day trial | Claude Code (opt-in); Codex not yet | 2 | One SSH machine at a time, nothing installed | Claude and Codex | Closed |
The apps
CodeIsland
The most feature-complete free option. It installs and repairs hooks for more than 30 agents and answers approvals and questions for Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode and others. It shows task progress, git branch chips and 5-hour and weekly Claude limits, and it can push to your phone or team chat while you're away. Remote hosts work over SSH, with a small helper and hooks installed on the server. Builds are signed and notarised and update through Sparkle. Codex hooks need a manual trust step. macOS 14 or later.
Vibe Island
The best-known paid app, at $19.99 once for one Mac with a year of updates, and two- and three-Mac options. It supports 25 to 30 agents and more than 20 terminals, reviews Claude's plans in Markdown, and connects to SSH servers with automatic reconnects. One review found only three of 26 agents could be answered from the notch, so check that yours is one of them. Pick it if you switch between many agents and prefer to pay once. See Vibe Island alternatives if it isn't the right fit.
Crest
A full notch utility with free approvals. Claude Code, Codex and Copilot CLI prompts can be answered without an account, including typed answers to Claude's questions, which Crest enters into the terminal through Accessibility. Beyond approvals, Crest has a calendar with one-click meeting joins, a file shelf, clipboard, weather, window layouts, a screen recorder and meeting transcription, and Pro unlocks the agents widget and the full set. Each licence covers two Macs, and there is team pricing. More in Crest alternatives.
Coucou
The fastest-growing app in the category, with nearly 4,000 GitHub stars ten days after launch. It answers Claude Code prompts with Allow, Deny or Always, answers Codex prompts, handles up to four questions at a time and shows a live diff counter. Its iPhone app brings approvals to the Lock Screen with Face ID, synced through your own iCloud. It needs macOS 15, and it is changing quickly, with 169 open issues and pull requests.
Open Island
An open-source app in the style of Vibe Island, under GPL-3.0, signed and notarised. It covers 13 agents including Claude Code and Codex in both CLI and desktop forms, jumps back to the exact tab in more than 15 terminals, and has a usage dashboard. Approval depth varies: some agents are notify-only, and Codex's blocking hook isn't installed by default.
Ping Island
Free under Apache-2.0, covering 14 agents with approvals and follow-up answers. Its SSH support installs a bridge binary on the remote machine and rewrites the remote hooks to point back at your Mac. It also has themes and a pet you can detach from the notch.
AgentPeek
A one-time purchase from $14.99, for Apple Silicon Macs on macOS 14 or later. Beyond agent status and answering supported prompts, it shows token usage, opens agent config files, and finds local dev servers so you can open, copy or stop them. Earlier listings quoted $9 or $19; the price on its site today is $14.99.
Vibe Notch (formerly Claude Island)
The app that started the category. It's free, Claude Code only, and approves prompts from the notch with chat history in Markdown. Its README says it is actively maintained, but the last commit was on 20 April 2026, and it sends anonymous launch events to Mixpanel. It needs macOS 15.6. See Claude Island alternatives.
Notch Pilot
Small, free and Claude-only, with features the bigger apps lack: real 5-hour, weekly and per-model usage from Claude's usage endpoint, warnings for dangerous commands such as rm -rf /, and an activity heatmap. It is ad-hoc signed, so macOS asks you to right-click and Open the first time, and the last commit was on 30 April 2026.
Notchbird
Notchbird watches Claude Code and Codex on this Mac with no setup, and on one other Mac or Linux machine at a time over SSH with nothing installed there. If you use Tailscale, it lists your machines so you can pick one. Claude Code prompts and questions can be answered from the notch once you opt in; unanswered prompts go back to the terminal, and Notchbird never approves on its own. It shows Claude and Codex usage limits, and it is hidden from screen sharing by default. The rest of the notch holds everyday tools: a spoken morning plan, focus timers, noise, audio switching, AirPods battery, a file shelf and a teleprompter.
Where it falls short: it covers two agents, it can't approve Codex requests yet, and at $24 a year it costs more over time than the one-time apps. It has a 14-day trial with no card and a $49 lifetime option.
How to choose
- Which agents do you use? If it's more than Claude Code and Codex, start with CodeIsland or Vibe Island.
- Where do your agents run? On a server or a second Mac, you need SSH support. CodeIsland and Ping Island install a helper on the server; Notchbird reads over plain SSH; Vibe Island deploys with one click.
- Do you present or stream? Session titles and file names show in the notch. Notchbird hides itself from screen shares by default; check the others before a demo, or see how to keep apps out of a share.
- Free or paid? The free apps are good and move fast. Paid apps are a bet on support and a signed, notarised build.
If you'd rather not install anything, Claude Code and Codex both have built-in alerts and hooks. See approving Claude Code prompts without the terminal and Claude Code notifications. For a head-to-head with the three apps people ask about most, see Notchbird vs Vibe Island, Crest and Vibe Notch.
Sources
- CodeIsland on GitHub
- Vibe Island
- Vibe Island changelog
- Vibe Island review, vibecoding.app
- Crest
- Crest for Claude Code
- Coucou on GitHub
- Open Island on GitHub
- Ping Island on GitHub
- AgentPeek
- Vibe Notch on GitHub
- Notch Pilot on GitHub
Common questions
What is the best notch app for Claude Code?
CodeIsland is the most complete free option, Vibe Island covers the most agents for a one-time price, Crest gives free approvals in a full notch utility, and Notchbird suits agents on other machines and people who share their screen.
Which notch apps can approve Claude Code permission prompts?
All ten apps in this roundup can, including CodeIsland, Vibe Island, Crest, Coucou, Open Island, Ping Island, AgentPeek, Vibe Notch, Notch Pilot and Notchbird, though depth varies by agent.
Is there a free notch app for Claude Code and Codex?
Yes. CodeIsland, Coucou and Open Island are free and open source and support both. Crest's free tier also answers Claude Code and Codex approvals.
Run Claude Code or Codex on another machine? Try Notchbird free for 14 days, with no card.
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