Watchbird adds a small black notch to the top of your Windows screen. It shows what Claude Code, Codex, Copilot CLI and eight other agents are doing — and lets you approve their edits, answer their questions and review their plans without switching windows, at your PC or from your phone.
How it works
01 — Approvals
When an agent wants to edit a file or run a command, the notch opens with a card: the diff or the command, where it runs, and what else is waiting. Allow it once, deny it with a note, or always allow it for this project — from any window.
02 — Questions & plans
Pick an answer with 1–3 or type your own. Read the whole plan, approve it, let the agent auto-accept its edits, or send it back with feedback.
03 — From your phone
Coffee, meeting, sofa: when an agent waits for you, the request comes to your phone — with buttons. One tap on “Allow once” and your PC carries on.
npm install zod
14:05
04 — Autopilot
Decide what an agent may do without asking — say npm test or changes in src/ — and what never. Start the autopilot for 15, 30 or 60 minutes: Watchbird then allows everything that matches your rules. Everything else still asks.
Commands: npm test *→ AllowFile changes: src/**→ AllowCommands: git push *→ Always ask
05 — After the limit
When Claude or Codex hits a plan limit, Watchbird remembers the session. As soon as the limit resets, it sends “Continue where you left off.” — at night too, even when you’re not there.
More in the notch
The bird & sessions
A small bird sits in the closed notch and shows you what’s going on — without reading a word. When there’s nothing to do, only a dot is left. As soon as an agent gets going, the dot becomes the bird’s eye.
The bird & sessions
Open the notch for status, project, terminal and context of every running agent. A small icon on each session shows where it runs — VS Code, Windows Terminal, WezTerm or the Claude app. One click jumps to the right window, in WezTerm and tmux down to the pane. The animations can be switched off and follow the Windows setting “Animation effects”.
The bird & sessions
Six more birds join the sparrow just by using Watchbird. The owl comes by itself at night and keeps the night shift. Everything is counted on your PC only.
Night shift
Put tasks in a queue per project — from “New task” with “Add to queue”. Start the night shift before you leave: Watchbird starts one task after the other, carries on after limits and has a report ready in the morning.
Stuck sessions
When a session goes quiet for a long time or an agent calls the same thing again and again, Watchbird lets you know — in the notch and on your phone if you like. One click takes you to the right terminal.
Quiet & bird calls
Watchbird stays still during calls, presentations and fullscreen apps and collects everything for afterwards. Then the notch opens once: “While you were on a call: 2 requests are waiting, 3 tasks done.”
New tasks
Press Ctrl+Alt+Space, pick agent, folder and mode, paste a screenshot, go — or add it to the project’s queue for later. Drop files on the notch to hand them to a running session, or send it a follow-up that arrives when the agent is ready.
Usage, history & weekly recap
Claude and Codex plan windows (five hours and week), context per session and an estimated API value, updated live — with a warning at 80 %. Your week in one picture: finished tasks, approvals, active time and estimated API value — as a card to save or share. Project names only go on it if you want. All stored only on your PC.
Shortcuts
Change them under Settings → General → Shortcuts.
Agents
Watchbird connects through each agent’s official hook settings. It backs up every config file before changing it and removes its entries again with one click. Agents running in WSL work too.
The hook bridge talks to the app through a local pipe on your PC. Prompts, code and diffs stay there.
Every agent config file is backed up before it is changed, and Watchbird removes its entries again when you ask.
Messages and approvals through Telegram or ntfy are off until you set them up. Then only what you choose goes through their servers — by default without commands, never with code or diffs.
Price
Sale price in the Microsoft Store until 31 December 2026.
Sold through the Microsoft Store.
| Trial & license | Without a license (after the trial) | |
|---|---|---|
| See sessions, jump to the terminal, the bird and its collection | ✓ | ✓ |
| Do not disturb, bird calls | ✓ | ✓ |
| Answer in the notch, new tasks, drag & drop | ✓ | – |
| Phone, autopilot, auto-resume, stuck warnings | ✓ | – |
| Night shift | ✓ | – |
| Usage, weekly recap | ✓ | – |
FAQ
No. It reads what the agents’ hooks hand it on your PC and keeps it there. It only goes online for the usage limits of Claude and Codex (with the login you already have), for optional phone messages and for updates from the Store. Phone messages carry titles only by default — at most the command or a file name, never code or diffs.
Yes — through your own Telegram bot, on iPhone and Android. Approvals, questions and plans arrive as a message with buttons. The ntfy app gets notifications only.
It only allows what your rules allow, only for the 15, 30 or 60 minutes you choose, and never after a restart. Risky commands (rm -rf, git push --force, curl | sh and more) always ask, chained commands need a rule for every part, and every automatic decision is logged.
Watchbird shows when the limit resets and then continues the session by itself — for Claude Code and Codex in a terminal, only while you are not typing. In the Claude app or an editor extension it lets you know instead. You can switch it off.
It adds its hook entries to each agent’s settings file — after a backup — and puts a small bridge program into your user folder (.watchbird). Settings → Agents → Remove takes the entries out again.
Your agents ask in the terminal as usual. Nothing gets stuck: every hook lets the agent carry on within milliseconds when the app isn’t there.
You buy it once in the Store. Without a license Watchbird keeps showing your sessions, the bird and its collection, keeps quiet in calls and jumps to the terminals, but answering in the notch, new tasks, drag & drop, the phone, usage, the autopilot, auto-resume, stuck warnings, the night shift and the weekly recap are locked.
Claude Code, Codex CLI, GitHub Copilot CLI, OpenCode, Qwen Code and Devin. Cursor supports shell and MCP approvals, Factory Droid optionally. Gemini CLI, Cline and Auggie show when they are waiting for you and take you to the terminal or editor.