Claude Desk Screen: A Claude Code status light for your desk
See what Claude is doing from across the room. Orange means it needs you. Green means it's done.
People who use Claude Code on their own Mac (in the terminal, VS Code or the desktop app) and walk away while it works.
The plan is up. The kit is coming.
We do not sell the parts for this one yet.
You need: a Mac with Claude Code; a paid Claude plan, or a pay-as-you-go Anthropic developer account (needs a credit card); a USB-C data cable (many cables only charge). Does not work with claude.ai in the browser or the phone app.
Last updated
The plan in 3 steps (planned)
This is how we expect setup to go. We have not run it yet.
- Step 1
Plug the screen into your Mac.
- Step 2
Click Install on our install page.
- Step 3
Paste one prompt into Claude Code.
What you need
You need
- A Mac with Claude Code
- A paid Claude plan, or a pay-as-you-go Anthropic developer account (needs a credit card)
- A USB-C data cable (many cables only charge)
Does not work with claude.ai in the browser or the phone app.
Related products
- ESP32-S3 Touch Display: We plan this bigger screen for phase 2 of the Desk Screen plan. It needs its own software, which does not exist yet.
Your first evening
We test this before we promise it
The first evening, as we have written it
We have not run these steps ourselves yet, so read them as a preview. We change anything that does not work before we sell the kit.
Plug in the screen
Plug the screen into your Mac with a USB-C data cable.
Install the screen's software
Open the kit's install page in Chrome or Edge (Firefox 151 and later also works; Safari does not). Click Install and pick the screen. It shows ready.
Let Claude set up the hooks
Open Claude Code and paste the first prompt below. Claude saves a small script and adds the hooks to your settings. It shows you the change and asks your OK before saving.
Check the hooks
Type /hooks to see the hooks listed.
Watch it work
Ask Claude to do anything. The screen turns blue for thinking, purple for editing a file, then green for done.
See it wait for you
Ask for something that needs your OK. The screen turns orange: waiting for you.
Let Claude write to it
Paste the second prompt so Claude can also put its own short messages on the screen.
Prompts to paste into Claude
Copy one, paste it, and fill in anything in square brackets. Claude takes it one step at a time.
These prompts need the screen and its install page, which are not ready yet. Read them now so you know what setup looks like.
1. Set up the screen
Paste into Claude Code
Set up my Kindly Morrow desk screen using the script and settings on this page: [kit setup page URL]. Save the script to ~/.claude/hooks/claude-screen.sh and make it runnable. Merge the hooks into ~/.claude/settings.json without removing anything already there. Show me the change before you save it.
2. Let Claude post messages
Paste into Claude Code
Add a line to my CLAUDE.md: to show me a short message on my desk screen, run `~/.claude/hooks/claude-screen.sh "message"`. Use it when a long task finishes or you need me. Also add the permission rule so it runs without asking.
3. Change the words
Paste into Claude Code
On my desk screen, show 'your turn' instead of 'waiting for you'.
4. Post a summary when done
Paste into Claude Code
When you finish this task, post a one-line summary of what changed to my desk screen.
5. It's not working
Paste into Claude Code
My desk screen stopped changing. Check that it's plugged in, find its port, check the hook settings, and tell me what's wrong in plain words.
When you have a weekend
We test this before we promise it
Ideas we are still testing
These are written from our research. We run each one before we promise it.
WiFi mode
Put the screen across the room on your WiFi. It needs 2.4 GHz WiFi and the same token on the screen and in the script.
A morning brief
A Claude Code Desktop scheduled task writes three short lines from your todo list and posts them to the screen.
Your own words
Change what the screen says, for example your turn instead of waiting for you.
How a screen knows what Claude is doing
Claude Code can run a tiny command each time it starts, needs you, or finishes. This plan points that command at a screen on your desk.
What Claude Code is
Claude Code is the version of Claude that works on your computer. It runs in the terminal, in VS Code and in the Claude desktop app, and it can read files and run small commands for you.
What a hook is
A hook is a setting that tells Claude Code to run a command at a set moment, every time, without Claude having to decide to. Anthropic's docs call hooks user-defined shell commands that run at specific points in Claude Code's lifecycle.
The colors, and the moment each one means
Blue: thinking
Turns on when you send Claude a message.
Hook name: UserPromptSubmit
Purple: editing, reading or running a command
Turns on when Claude starts to edit, read or run something.
Hook name: PreToolUse
Orange: waiting for you
Turns on when Claude is about to ask your OK.
Hook name: PermissionRequest
Green: done
Turns on when Claude finishes its reply.
Hook name: Stop
Ready and offline
Shows when you open or close Claude Code.
Hook name: SessionStart and SessionEnd
These are the states our hook script sends. The screen's own software is not written yet, so the colors are the plan, not a finished product.
Why orange turns on right away
Claude Code has two moments it could use for "waiting for you". One fires only after Claude has waited about six seconds. The plan uses the other one, which fires the moment Claude is about to ask, so the screen turns orange right away.
Where the settings live
Claude Code keeps hooks in a settings file in your home folder (~/.claude/settings.json). In this plan you never open it yourself: the first prompt asks Claude to add the hooks and show you the change first. Type /hooks in Claude Code to see the ones it has loaded.
How Claude posts its own messages
One line in your CLAUDE.md tells Claude it can run the screen script with a short message, and a permission rule lets that one command run without asking. The line and the rule must name exactly the same path, because the rule matches the text before its star as written.
Why it does not work with Claude on the web
Hooks in Claude Code on the web run in the cloud, so they cannot reach a screen plugged into your Mac. It works with local sessions only: the terminal, VS Code or the desktop app. The claude.ai website and the phone app do not run hooks.
Others who built one
Claudinho is a desk mascot on an ESP32 that reacts to Claude Code hooks. It is MIT licensed, so you can read how it works: github.com/argeuthiesen/claudinho.
What it can't do
- It is a status screen, not a second monitor.
- It works only with Claude Code running on your own computer. Hooks in Claude Code on the web run in the cloud and cannot reach a screen on your desk.
- Mac only at launch. We checked our hook script on a Mac with sample events. The screen software is not built yet, and Windows steps are not written.
- The script uses jq, a small free tool that is built into recent macOS. Older macOS needs it installed with Homebrew (brew install jq).
- The hooks run in the background so Claude does not wait on the screen. The trade-off: two updates very close together can now and then show out of order.
- Once the screen software exists: WiFi mode is planned for 2.4 GHz WiFi only, and its password-like token stops casual tampering on your home network, not someone listening to it.
- Once the screen software exists: if the board resets on every message over USB, WiFi mode is the fallback we plan.
- New colors mean new screen software. A prompt can change the words, not the colors.
Questions
Before we sell this kit
The plan is yours today. The buy button stays off until each of these is done.
- Write and test the screen's software.
- Build the Install your screen page.
- Pick the screen board and check it.
- Settle how the kit ships and say plainly how long it takes.
- Run this plan ourselves on a clean Mac and film it.
Guides that go with this plan
New to this? Start here, or see every kit plan.