NotchLab

A native macOS app that turns your notch into a small workspace. Hover over it to open your tools, then move away to close it. Works on displays without a notch, too.

Features

• Claude and Codex usage tracking with warnings near your limits, agent status, questions, and approval requests.
• CPU, memory, and GPU monitoring.
• Music controls tinted to the album art, audio output switching, and focus timers with your own presets.
• Your next meeting, with a Join button for Zoom, Meet, and Teams calls.
• Quick notes, clipboard history, and Apple Reminders.
• A file shelf with AirDrop, VPN controls, and an optional camera mirror.

Screenshots

Download

Requires an Apple silicon Mac and macOS 14 or later.

1. Download NotchLab.dmg from the latest release.

2. Open it and drag NotchApp into Applications.

3. Open NotchApp from Applications. NotchLab isn't notarized by Apple yet, so the first time macOS says it can't verify the app. Click Done, open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click Open Anyway next to NotchApp. You only have to do this once.

   Or skip the prompt from Terminal: xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/NotchApp.app

Hover over the notch to get started. The first time it opens, you'll see Connections: Claude Code, Codex, Claude usage, Camera, Reminders, Calendar, VPN control (Accessibility), and Launch at Login, each with its own button, plus Connect all to set everything up at once. It's always under the gear in Settings, along with:

• General: open on hover or on click, and how fast it opens and closes.
• Appearance: accent color and panel width.
• Home: which cards show and their order, and whether music shows beside the closed notch.
• Pages: which pages and Dev cards show.
• Agents: where questions and approvals go, and usage warnings.
• Focus Timer: lengths, your own presets, and Shortcuts to run when a countdown starts and ends.
• Clipboard history.

The camera turns off when the notch closes or when you click the mirror.

Beside the closed notch:

• Music: the artwork and moving bars while something plays. The bars are decorative; they don't follow the audio.
• Meetings: the next one, from 10 minutes before it starts. The Next meeting card on Home has a Join button when the event has a Zoom, Meet, Teams, Webex, or FaceTime link.
• Usage warnings: a flash when a Claude or Codex session or weekly limit passes 80% and again at 95%. With warnings on, usage is checked every 5 minutes even while the notch is closed.

Focus timer presets you add can keep leftover time: switch to another preset mid-countdown and the time left is saved for next time, like a debate prep-time bank. Reset refills it. A running or paused countdown carries on after NotchLab restarts. To turn a Focus mode on and off with the timer, make two shortcuts in the Shortcuts app with the Set Focus action and pick them in Settings → Focus Timer. Breaks don't run them.

Build from source

Requires Xcode Command Line Tools with Swift 6 or later (xcode-select --install).

git clone https://github.com/HamzaLovesCoding/NotchLab.git
cd NotchLab
./build.sh --install

This builds, installs, and opens /Applications/NotchApp.app. Use ./build.sh --dmg to make build/NotchLab.dmg for sharing.

Agent questions and approvals

NotchLab shows Claude Code and Codex permission requests in the notch with Allow and Deny, lets you answer Claude's questions there by picking options or typing your own answer, and flashes a side alert when an agent finishes.

To connect: click Connect Claude and Connect Codex on the Dev page, or switch them on in Settings → Connections. NotchLab adds its bundled notch-hook helper to ~/.claude/settings.json and ~/.codex/hooks.json, keeps everything else in those files, and saves a one-time backup next to each as *.before-notchapp. Then:

• Codex: run /hooks in Codex once and trust NotchLab's hooks. Codex won't run new hooks until you do.
• Restart any Claude Code or Codex sessions that were already open.

Run NotchApp from your Applications folder before connecting, since the hooks point at the app's location. To undo, switch the agent off in Settings before you delete the app.

Manual setup: if you'd rather edit the files yourself, add these entries. If your config already has a hooks section, merge them into it.

Claude Code: ~/.claude/settings.json

{
  "hooks": {
    "PermissionRequest": [{ "matcher": "*", "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "/Applications/NotchApp.app/Contents/MacOS/notch-hook claude", "timeout": 300 }] }],
    "PreToolUse": [{ "matcher": "AskUserQuestion", "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "/Applications/NotchApp.app/Contents/MacOS/notch-hook claude", "timeout": 300 }] }],
    "Stop": [{ "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "/Applications/NotchApp.app/Contents/MacOS/notch-hook claude" }] }],
    "UserPromptSubmit": [{ "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "/Applications/NotchApp.app/Contents/MacOS/notch-hook claude" }] }],
    "SessionEnd": [{ "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "/Applications/NotchApp.app/Contents/MacOS/notch-hook claude" }] }]
  }
}

Codex: ~/.codex/hooks.json, then run /hooks in Codex once to trust it.

{
  "hooks": {
    "PermissionRequest": [{ "matcher": "*", "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "/Applications/NotchApp.app/Contents/MacOS/notch-hook codex", "timeout": 300 }] }],
    "Stop": [{ "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "/Applications/NotchApp.app/Contents/MacOS/notch-hook codex" }] }],
    "UserPromptSubmit": [{ "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "/Applications/NotchApp.app/Contents/MacOS/notch-hook codex" }] }],
    "SessionEnd": [{ "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "/Applications/NotchApp.app/Contents/MacOS/notch-hook codex" }] }]
  }
}

While a request waits in the notch, the agent holds its terminal prompt, so the question doesn't show in the terminal or in Claude's Remote Control. Answer in the notch, click Terminal to answer there instead, or wait about five minutes for the terminal prompt to come back. Settings → Agents picks where questions and approvals go:

• Auto (default): the notch while you're using the Mac. If you've been away for 2 minutes or the screen is locked, they go to the terminal, including any already waiting.
• Notch: always in the notch.
• Terminal: always in the terminal and Remote Control. Switching to it sends any request already waiting in the notch back to the terminal within about 10 seconds. If NotchLab isn't running, the hook exits immediately and the agents behave as usual. Codex questions aren't supported yet, only its approvals and finished alerts.

License

MIT