Command

A tiny macOS menubar app that shows all your open terminal windows with smart 5-word summaries.

Press ⌘ . to see every terminal at a glance.

Features

• Smart summaries — AI-generated descriptions via Claude Haiku, with local heuristics for common cases
• Rolling context — summaries remember what you were doing, not just what's on screen now
• Action required — green pulse when a terminal needs your attention
• Instant switching — click or ⌘ 1-9 to jump to any window/tab
• Battery friendly — adaptive polling, fingerprint-based change detection, batched AI calls
• Info popover — see how each summary was generated, activity history, TTY details
• Native — SwiftUI + AppKit, translucent materials, light/dark mode, 688KB binary

Requirements

• macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later
• Xcode Command Line Tools (to build from source)
• Claude CLI (optional, for AI summaries)

Install

Download

Command.zip — unzip, drag to Applications.

Note

MacOS may block the app because it's from an unidentified developer. To allow it, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, find the message about Command, and click Open Anyway. See Apple's guide for details.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/njerschow/Command
cd Command
make app       # creates build/Command.app
make run       # builds and launches

Usage

1. Launch Command — it appears in your menubar as a terminal icon
2. Click the icon or press ⌘ . to see all open terminals
3. Click any row to focus that window/tab
4. Hover to see ⌘N shortcuts and the info button

Permissions

On first launch, Command will ask for Automation permission to communicate with Terminal.app. Grant it — this is how it reads window titles and tab content.

How it works

1. Every 2 seconds: scans Terminal.app windows via AppleScript for process state
2. Every 5 minutes: reads the last 100 lines of each active terminal, normalizes (strips ANSI, spinners, progress bars), and fingerprints for change detection
3. On change: tries local heuristics first (SSH, builds, servers, Claude Code). Only ambiguous terminals get sent to Claude Haiku in one batched call
4. Rolling context: past summaries are stored so the AI understands the broader task, not just the current screen

Development

make dev       # debug build + run
make test      # run test suite (35 tests)
make dist      # release build + zip
make clean     # clean build artifacts

Architecture

Sources/
├── main.swift                    # Entry point
├── App/AppDelegate.swift         # Menubar + popover + scanning
├── Models/
│   ├── TerminalWindow.swift      # TerminalApp, Tab, Group, Status
│   ├── TerminalContext.swift      # Summary state per tab
│   └── AppState.swift            # Observable state + MRU ordering
├── Services/
│   ├── TerminalScanner.swift     # Polling coordinator
│   ├── Adapters/TerminalAppAdapter.swift  # AppleScript scanner
│   ├── ContentReader.swift       # Terminal history reader
│   ├── ContentNormalizer.swift   # ANSI/spinner stripping + fingerprinting
│   ├── SummaryManager.swift      # Heuristics + AI summary orchestration
│   ├── WindowFocuser.swift       # Focus window + select tab
│   └── ProcessResolver.swift     # Process detection via ps
├── Views/
│   ├── TerminalListView.swift    # Main popover view
│   ├── TerminalRowView.swift     # Row with summary, status, info
│   ├── StatusDotView.swift       # Animated status indicator
│   └── FeedbackView.swift        # Inline feedback widget
└── Utilities/
    ├── HotkeyManager.swift       # Global ⌘. hotkey
    └── FeedbackSubmitter.swift   # HTTP feedback poster

License

MIT