clawd-on-desk

Clawd lives on your desktop and reacts to what your AI coding agent is doing — in real time. Start a long task, walk away, come back when the crab tells you it's done.

Thinking when you prompt, typing when tools run, grooving or juggling for subagents, reviewing permissions, celebrating when tasks complete, sleeping when you step away. Ships with three built-in themes: Clawd (pixel crab), Calico (三花猫), and Cloudling (云宝), with full support for custom themes and imported Codex Pet animation packs.

Supports Windows 11, macOS, and Ubuntu/Linux. Windows releases provide separate x64 and ARM64 installers. Source builds require Node.js. Works with Claude Code, Codex CLI, Copilot CLI, Gemini CLI, Antigravity CLI (agy), Cursor Agent, CodeBuddy, WorkBuddy, Kiro CLI, Kimi Code CLI (Kimi-CLI), Qwen Code, ZCode, CodeWhale, opencode, MiMo Code, Pi, OpenClaw, Hermes Agent, Qoder, QoderWork, and Reasonix CLI.

Features

Multi-Agent Support

• Claude Code — full integration via command hooks + HTTP permission hooks
• Codex CLI — official hooks with JSONL fallback (~/.codex/sessions/), auto-synced by default with real permission bubbles
• Copilot CLI — optional command hooks via ~/.copilot/hooks/hooks.json (install from Settings → Agents; see the Copilot guide for manual JSON fallback)
• Gemini CLI — optional command hooks via ~/.gemini/settings.json (install from Settings → Agents or run npm run install:gemini-hooks)
• Antigravity CLI (agy) — optional command hooks via ~/.gemini/config/hooks.json (install from Settings → Agents or run npm run install:antigravity-hooks); state-only: Clawd never pops a permission bubble for agy. Every Allow / Deny / Always-allow choice happens in agy's own terminal menu
• Cursor Agent — optional Cursor IDE hooks in ~/.cursor/hooks.json (install from Settings → Agents or run npm run install:cursor-hooks)
• CodeBuddy — optional Claude Code-compatible command hooks + HTTP permission hooks via ~/.codebuddy/settings.json (install from Settings → Agents or run node hooks/codebuddy-install.js)
• Custom HTTP agents — register another local executable in Settings and POST lifecycle events to Clawd's dynamic /state endpoint. Registration does not install hooks or make an arbitrary application report automatically; v1 is state-only and leaves permission decisions in the application's own UI. See the custom HTTP agent guide.
• WorkBuddy — optional Claude Code-compatible command hooks via ~/.workbuddy-ai/settings.json (current) or ~/.workbuddy/settings.json (legacy; install from Settings → Agents or run node hooks/workbuddy-install.js). State + Notification only: the desktop app resolves permissions in its own native sandbox and GUI, so Clawd does not register a permission hook for it.
• Kiro CLI — optional command hooks injected into custom agent configs under ~/.kiro/agents/, plus an auto-created clawd agent that is re-synced from Kiro's built-in kiro_default after you install the integration, so you can opt into hooks with minimal behavior drift via kiro-cli --agent clawd or /agent swap clawd. State hooks are verified on macOS and Windows.
• Kimi Code CLI (Kimi-CLI) — optional command hooks via ~/.kimi/config.toml ([[hooks]] entries) (install from Settings → Agents or run npm run install:kimi-hooks)
• Qwen Code — optional command hooks via ~/.qwen/settings.json (install from Settings → Agents or run npm run install:qwen-hooks); state tracking and Qwen PermissionRequest desktop approval bubbles are supported
• ZCode — optional state-only hooks via ~/.zcode/cli/config.json → hooks.events.* (install from Settings → Agents or run npm run install:zcode-hooks); Phase 1 drives session, prompt, tool, failure, and completion animations without intercepting ZCode permissions. Clawd preserves explicit global or per-hook enabled:false settings
• CodeWhale — optional state-only lifecycle hooks via ~/.codewhale/config.toml ([[hooks.hooks]] entries) (install from Settings → Agents or run npm run install:codewhale-hooks); Phase 1 drives idle, thinking, working, sleeping, error, attention, and sweeping animations only, without permission bubbles or subagent tracking
• Reasonix CLI — optional state-only command hooks via <Reasonix home>/settings.json (~/.reasonix/settings.json on macOS/Linux, %APPDATA%\reasonix\settings.json on Windows; install from Settings → Agents or run npm run install:reasonix-hooks); Phase 1 drives lifecycle, tool, notification, compaction, and subagent-stop animations while leaving permission decisions in Reasonix's own terminal flow
• opencode — optional plugin integration via ~/.config/opencode/opencode.json (install from Settings → Agents or run node hooks/opencode-install.js); zero-latency event streaming and permission bubbles with Allow/Always/Deny. Child sessions spawned by the task tool are headless and do not participate in the visible multi-session animation fanout
• MiMo Code — optional plugin integration via ~/.config/mimocode/mimocode.jsonc (install from Settings → Agents or run node hooks/mimocode-install.js); shares the same @mimo-ai/plugin SDK and permission behavior as opencode. Its task child sessions are likewise headless
• Pi — optional global extension via ~/.pi/agent/extensions/clawd-on-desk (install from Settings → Agents or run npm run install:pi-extension); state-only interactive lifecycle and tool activity updates while preserving Pi's default YOLO behavior
• OpenClaw — optional state-only plugin integration via ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (install from Settings → Agents or run npm run install:openclaw-plugin; OpenClaw also needs an initialized config); local openclaw tui --local sessions drive Clawd animations, without permission bubbles or terminal focus in Phase 1
• Hermes Agent — optional plugin integration via Hermes' managed plugin directory (install from Settings → Agents or run npm run install:hermes-plugin); state, sessions, SessionEnd, and terminal focus are supported
• Qoder — optional state-only command hooks via ~/.qoder/settings.json (install from Settings → Agents or run npm run install:qoder-hooks); Phase 1 drives Clawd animations only — Qoder permission prompts are observed as notifications, and every Allow / Deny choice stays in Qoder's own flow
• QoderWork — optional state-only command hooks via ~/.qoderwork/settings.json (install from Settings → Agents or run npm run install:qoderwork-hooks); Phase 1 drives Clawd animations and the Session HUD — QoderWork permission events are observed silently as part of the working flow, and every Allow / Deny choice stays in QoderWork's own flow
• Multi-agent coexistence — run all agents simultaneously; Clawd tracks each session independently

Animations & Interaction

• Real-time state awareness — agent hooks and log polling drive Clawd's animations automatically
• 12 animated states — idle, thinking, typing, building, subagent groove, multi-subagent juggling, error, happy, notification, sweeping, carrying, sleeping
• Codex Pet imports — import Codex Pet zip packages from Settings… → Theme; Clawd adapts their atlas animations into managed themes
• Eye tracking — Clawd follows your cursor in idle state, with body lean and shadow stretch
• Sleep sequence — yawning, dozing, collapsing, sleeping after 60s idle; mouse movement triggers a startled wake-up animation
• Click reactions — double-click for a poke, 4 clicks for a flail
• Drag from any state — grab Clawd anytime (Pointer Capture prevents fast-flick drops), release to resume
• Mini mode — drag to right edge or right-click "Mini Mode"; Clawd hides at screen edge with peek-on-hover, mini alerts/celebrations, and parabolic jump transitions

Permission Bubble

• In-app permission review — when Claude Code, Codex CLI, CodeBuddy, opencode, or MiMo Code request supported tool permissions, Clawd pops a floating bubble card instead of waiting in the terminal
• Allow / deny / agent-native extras — one-click approve or reject, plus permission rules / Always actions when the source agent supports them
• Global hotkeys — Ctrl+Shift+Y to Allow, Ctrl+Shift+N to Deny the latest permission bubble (only registered while bubbles are visible)
• Stacking layout — multiple permission requests stack upward from the bottom-right corner
• Auto-dismiss — if you answer in the terminal first, the bubble disappears automatically
• Per-agent toggle — open Settings… → Agents, pick an agent, and turn off Show pop-up bubbles to keep prompts in that agent's own terminal/TUI

Session Intelligence

• Multi-session tracking — sessions across all agents resolve to the highest-priority state
• Subagent awareness — headphones groove for 1 subagent, three-ball juggling for 2+
• Sessions dashboard + HUD — right-click or tray → Open Dashboard to inspect live sessions, recent events, aliases, and jump to a terminal; a compact HUD near Clawd keeps current live sessions visible
• Subscription quota at a glance — optional Orbit rings beside the pet and detailed Dashboard bars show the quota windows reported by supported agents. Local Claude collection is off by default and uses Claude Code's official status-line rate_limits payload; it does not make an additional request to Anthropic. See the data-flow and ownership notes.
• Terminal focus — Dashboard/HUD actions jump to a specific session's terminal window; notification/attention states auto-focus the relevant terminal
• Process liveness detection — detects crashed/exited supported agent processes and cleans up orphan sessions
• Startup recovery — if Clawd restarts while any supported agent is still running, it stays awake instead of falling asleep

Mobile Companion (PWA)

• Live mirror on your phone — enable Settings… → Mobile / PWA and open the pairing URL on your phone; the Clawd Mobile web app shows your agent sessions and their live states in real time
• Read-only by design — the LAN bridge only broadcasts state; nothing on the phone can touch your machine (remote approval is on the roadmap)
• LAN-only + token-gated — pairing requires a token, tokens rotate automatically with a grace window, and access can be regenerated or reset in one click
• Installable — it's a PWA: add it to your home screen for an app-like experience

The mobile companion line — from the first prototype to token rotation — is built and led by core contributor @Bynlk, who also maintains clawd-on-mobile, a sister fork with a native Android app.

System

• Click-through — transparent areas pass clicks to windows below; only Clawd's body is interactive
• Position memory — Clawd remembers where you left it across restarts (including mini mode)
• Single instance lock — prevents duplicate Clawd windows
• Auto-start — Claude Code's SessionStart hook can launch Clawd automatically if it's not running
• Do Not Disturb — right-click or tray menu to enter sleep mode; all hook events are silenced until you wake Clawd. Permission bubbles are suppressed during DND — Codex, opencode, and MiMo Code fall back to their native prompts, while Claude Code and CodeBuddy fall back to their built-in permission flow. WorkBuddy uses state + Notification only; Antigravity and Pi are state-only integrations.
• Sound effects — short audio cues on task completion and permission requests (toggle via the system tray or Settings; 10s cooldown, auto-muted during DND)
• System tray — DND mode, auto-start, check for updates
• i18n — English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Brazilian Portuguese UI; switch in Settings → General
• Auto-update — checks GitHub releases; Windows installs NSIS updates on quit, macOS/Linux git pull + restart when running from a cloned repo

Animations

Full event-to-state mapping, mini mode, and click reactions: docs/guides/state-mapping.md

Multi-display

Clawd adapts to multi-monitor setups: proportional sizing uses the display Clawd launches on, portrait monitors get a bounded boost so the pet stays readable on tall narrow screens, and you can drag Clawd across displays.

Quick Start

For normal use, download the latest prebuilt installer from GitHub Releases:

• Windows: Clawd-on-Desk-Setup-<version>-x64.exe or Clawd-on-Desk-Setup-<version>-arm64.exe
• macOS: .dmg
• Linux: .AppImage or .deb

Launch Clawd after installing it. Fresh installs auto-sync Claude Code and Codex only; install other local agent integrations from Settings → Agents when you need them.

Run from source only if you're contributing, testing unreleased code, or debugging integrations. Source installs download Electron/build tooling and can create a large node_modules tree.

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/rullerzhou-afk/clawd-on-desk.git
cd clawd-on-desk

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Start Clawd (auto-registers Claude Code and Codex hooks on launch)
npm start

Claude Code and Codex CLI work out of the box with auto-registered hooks. For Copilot CLI, Gemini CLI, Antigravity CLI (agy), Cursor Agent, CodeBuddy, WorkBuddy, Kiro CLI, Kimi Code CLI (Kimi-CLI), Qwen Code, ZCode, CodeWhale, opencode, MiMo Code, Pi, OpenClaw, Hermes Agent, Qoder, QoderWork, and Reasonix CLI, install the integration from Settings → Agents first; Clawd then keeps it synced while it remains enabled. Also covers remote SSH, WSL, and platform-specific notes (macOS / Linux): docs/guides/setup-guide.md

Want to run Claude Code / Codex CLI on a remote server and surface state plus permission bubbles in your local Clawd? Use the in-app Settings → Remote SSH → Deploy / Repair Hooks. Full walkthrough, shared-server isolation boundary, Doctor boundary, and FAQ: docs/guides/guide-remote-ssh.md

For the official Codex + WSL status, Clawd's current implementation boundary, and why this is easy to misread, see: docs/guides/codex-wsl-clarification.md

Known Limitations

Some agents have feature gaps (no permission bubble, polling latency, no terminal focus). See the full table: docs/guides/known-limitations.md

Custom Themes

Clawd supports custom themes — replace the default crab with your own character and animations. If you already have a Codex Pet package, import its zip from Settings… → Theme → Import pet zip; Clawd turns the atlas into a managed theme automatically.

Quick start:

1. Scaffold a theme:

   node scripts/create-theme.js my-theme
   # or
   npm run create-theme -- my-theme
   

   No argument also works: it creates the next available my-theme scaffold in your user themes directory.
2. Edit theme.json and create your assets (SVG, GIF, APNG, WebP, PNG, JPG, or JPEG)
3. Restart Clawd or open Settings… → Theme → select your theme

Minimum viable theme: 1 SVG (idle with eye tracking) + 7 GIF/APNG files (thinking, working, error, happy, notification, sleeping, waking). Eye tracking can be disabled to use any format for all states.

Validate your theme before distributing:

node scripts/validate-theme.js path/to/your-theme

Theme cards in Settings… → Theme now expose capability badges such as Tracked idle, Static theme, Mini, Direct sleep, and No reactions, so users can tell what a theme supports before switching.

See docs/guides/guide-theme-creation.md for the full creation guide with tiered paths (beginner → advanced), theme.json field reference, and asset guidelines.

Third-party SVG files are automatically sanitized for security.

Roadmap

Some things we'd like to explore in the future:

• Codex terminal focus via process tree lookup from codex.exe PID
• Theme registry and in-app download
• Hook uninstall script for clean app removal
• Mobile companion: remote permission approval from your phone (in progress, led by @Bynlk)

Contributing

Clawd on Desk is a community-driven project. Bug reports, feature ideas, and pull requests are all welcome — open an issue to discuss or submit a PR directly.

Maintainers

Contributors

Thanks to everyone who has helped make Clawd better:

Acknowledgments

• Clawd pixel art reference from clawd-tank by @marciogranzotto
• Shared on LINUX DO community

License

Source code is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0).

Artwork and bundled theme assets (including assets/ and themes/*/assets/) are NOT covered by AGPL-3.0. All rights reserved by their respective copyright holders. See assets/LICENSE and the notices below for details.

• Clawd character is the property of Anthropic. This is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic.
• Calico cat (三花猫) artwork by 鹿鹿 (@rullerzhou-afk). All rights reserved.
• Cloudling (云宝) artwork by 鹿鹿 (@rullerzhou-afk). All rights reserved. Cloudling's visual direction includes an homage to the OpenAI Codex logo; Codex/OpenAI marks remain the property of OpenAI, and this project is not affiliated with or endorsed by OpenAI.
• Third-party contributions: copyright retained by respective artists.

No cryptocurrency. This project has no token, coin, NFT, or airdrop, and is not affiliated with any cryptocurrency project.