Software · Claude Code companion
Paws
Your sub-agents, out in the yard. A Mac menu-bar app that shows what Claude Code’s sub-agents are doing as a pack of animated dogs — each agent a dog that wags while it works, comes back with its report, and falls asleep.
When Claude Code sends sub-agents out, it is hard to see who is doing what. Paws gives each one a breed and a name and puts the pack in a small panel that stays on top without taking focus. The menu bar keeps the count — “2 out · 1 back” — while you work.
One yard per session, side by side. Pick a dog to read its task and its report on the right.
One session’s pack in a small strip that stays on top and never takes focus from Claude.
It follows your Mac’s appearance, or you pick one in Settings.
Two looks for the same pack. Switch in the menu or Settings.
Plays the dog’s full video next to its task, report, tokens and tools.
Sessions with their dogs and counts. Open the panel or the big window, switch style, turn notifications on or off.
Launch at login, notifications per session, and the connection to Claude Code.
Right-click any dog in the panel or the big window to rename it.
A small file, read by a small app
Paws does not watch your screen or your conversations. A companion plugin in Claude Code writes down which sub-agents are running and what they report. Paws reads that and draws the dogs.
- A Claude Code session. Desktop app or terminal. When it sends a sub-agent out, that agent gets a breed and a name.
- The companion writes a small file. One JSON file per session, at most four writes a second, in a folder only you can read.
- Paws reads it. The app watches that folder and nothing else under
~/.claude. It only reads. - Your dogs move. Out, waiting, back with a report, asleep. Ask from inside a session with
/paws status.
Fourteen breeds, picked by role
Every session’s main thread is Pelayo the Border Collie. Sub-agents get a breed from what they do — a German Shepherd implements, a Maltipoo writes tests, a Beagle explores, a Poodle plans — and the first free name of that breed. The same kind of agent is the same kind of dog every time, and agents you named yourself keep their name. You can rename any dog, and the new name shows up inside Claude Code too.
Read the ring, then the pill
Each dog wears a coloured ring and a label. The colour is the quick answer; the word says the same thing, so nothing depends on colour alone.
- WorkingOut in the yard on its task. The bubble shows the tool it is using right now.
- WaitingWaiting on a shell command. It keeps its place, so the cards do not shuffle.
- BackReturned with a report. The first line of it is in the bubble, and you get a notification.
- NappingAsleep 20 seconds after coming back. After ten minutes it folds away into an Earlier list, so the yard stays about the dogs doing something.
It reads its own files. That is all.
- Its own snapshot files. It reads the small files in
~/.claude/paws/live/and the names file. It never opens your transcripts, your sessions or your settings. - No network. No outgoing connections and no listening sockets. The companion has no network code either.
- No analytics. No tracking, no account, no telemetry.
- Your folder, your permissions. Paws writes only the names file, and installs the companion only when you press Connect — showing what it will write before it does.
Paws is an independent project. It is not made by or affiliated with Anthropic. Claude Code is a product of Anthropic.