Answer Claude Code from your notch

You kick off a Claude Code run, switch to the browser, and come back ten minutes later to find it stopped almost immediately, waiting on one Allow. Crest, a Mac notch app, puts that prompt on the notch the moment it fires: tap Allow or Deny, and the answer lands back in your terminal.

Updated July 15, 2026

Where agent runs actually lose time

Claude Code does the work in minutes, then waits on you: a permission for a Bash command, an edit outside the allowed paths, a question with three options. If your terminal isn't frontmost, nothing tells you. The run isn't failing, it's idle, and it stays idle until you remember it exists.

The notch is the one strip of screen that's visible in every app, on every desktop. That makes it the right place for exactly this.

A prompt you can't miss

When Claude Code needs you, Crest shows a pill at the notch and keeps it there until you answer:

• Every display, even over fullscreen apps. Writing in a fullscreen editor or presenting on an external screen doesn't hide it.
• A chime, a macOS notification, and an amber menu-bar icon back it up, so a prompt registers even when you're looking elsewhere.
• Allow and Deny are one tap. When Claude asks a question with options, the options are right there on the notch and your pick is typed back into the session.
• An In-terminal button hands the prompt back to the CLI when you'd rather answer there.

Hooks, not hacks

Crest uses Claude Code's own hook system: a PreToolUse hook in ~/.claude/settings.json, with a backup of the file kept. Your tap writes the decision and the hook relays it to the CLI. Nothing is patched or injected.

Read-only tools are never intercepted, so the notch only speaks up for actions that actually need you. If Crest isn't running, the hooks step aside and you get the normal terminal prompt: a closed Crest never stalls a run. Flip the toggle off and the hooks are removed, stock behavior restored.

Codex works the same way

If Codex is on your Mac, the same toggle adds hooks for it too (~/.codex/hooks.json, only written when Codex actually exists). Permission requests show the same Allow/Deny at the notch, and sessions running with bypassPermissions are answered allow instantly, because you asked for autonomy there.

One honest wrinkle: Codex only trusts new hooks after you confirm a one-time prompt at its next start. Crest tells you that up front rather than working around the consent gate.

The rest of Code mode

Approvals are one piece of Crest's Code mode. Live Claude Code and Codex sessions sit in the notch with their status, and a click jumps you back to the exact terminal they run in, tmux pane included. GitHub pull requests and CI, system stats, and a file shelf with clipboard history live alongside.

Since 4.5 the panel also carries a Claude co-pilot: ask it things by voice or text, or tell it what to add to your calendar, todos and notes, on your own Claude subscription with no API key.

Set it up in two minutes

1. Download Crest (free, no account, signed and notarized so macOS installs it without warnings).
2. Open the AI Coding module and flip on the hooks toggle. It installs the Claude Code hook, plus Codex if you have it, with backups kept.
3. Start a run and tab away. The next permission prompt lands on the notch.

AI Coding is a Pro module. Crest Pro is $15 once, no subscription, and the 7-day full-Pro trial starts automatically on first launch, no card, so you can put a real workday through it before paying.

Frequently asked questions

More on how Crest compares: the best Mac notch apps in 2026, Crest vs NotchNook, and Crest vs The Boring Notch. Neither NotchNook nor The Boring Notch answers coding agents from the notch.