I built a macOS notch workspace for local AI coding agents

刘芷维 — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 07:25:51 +0000

I have been running more local AI coding agents lately: Codex, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Cursor Agent, and a few terminal-heavy workflows. The useful part is obvious, but the day-to-day ergonomics can get messy quickly.

Each agent has its own terminal, its own waiting state, its own approval prompts, and its own history. If I look away at the wrong moment, I miss the fact that one of them is blocked waiting for a decision.

So I built Agent Island, a native macOS utility that turns the notch area into a small workspace for local AI coding agents.

It is not another coding agent. It sits next to the tools I already use and keeps their session state visible.

What it does

Shows active local agent sessions in one compact place.
Surfaces approval prompts and plan-review moments faster.
Helps jump back to the right context instead of hunting through terminal windows.
Works as a lightweight status layer for tools like Codex, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, and Cursor Agent.

Why the notch?

I wanted the state to be visible without becoming another window to manage. The top of the screen is already where I look for system status, so using it as a tiny control surface for long-running coding agents felt natural.

Distribution notes

The Mac App Store build focuses on a sandbox-safe monitoring and review flow. The direct-web build has a 7-day trial, and Pro is a one-time $19.99 license for one Mac.

Website: https://agentisland.lzw-glory.top/

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/agent-island/id6771757996?mt=12

Disclosure: I am the developer of Agent Island. I am sharing it here because I think the workflow problem is becoming common for people who run multiple local AI agents.

Building a local-first clipboard workspace for macOS

刘芷维 — Wed, 27 May 2026 07:45:44 +0000

I am the developer of Adhibit, a macOS clipboard workspace mentioned in this article.

Most clipboard managers start with one useful question: what did I copy recently?

That is a good starting point, but it is not the whole workflow. A lot of copied content stops being temporary after a few minutes. A command copied from a terminal session, a support reply, a link, a prompt, a screenshot, a file path, an error message, a color value, or a reusable snippet often becomes part of a small personal knowledge base.

I built Adhibit because I wanted a Mac clipboard tool that treated those copied pieces as reusable context, not just a chronological list.

The product direction became a local-first clipboard workspace:

keep text, links, files, images, colors, OCR text, and templates searchable;
make recent clips quickly available from the menu bar or Shift-Command-V;
let users organize reusable material into Pinboards;
avoid requiring an account for normal use;
keep clipboard contents off developer servers;
make multi-Mac sync optional through iCloud rather than mandatory through a product account.

The privacy boundary matters because clipboard content is unusually sensitive. It can include one-time links, code, personal notes, fragments of customer conversations, credentials users copied temporarily, invoices, screenshots, or private URLs. Even when an app does not intend to collect sensitive data, a clipboard tool sits close to it.

That pushed a few product decisions:

Local-first storage is the default.
No product account is required for the App Store version.
Clipboard contents are not uploaded to Adhibit developer servers.
iCloud sync is opt-in and uses Apple's iCloud.
Retention and privacy controls are part of the core product rather than advanced settings.

The harder design problem is deciding what clipboard history should become. A plain timeline is fast, but it gets noisy. A notes app is flexible, but it adds too much manual organization. Adhibit sits in between: recent history is still there, but users can search it, pin important items, and move reusable material into Pinboards when it stops being temporary.

OCR is useful for the same reason. Screenshots often contain the exact thing a user needs later: an error, a receipt line, a message, a small UI label, or a reference number. Indexing image text makes those screenshots retrievable without forcing the user to name or file them first.

Templates are another piece of the same workflow. Many people keep repeated replies, prompts, snippets, and small operating procedures scattered across notes, documents, and chat history. A clipboard workspace is a natural place for those fragments because the final action is usually copying them into another app.

Adhibit is still early. The current public Mac version is 1.0.2, requires macOS 15 or later, and supports English and Chinese. It is free to download with a 14-day Pro trial. The App Store version uses Apple in-app purchase, and the direct-web version uses Paddle licensing.

The main lesson so far is that clipboard tools need more privacy clarity than ordinary productivity apps. Users do not only ask "can I find my clips?" They ask "where did this content go, who can read it, and how long will it stay there?" For this category, those questions should be part of the product surface, not hidden in a policy page.

Links:

Website: https://adhibit.lzw-glory.top/
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/adhibit/id6766882201?mt=12
Privacy: https://adhibit.lzw-glory.top/privacy

DEV Community: 刘芷维

I built a macOS notch workspace for local AI coding agents

What it does

Why the notch?

Distribution notes

Building a local-first clipboard workspace for macOS