I'm running 27 projects simultaneously.
A while back, I built a text-based "Mission Control" dashboard inside Claude Code. Every morning, it would scan all my projects and spit out an ASCII dashboard in the terminal.
It worked. But staring at a black terminal every morning got old fast.
So I upgraded it into a pixel art visual command center.
What Is Pixel Office
A desktop app built with Electron. It draws a pixel art office on Canvas 2D, with projects laid out in categorized zones.
Honestly — I didn't build this because I needed it. I built it because something you open every day should make you happy.
| Old (Text) | New (Pixel Office) | |
|---|---|---|
| Display | Terminal ASCII | Pixel art Canvas |
| Project list | Text dump | Color-coded zones |
| Launch | Type claude
|
Double-click the app |
| Talk to AI | Same terminal | 🚀 Click the rocket |
| Boot startup | Manual | Auto-launch |
| Session state | Unknown | Real-time detection |
8 Zones
The office has 8 zones, each category gets its own color:
| Zone | Color | Contains |
|---|---|---|
| 🔨 FORGE | Orange | Brainstorming, experiments, tool learning |
| ✏️ CONTENT | Blue | Blog publishing (3 languages) |
| 💬 SNS | Pink | AI character auto-posting |
| ⚙️ PRODUCTS | Yellow | Desktop apps, tools |
| 🛡️ INFRA | Green | Bots, infrastructure |
| 💼 BUSINESS | Purple | Business, portfolio |
| 🎮 GAMES | Teal | Game dev |
| 📦 ARCHIVE | Gray | Paused projects |
Each project icon auto-styles based on status. Active gets a solid border, prototype gets dashed, completed gets a gold checkmark. Anything untouched for 7+ days gets a red warning badge that pulses.
🚀 The Rocket = Mission Control
Bottom center of the screen, there's a big rocket.
That's Mission Control.
Double-click it and Claude Code launches in a dedicated planning folder. Morning planning, brainstorming, cross-project strategy. Pixel Office is the "eyes." Mission Control is the "brain."
The rocket has animated exhaust flames. Purely for vibes.
Live Session Detection
Projects running Claude Code glow in real-time.
The mechanism is simple: check JSONL file modification times in ~/.claude/projects/. If updated within 2 minutes, it's "active."
Active projects get:
- Green pulsing border
- Blinking terminal cursor
- Green background overlay
Running 3 Claude Code sessions at once? You can tell which ones are active at a glance.
Daily Reminders
The right sidebar has a "DAILY CHECK" section:
| Reminder | Data Source | Display |
|---|---|---|
| 📝 Blog publishing |
git log (content repo) |
Days since last post |
| 🦋 SNS status | Bluesky API | Hours since last post |
| 🌐 Translation queue | File count comparison | Translated / total |
| 🤖 Bot queue | action-queue.json |
Pending task count |
All fetched automatically. Zero manual updating.
Tech Stack
| Layer | Tech |
|---|---|
| Framework | Electron |
| Rendering | Canvas 2D (pixel art) |
| UI | DOM + CSS (sidebar only) |
| Data | Markdown frontmatter files |
| Sprites | Reused from a cat game I built |
| Session detection | Filesystem monitoring |
| Launcher | VBS script (hidden terminal) |
No frontend framework. No React, no Vue. Canvas draws directly, DOM only for the sidebar. Light and fast.
Total codebase: about 5 files, ~800 lines.
One-Click Launch
Double-click a project icon → confirm → Claude Code launches in that folder.
The daily workflow becomes:
- Windows boots → Pixel Office auto-starts
- Click the rocket → Mission Control for morning planning
- Click a project → Claude Code launches
- Pixel Office stays visible all day as a background dashboard
There Are Cats
I pulled cat sprites from a game I built and they wander around the office.
They sit down and sleep when tired. Wake up and wander again.
Zero productivity impact. Maximum comfort.
There are also potted plants, bookshelves, teddy bears, and cat food bowls — all reused assets from past projects. Your old work decorating your new work. I like that.
Honest Take
This is over-engineered. The text dashboard was fine.
But "fine" and "enjoyable" are different things.
The first thing you open every day should make you want to open it. Rocket animations, wandering cats, pixel art zones. Functionally nothing changed. But the experience did.
27 projects on one screen — text could do that. But now it feels like sitting in my own office. A pixel office that's entirely mine.
Don't pick tools only for function. If you use something every day, joy is part of the performance.
Building in Tokyo. Writing in 3 languages.
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