Coucou or Notchy for your AI agents
Coucou is a new open-source notch for AI coding agents that took off fast: live sessions for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI and Copilot CLI, Allow/Deny/Always approvals, a chat panel for Claude, Gemini, OpenAI or a local Ollama model, and a Mochi mascot. Its signature move is the hand-off: an iPhone app that carries your sessions to the Dynamic Island and Lock Screen, with Face ID to approve. It needs macOS 15. Notchy handles Claude Code approvals and AI usage limits from the notch, on macOS 13 and later.
- Coucou price
- Free
- Coucou requires
- macOS 15 or later
- Notchy price
- Free — donations optional
Why use Notchy instead of Coucou?
- Runs two macOS releases further back
Coucou needs macOS 15 Sequoia. Notchy runs from macOS 13 Ventura on Intel and Apple silicon, so a Mac still on Ventura or Sonoma can approve Claude Code from the notch today.
- Usage limits next to the approvals
Rate-limit windows, spend and burn rate for Claude, Codex, Cursor, Copilot, Gemini and 60+ more providers, with alerts before you hit a limit.
- The rest of a Dynamic Island
Face Unlock, Now Playing with lyrics, clipboard history, a file shelf, a real terminal and long-command alerts live in the same island.
- Where Coucou wins
It covers many agents rather than Claude Code alone, it has a built-in AI chat, and its iPhone app follows you away from the desk. Notchy has no phone companion. Coucou is also open source (MIT).
Everything Notchy does, for free
- Fluid Dynamic Island animations on the Mac notch
- Command palette (⌃⌥K) — every action one keystroke away
- Knock — double-tap a modifier key to open the notch
- AI usage tracker (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot)
- Detach any tab into a menu-bar popover
- Now Playing music controls (Apple Music & Spotify)
- Time-synced karaoke lyrics under the notch
- Mac clipboard history shelf (password-manager safe)
- Searchable clipboard — filter by text, file name, or OCR'd words
- On-device OCR — copy a screenshot, get its text (Apple Vision)
- Window snapping — drag a window to the notch to tile it
- App Launcher — pin apps to the notch, open with one tap
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- Text snippets — TextExpander-style pastes from the ⌘K palette
- One-tap screen capture to clipboard + shelf
- Color eyedropper — sample any pixel, hex auto-copied
- System-wide mic mute for every meeting app at once
- Keystroke HUD for demos & screencasts (secure-input safe)
- Keyboard cleaning lock with countdown island (⌘⎋ unlocks)
- Menu-bar icon hiding — Bartender-style separator & chevron
- Live CPU / memory / network stats flyout
- Open GitHub PR count in the notch (Keychain-stored token)
- iPhone-style call island — Answer/Decline FaceTime on the notch
- Notch Terminal — real VT100/xterm shell in a PTY, its own tab
- Camera Guard — alert (or block) when any app opens your camera
- Caps Lock HUD — brief island on every toggle
- Full Charge island with adjustable threshold + low-battery sound
- Alt HUD styles — edge-pinned bar or circular gauge off the notch
- Audio-reactive Now Playing visualizer (real FFT of system audio)
- Custom closed-notch idle animation — drop in your own Lottie JSON
- Drag-and-drop file drop shelf — persists across relaunches
- Zip & unzip files right from the shelf
- Image converter (HEIC, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, PDF) + video → GIF
- Run Apple Shortcuts with one tap
- Screenshots auto-staged on the shelf, ready to drag
- Download finished alerts with Reveal in Finder
- USB drive mount island with one-tap Eject
- Apple Reminders quick capture & due list
- macOS Pomodoro notch timer & stopwatch — streaks + 7-day chart
- Resizable expanded panel (width & height, live preview)
- System HUDs (volume, brightness, battery)
- Audio output switcher (speakers, AirPods, monitor)
- AirPods connection manager & battery
- Magic Mouse, Keyboard & Trackpad battery + low-battery alerts
- Quick notes & Calendar widgets
- Camera Mirror (check your appearance)
- Keep Awake (caffeine toggle)
- Teleprompter (Cuely) for Zoom calls
- Focus-aware alerts & native haptic feedback
- Lock screen widgets & hide-the-notch mode
- 134 languages, fully localized
- Native SwiftUI, tuned for Apple silicon
The honest verdict on Coucou
If you juggle several agents and want them on your iPhone, Coucou is excellent and free. If Claude Code is your agent, your Mac predates Sequoia, or you want a full Dynamic Island around it, Notchy is the one that fits.
Coucou alternative — FAQ
Is Coucou free?
Yes. The code is MIT-licensed on GitHub; the name, mascot and sounds stay the author's.
Which agents does Coucou support?
Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, Copilot CLI and others, per its README. Notchy's approvals cover Claude Code.
Does Notchy have an iPhone app like Coucou?
No. Notchy lives on the Mac only. If approving from your phone matters, Coucou does it.
Will Coucou run on macOS 14 Sonoma?
No — it requires macOS 15. Notchy supports macOS 13 Ventura and later.
Can I run Coucou and Notchy together?
Two apps drawing at the notch compete for the same space, and both would install Claude Code hooks. Pick one for agent approvals.