Claude Semáforo
A VS Code extension that shows a traffic-light status for every live Claude Code session.
- 🟢 running — Claude is working
- 🟡 needs input — waiting for a permission/answer (plays a honk when VS Code is unfocused)
- 🔴 stopped — idle, doing nothing
Shows a list in the activity bar and a 🟢n 🟡n 🔴n summary in the status bar.
How it works
Reads the session-state files Claude Code already maintains under ~/.claude/sessions/
and the per-session aiTitle from transcripts. No hooks are installed; it does not
modify your Claude Code config.
Install (local .vsix)
npm install && npm run build && npm run package- In VS Code: Extensions → ⋯ → Install from VSIX… → pick
claude-semaphore-0.1.0.vsix.
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Notes |
claudeSemaphore.theme |
classic |
classic / colorblind / highContrast |
claudeSemaphore.sound.enabled |
true |
honk on yellow transition |
claudeSemaphore.sound.file |
(bundled honk) |
custom sound path |
claudeSemaphore.pollIntervalMs |
2000 |
fallback poll interval |
claudeSemaphore.debug |
false |
emit [ClaudeSemaforo] diagnostic logs to the extension host console |
Limitations
Only sessions that write a state file under ~/.claude/sessions/<pid>.json are listed.
Interactive Claude Code sessions do this; sessions launched through a gateway/bridge
(e.g. OpenClaw / codex-companion) run in a mode that does not persist that file, so
they expose no live status and will not appear in the panel. This is expected — the
extension is a pure reader and has nothing to read for those sessions.
Daemon-backed sessions (kind: "bg", e.g. a forked session claimed from a background
spare) are listed too, but they run detached from a TTY, so terminal reveal may not be
available for them. When two live sessions resolve to the same title (typical after a
fork), each row shows its pid to tell them apart.
Caveat
Reads undocumented internal Claude Code files; a future Claude Code release could change
their format. If that happens the extension shows a warning and the reader needs an update.
