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Getting started

Installing, the welcome window, permissions, first steps.

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Requirements#

  • macOS 26 or later.

  • The Claude desktop app, the Codex desktop app, or both.

  • Optional command-line tools. Pairbar works without them, but these features need them:

    ToolFeatures
    claude (Claude Code CLI)plan limits, forks, messages without opening a chat, new chats with custom settings, Claude workflows and check-ins
    codexforks, archive, queued messages, cloud tasks, Codex workflows and check-ins
    gh (GitHub CLI)PR status for Codex chats and tasks, and PR checks on hover and in the Tasks view

Install#

  1. Download Pairbar-<version>.dmg from pairbar.com.
  2. Open it and drag Pairbar onto Applications.
  3. Open Pairbar from Applications. It's signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens without warnings.

Pairbar is free for 7 days (no card needed), then $49 a year ($39 for the first year with the launch code), $9 a month, or $129 once for Lifetime (the first 200 buyers): every plan has everything. See Trial, licence and updates. Buying activates it by itself: no key to copy (on another Mac, Use my email sends a link that does). It keeps itself up to date.

The welcome window#

On first launch (and once after an update that changes it) a short illustrated welcome shows what Pairbar does, then sets it up. Each page has a small animation of the feature:

  1. One sidebar for Claude and Codex: Pairbar covers the apps' own sidebars and lists chats from both. It reads the files they keep on this Mac and uploads nothing.
  2. Everything at a glance: working (and on what), needs you (moved to the top), finished (marked until you look), and the plan-limit rings.
  3. Switch apps: click a chat from the other app and its window moves into the same spot.
  4. Peek, search, jump: hold ⌥ to see the app's own sidebar, ⌘K to search and run actions, ⌃⌥K to search from any app.
  5. Workflows: describe what you want; Pairbar plans the steps, runs the ones that can side by side on a schedule, asks before a step edits files, and checks the goal.
  6. Optional permissions:
    • Accessibility lets Pairbar move the Claude and Codex windows so they share one spot when you switch between them, and makes ⌥/⌘ peeking instant. Allow… shows macOS's prompt and opens Privacy & Security → Accessibility. If Pairbar is already in that list but still shows as off (macOS keeps the permission of an earlier build), turn it off and on again.
    • Screen Recording (optional), in a smaller row below: used for animated swaps. Animation snapshots are temporary and aren’t saved. When Capture (Coming Soon) is released, the explanation also covers captures you start in Notes, which are saved in your session on this Mac. Allow… asks macOS and turns animated swaps on.
    • Notifications tell you when a chat finishes or needs you. macOS asks only once: the button says Allow… while it can still ask, and Open Settings… once it has an answer (or can't ask), which opens Pairbar's page in System Settings → Notifications. If it's still off when you come back, the page says so.
  7. You're all set: ⌃⌥S shows or hides Pairbar, and ⌃⌥Space dictates (the microphone is asked for only the first time you dictate, never here); what Pairbar found (the apps and the optional claude, codex and gh tools, with links for the missing ones), "Open Pairbar at login", and buttons to open Claude or Codex. Before you've bought a licence it also says how long the free trial lasts and what it costs after, with a link to the Terms of Sale and licence agreement.

Skip tour jumps to the permissions. ← and → move between pages, Return continues, Esc closes; the dots at the bottom jump to a page. With Reduce Motion the illustrations hold still on one telling frame. Closing it any way counts as seen.

The last page keeps the tool status, launch buttons and full trial prices inside the same margins as its heading; long pricing text wraps.

You can reopen it from the menu-bar icon (Welcome…), from Settings, or with ⌘K → "Show welcome".

First steps#

  1. Open Claude or Codex. Pairbar appears over the app's sidebar.
  2. Click any chat to open it in its app, even when it belongs to the other app.
  3. Press ✎ to start a new chat, and ⌘K to search.
  4. Hold ⌥ to peek at the app's own sidebar, for example your regular Claude chats.

Guides and use cases for this