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Use case

See pull request status and CI checks next to each Claude Code and Codex chat

Pairbar is a macOS app that shows each Claude Code and Codex chat's pull request right in the chat list. A PR icon on the row is colour-coded like GitHub (open, draft, merged, closed), and resting the pointer on a chat shows its branch, how far it is ahead of or behind, the size of its diff, whether the PR's checks are passing and the review decision.

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The problem

Agent work usually ends in a pull request, and that's where the waiting starts: CI runs, reviewers comment, the branch falls behind main. Your chat list doesn't know any of that. To find out whether the "Add rate limiting" chat's PR is green, you open GitHub, search for the branch, and click through to the checks.

With five or six chats each owning a PR, that round trip happens constantly, and it's easy to miss that one of them failed an hour ago.

How Pairbar solves it

  1. Install and log in to gh
    Pairbar uses the GitHub CLI for PR status of Codex chats and for PR checks in the hover card. Run gh auth login once; Pairbar finds gh wherever you installed it.
  2. Read the PR icon on the row
    Colours follow GitHub's convention for open, draft, merged and closed. Click the icon to open the PR.
  3. Rest the pointer on the chat
    After a moment a card appears with the branch details and the PR's checks and review decision.
  4. Act on it
    From the chat's menu, Open in › lists the chat's pull requests, and More › Copy branch copies the branch name. Agents › puts reviewer agents first when the chat has a PR, with their commands already filled with the PR link.

What the hover card shows

LineExample of what you'd see
Project and branchacme-backend on rate-limit-login, with commits ahead of and behind
Diffthe size of the diff against the default branch, and uncommitted changes
Pull requestits number and state
Checkspassed or failing
Reviewthe review decision
Alsothe question or current action, the search match, subagents, labels and last activity

The card never appears while a menu is open. Turn it off with Settings → Chats & sidebar → Details on hover.

Where the information comes from

  • Branch, ahead/behind and diff come from git: the status, diff and log of the chat's folder, read locally.
  • PR status for Codex chats and PR checks come from your gh, which talks to GitHub with your own login. Pairbar itself sends nothing to GitHub.
  • Cloud chats have no folder on your Mac, so the git details aren't available for them.

Without Pairbar

Without Pairbar, PR status lives in GitHub and its CLI:

ToolWhat it gives you
gh pr statusyour PRs and those of the current branch, with check and review state, in a terminal
gh pr checks <number>each check's result for one PR (--watch to follow it live)
GitHub's pull requests page and notificationseverything, across repos, in the browser
Asking the agent"what's the CI status of your PR?" costs a turn each time

Frequently asked questions

Do I need the GitHub CLI for PR status?
For Codex chats' PR status and for PR checks in the hover card, yes: Pairbar uses your installed and logged-in gh.
What do the PR icon colours mean?
They follow GitHub's colours for a pull request's state: open, draft, merged or closed. Clicking the icon opens the PR.
Does Pairbar post anything to GitHub?
No. It only reads PR status through your gh. Agents or workflows you run may use gh themselves, according to the permissions you give them.
Can I turn the hover card off?
Yes, in Settings → Chats & sidebar → Details on hover.

Related

Try Pairbar free for 7 days

One sidebar for the Claude and Codex desktop apps. Everything on for 7 days, no card needed; then $49/year ($39 first year with LAUNCH), $9/month or $129 lifetime (first 200 buyers). macOS 26 or later, Apple silicon.

Download free trialSee pricing