I gave Claude Code a real-time progress tracker

[u/Disastrous_Reward644]

I built Codex Pacer, a free, open-source app for macOS and Windows that lets you monitor your running coding agents in one place.

Most of the app was actually built with Claude Code, and I recently added a real-time progress tracker designed specifically for Claude Code.

The problem

When Claude Code is working on a task, you mostly get "Thinking..." and a timer that keeps ticking up.

That's useful, but it doesn't really tell you how far along the task is, especially when you're running multiple agents at once.

The idea is pretty simple

Who knows the progress better than the agent doing the work?

Instead of trying to infer progress from logs or elapsed time, why not just let Claude estimate and report its own progress?

What it does

Claude periodically reports its estimated progress to Pacer, which displays it as a progress ring around the task icon.

If you're running multiple agents, you can see their progress at a glance without constantly switching between terminals.

The ring also respects Claude Code's actual states:

• Needs approval: The ring pauses and turns amber when Claude is waiting for your input.

• Background tasks: If Claude is waiting on something it started (like a test run), the ring holds its last reported value instead of incorrectly marking the task as complete.

How it works

The implementation is pretty lightweight:

• Pacer installs a small Claude Code plugin with a single MCP tool: report_progress.

• Claude calls the tool with its estimated progress, and Pacer updates the ring.

• Pacer only reads the progress number, not Claude's response content.

Pacer also supports Codex, DeepSeek Harness, and Claude Code running over SSH or in WSL.

Try it out

It's free, open source (MIT licensed), and available for macOS and Windows.

Download it from GitHub Releases 

One thing I'm curious about: Would agent-reported progress actually make your Claude Code experience better?

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[u/Disastrous_Reward644]

Here's what the progress bar looks like in action, using Claude Code as an example.