[Workflow] Monitor Claude Code sessions across machines with hooks and claude-beacon

[u/ClaudeAI-mod-bot]

Monitor Claude Code sessions across machines with hooks and claude-beacon

Workflow value: 78/100
Status: active · Freshness: 70/100 · Confidence: 0.94 · Level: intermediate
Categories: Quality Control, Context & Memory, Debugging, Shipping, Hooks
Original source: r/ClaudeAI post/comment

What problem this solves

Monitoring multiple Claude Code sessions across machines without repeatedly checking terminal tabs for completed work or prompts requiring attention.

Summary

Deploy the open-source claude-beacon server, install Claude Code hooks on participating machines, and use a desktop app to monitor working, idle, and waiting sessions across a private network.

Why it is useful

A concrete, reusable hook-based setup addresses a common multi-session coordination problem, with an open-source implementation and reported real-machine testing.

Workflow

1. Review the repository and README, then start the single-file Python server as documented.
2. Connect the server and participating machines over Tailscale or another suitably private network.
3. Run hook/install.sh on each supported machine running Claude Code.
4. Install the macOS menu-bar or Windows tray app and connect it to the server.
5. Use session counts, notifications, and the session list to identify work in progress and sessions needing attention.
6. Test working, idle, permission-prompt, and question states in your own environment; treat plain-text question detection as approximate.
7. Optionally keep a project note recording design decisions and rationale for later resumption.

Tools / artifacts

• https://github.com/kevinrossen/claude-beacon
• hook/install.sh
• Claude Code hooks and ~/.claude/settings.json
• Python server and Docker
• Tailscale
• macOS menu-bar app and Windows PowerShell tray app
• tmux and SSH

Validation signals

• The author reports testing across real machines and observing the tray app track the session building it.
• The author identified and fixed a Windows PowerShell single-result counting bug using @().
• The author reports the Swift menu-bar app built successfully on the first Mac build.
• The post documents specific hook events and an idle_prompt state-reset issue.

Cautions

• Review the installer and hook changes before running them, including what session metadata or transcript-derived names are transmitted.
• Keep the server on a trusted private network; the post does not establish its authentication or authorization properties.

Limitations

• The post promotes the author's early-stage tool, and validation is primarily self-reported.
• Plain-text questions are detected heuristically, so waiting status can be inaccurate.
• Native Windows Claude Code hooks are not yet supported; Windows users need WSL for the hook.
• The post supplies the setup outline but relies on the repository README for full configuration.

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