# ait

> ait is a free, native macOS utility that turns the camera housing (the notch) on a MacBook into a live "island" for coding agents, GitHub, builds, music from any app and timers. On displays without a notch it shows a virtual island at the top of the screen. Built with Swift, SwiftUI and AppKit; no accounts, no analytics.

- Current version: 0.8.0 (build 13), released 2026-10-15.
- Requirements: macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple silicon or Intel (universal binary).
- Price: free during the public beta. After it, Ait stays free to use and Ait Lifetime, a one-time purchase (no subscription), unlocks the Pro widgets and features: $19 at launch instead of $24.99; beta testers get a free Lifetime key. Download size: 6.6 MB DMG.
- Distribution: signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple; downloaded from the website only (not in the Mac App Store).
- SHA-256 of ait-0.8.0-13.dmg: 6caf8c01d91c668f3258bab0ffc09ad6bf1ea239696fcdec2edc7885482c1fa4

## Links

- [Website](https://ait.vpavlov.com/): product overview, features and FAQ
- [Download for Mac](https://ait.vpavlov.com/download): starts the download of the current notarized DMG and explains how to install it; https://ait.vpavlov.com/latest.dmg is the DMG itself

## How it works

- At rest, activities sit in small "wings" on either side of the notch; several can show at once, each in its own color.
- Hovering the island shows a one-line peek of the activity under the pointer.
- Clicking opens a dashboard with controls and the built-in tools. Moving the pointer away folds it back up.
- The island never takes keyboard focus, and clicks outside it go straight through to the menu bar.

## Features

- Now Playing: track, artwork, progress and controls for any app macOS shows as Now Playing, browsers included (YouTube, web players), with no permission prompt. Falls back to Apple Music and Spotify through their notifications and AppleScript if macOS stops allowing it.
- Coding agents: live status of Claude Code, Codex and Cursor sessions (working, needs approval or input, done), what the agent is doing (Thinking, Reading, Editing, Running Command, from the tool name only), session time, 5-hour and weekly usage limits with reset times, and context-window use for a Claude Code session. Cursor shows no approval state. Connected from Settings with one click; ait adds its hooks to the agent's settings and keeps a backup. It only observes: approvals happen in the agent.
- GitHub (optional): failed checks, requested changes and reviews, running checks, and short notes when checks pass, a pull request is ready to merge or merged, for the branch your Claude Code or Codex session works on or folders you add. The Dev page shows the one that needs you most. Uses the GitHub CLI (`gh`) and its own sign-in; ait stores no token and only reads.
- Quick dictation: hold ⌃⌥D in any app, speak and release to insert the text at the cursor (recognized on the Mac); hold ⌃⌥T to translate it first with Apple's on-device translation (macOS 26 or later).
- Global shortcuts: ⌃⌥A opens ait, ⌃⌥V Clipboard History; others can be assigned in Settings. No Accessibility permission needed.
- Tools in the island: Timer with Pomodoro, Mirror (camera preview), Voice (on-device dictation), Clipboard history, File Shelf (drag and drop, AirDrop, and Add to ait Shelf in Finder) and Quick Actions (apps, links, shortcuts).
- Developer Activity API: a bundled `ait` command-line tool lets scripts show progress in the island, e.g. `ait activity start build --title "Building"`, `ait activity update build --progress 0.74`, `ait activity finish build --status success`.
- Launch at Login and per-activity settings.
- Updates: built-in update check (Sparkle); new versions are signed and install in one click.

## Privacy and permissions

ait collects no analytics and has no accounts. Its only network access is checking ait.vpavlov.com for a new version when it starts and once a day, unless the user turns that off in Settings (only the app version is sent), GitHub requests through the GitHub CLI when the GitHub integration is turned on, and, in the Music/Spotify fallback, downloading Spotify artwork from the URL Spotify reports. Each permission is requested only when its feature is first used; declining one leaves the rest of the app working.

- Automation (Music, Spotify): playback position, artwork and controls.
- Camera: Mirror preview; frames are never recorded or saved.
- Microphone and Speech Recognition: Voice dictation, recognized on the Mac; audio is never saved.
- Accessibility: pasting Voice, dictation and Clipboard text into the frontmost app.
- Notifications: timer alerts.

## Known limitations

- Media controls in the island are pointer-only; use media keys or the player from the keyboard.
- Display brightness isn't shown: macOS has no public API to read it on Apple silicon.
- Now Playing for browsers and other apps uses a private part of macOS (MediaRemote, as other notch utilities do); a macOS update may stop it, and ait then falls back to Apple Music and Spotify. It can be turned off in Settings.