← index~/nightcoding/writing/01-five-minute-tools

notes · public · 2 min · 2026-09-10

more 5-minute tools I built with claude

Overview

Five small things I asked Claude to build for better productivity — a Jira client in the terminal, a cron GUI, a menu-bar widget, window management, and the status bar I wanted all along.

Want to share more 5-minute tools I've built with Claude for better productivity.

TIX — JIRA IN THE TERMINAL

I hate going to the browser and back just to check current tasks and ticket numbers. Tix opens tickets straight in the terminal, and also has an option to open a new Claude Code session using a skill that explores the ticket, creates a worktree and branch, and proposes an implementation.

tix ticket list — key, type, status, priority and summary for every open issue, with a keybinding bar along the bottom
fig.1— the whole board in one window: filter, sort and open without touching a browser.
tix single-issue view — the issue fields on the left, the full description on the right, and a "claude session" button underneath
fig.2— one ticket, and the button that hands it to a Claude Code session.

TICK — A GUI FOR CRON

A terminal GUI for Mac cron jobs. Claude leaves a lot of orphaned sessions, worktrees and MCPs open, which blow up RAM and storage. I asked it to create cron jobs for cleaning up each of these. Maybe worth separate posts, as it's a common issue and happens in Cursor too.

CCBAR — LIMITS IN THE MENU BAR

A small widget that shows current Claude limits in the Mac menu bar.

ccbar menu bar popover — session and weekly usage bars with their reset times, and the last session cost
fig.3— session and week, with the reset times, without opening anything.

WINDOW MANAGEMENT, UNSUBSCRIBED

Raycast is a default for me, but I don't want to pay an $8/month subscription for the single feature I need: window management. So I asked Claude to build the same tool — layout presets for different cases, exactly like Raycast does. A dev command aligns all windows exactly as I need for work.

Raycast search results for "dev" — three script commands, dev, dev-laptop and dev-home, each one a window layout preset
fig.4— one preset per situation: desk, laptop, home.

THE TERMINAL ITSELF

Small terminal and Claude Code enhancements: displaying metadata in the Claude status bar, like worktree, branch, limits and token consumption. For some reason it's not built in. I just asked Claude to add it and told it what the layout should be, along with a custom iTerm theme.

I don't do any manual configuration on my laptop anymore. I installed good old iTerm2 and told Claude to add all necessary extensions and create a custom theme in Claude style — and it did it perfectly.

The bottom of a Claude Code session in iTerm2 — a status line showing model, token count, session and weekly limits, and the current worktree branch
fig.5— model, tokens, limits and branch, on the line where I was already looking.

THE POINT

It's easier than ever to personalize your laptop and manage system files, and most people don't realize it. Claude is more than just a chat; it can be your full assistant.

Now I even ask it to categorize my personal files and downloads, and remove cache and legacy libraries. You can build whatever you want to make your setup more convenient — without subscribing to tons of small SaaS apps.

Claude is more than just a chat. It can be your full assistant.
claudetoolsterminalmac
↓ scroll · j/k to movexdoc eli-2026-002 · rev 1.1 · prod v0.1.0.0