Every agent.
One glance.
Orbtile turns the nine LCD keys of a macro keypad into a live view of your coding agents. Each session gets its own key and a glowing heart that shows what it is doing. The one that needs you glows in its agent's alarm colour.
Works with the Logitech MX Creative Keypad. Windows and other keypads: join the waitlist.
Three steps, then you stop checking tabs.
Install and take over the keypad
Open Orbtile from Applications. It finds the keypad, adds a small Claude Code plugin, and switches the keys over from the menu bar. Logi Options+ stays installed.
- MX Creative Keypad found
- Plugin orbtile@orbtile installed
- Hooks use a private local socket
Every session gets a key
Sessions get a key, with waiting sessions first, then working, recent finishes and idle. The key shows the session name, what it is doing, how long, and the latest line of text as it streams.
The one that needs you glows
Claude Code approvals and questions glow in the agent's alarm colour and breathe, louder the longer they wait. Tap the key to bring that session's window forward.
With Approve from the keypad on for Claude Code, hold Allow or press Deny for permissions. For questions, pick numbered options, then hold Send. The question stays on screen. Approve Codex permissions in Codex.
Read the pad by colour and motion.
Warmer and faster means it wants you more. The state word is always on the key too, so colour is never the only signal.
Allow Bash?
Waiting for your approval.
deep breath, a ring each beatQuestion
Waiting for your answer.
double heartbeatError
An API or tool error stopped the turn.
uneven flicker, never a strobeBash
Running a tool: its name, command and motion for its kind.
motion follows the tool kindwriting
Writing text, streamed live to the key.
light rises through itthinking
Working on the next step.
slow gold breathcompacting
Summarising a long context.
a ring falls inwarddone
Finished, and you have not looked yet.
still, a quiet chimeidle
Open and waiting for a prompt.
pilot lightoffline
The session ended or stopped reporting.
a dim ring, staticThese are frames from the keypad renderer. On the device every key animates at up to 30 frames per second. Follow Reduce Motion holds the Mac interface orbs still; the keypad keeps its state animations.
Waiting first. Working next.
Waiting, working, recent finishes, then idle. Orbs glide between keys when the order changes.
Every 8 seconds, each state group puts new responses first, then newest activity; a new wait can move ahead sooner. A key press freezes reordering for 1.5 seconds. Settings also offers activity leaders, which lets clearly busier working sessions pass. Idle sessions stay for 120 minutes by default (configurable); working and waiting sessions always stay.
Keys stay live while the Mac is locked (setting: everything / orbs only / keys off).
The hub
How many sessions wait and work, with one small light per session along the bottom. With Key actions on, tap key 9 on the grid to focus the first waiting session, across all pages; with none waiting, the grid stays. Hold it for 0.6 seconds to open the Mac overlay.
Focus mode
Title on key 1, agents on key 2, status on key 3. Larger live text flows across keys 4–5–6 and the top of 7–8–9, above the orb. Page buttons browse sessions and stop at the ends.
Three agents on the keypad at the same time.
Claude Code, Codex and ZCode, on the keypad at the same time.
Each agent has its own colour: Claude warm gold, Codex blue, ZCode jade. Waiting keys glow in each agent's alarm colour (Claude terracotta, Codex violet, ZCode rose); error is always red.
Settings has a hue ring per agent.
Adapter API v1 ships in 0.2: a documented local Unix-socket protocol with shell, Python and Node reference adapters. Off by default; you allow each adapter.
Stream Deck, Loupedeck, Razer and others: tell us what you own in the keypad waitlist. We build for the devices with the most owners.
Support development
Orbtile is free while it is in beta. If it helps you, you can leave a tip. Tips are a thank-you: they do not buy a licence or any perk.
Beta builds stop working when Orbtile 1.0 ships. Orbtile 1.0 is pay what you want from EUR 19 for up to 5 Macs, with a 14-day trial.
We build what people ask for.
Two short lists, email only. We write once, when there is something to try.
What we keep
- Your email, the list you joined, and the boxes you ticked. No name.
- No tracking cookies and no tracking pixels.
- Entries are kept at most 24 months.
- Every email has an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing deletes your entry at once.
Questions, answered.
Does Orbtile replace Logi Options+?
No. Options+ stays installed and keeps updating; Orbtile never modifies it. Switch between Orbtile and Options+ at any time from the menu bar, or hold both page buttons on the keypad for 1.5 seconds. When you quit Orbtile, the keypad goes back to Options+.
Which AI agents are supported?
Claude Code, Codex and ZCode, on the keypad at the same time. Each agent has its own colour: Claude warm gold, Codex blue, ZCode jade. Waiting keys glow in each agent's alarm colour (Claude terracotta, Codex violet, ZCode rose); error is always red. Settings has a hue ring per agent. Codex desktop threads and codex exec runs always show as Codex. Codex keypad approval is optional and off by default. Codex sends its permission event before it decides whether to ask you, so the keypad can show Allow for a command Codex would have run without asking; while the keypad waits, Codex waits too. For developers, Adapter API v1 lets you add your own agent.
Can I answer questions from the keypad?
Pick numbered options on Claude Code questions, including multiple choices when allowed, then hold Send for 0.6 seconds. The question always stays on screen. Enable Approve from the keypad for Claude Code and Key actions first. Typed answers and Codex questions are answered on screen. Key map and gestures.
Which keypad themes can I choose?
Frosted glow, Globules, Point cloud and Riso, each with v1 and v2. Point cloud draws a lattice of crisp round dots; Globules draws turning spheres of glowing globules, with its loop reset fixed in 0.2. Pick a theme and version in Settings > Appearance. Tool motion follows the kind of tool.
Which keypads are supported?
The Logitech MX Creative Keypad (its nine LCD keys and the two page buttons). Other devices come when enough owners ask: vote for yours.
Does Orbtile send data?
Orbtile checks a signed beta status file at orbtile.com and sends a small usage summary at most every 2 hours while it runs, only when it changed: counts and minutes (app starts, sessions per agent, AI model names, features used) under a pseudonymous machine ID. The server keeps one row per Mac per day. Automatic reports never send prompts, transcripts, file paths or names. Agent events travel over a private Unix-domain socket that only your user account can open, and stay on your Mac. Feedback messages contain what you type and are stored as submitted; please leave out secrets, personal information and private task text. The beta needs no licence key. Orbtile needs no account. Details: privacy notice.
Is the app notarized?
Orbtile 0.2 is ad-hoc signed, not notarized. macOS 15 Sequoia and later: open Orbtile once, then go to System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down to Security and click Open Anyway next to Orbtile. Confirm with your password or Touch ID, then click Open if asked.
macOS 14 Sonoma: Control-click Orbtile in Applications, choose Open, then click Open to confirm. Steps and checksums: download page.
What does it cost?
Orbtile 0.2 is free during the beta. Beta builds stop working when 1.0 ships. Orbtile 1.0 is pay what you want from EUR 19 for up to 5 Macs, with a 14-day trial. Pricing details.
What do I need?
A Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 14 Sonoma or later, a Logitech MX Creative Keypad, and Claude Code, Codex or ZCode.
My sessions were already running. Do I have to restart them?
For Claude Code, running sessions show their state straight away. Restart them once after installing or updating the plugin to enable live text. Codex desktop threads and codex exec runs are read from local files; ZCode needs no plugin.
Put your agents where your hand already is.
Free during the 0.2 beta. Needs macOS 14 or later and a Logitech MX Creative Keypad.