Steps
- Open Settings. Choose Settings… from the Nook tray icon, or open it from the island.
- Go to Claude Code and click Install hooks…. Nook shows the exact diff of what will change in
~/.claude/settings.jsonand the path of the dated backup it will take. - Read the preview and confirm. Nothing is written until you click the confirm button. Your own hooks and other settings are left untouched.
- Optionally install the usage status line. In the same section, install the usage limits entry so the island can show your 5-hour and weekly limits.
- Start a new Claude Code session. Open a terminal, run
claudein a project, and send a prompt. Sessions started before the hooks were installed must be restarted. - Watch the island. The pill shows how many sessions are working or need you. Point at it to open the panel.
Open Settings
Use the Nook icon in the notification area and choose Settings…. The window has six sections: Claude Code, General, Island, Shelf, Appearance and About. Everything in this guide starts from the first one.
Install the Claude Code hooks
Nook learns what Claude Code is doing through Claude Code’s hooks. Installing them changes %USERPROFILE%\.claude\settings.json, which is your file, so Nook goes slowly and shows its work:
- Click Install hooks….
- Nook shows a preview: the exact diff of what will change, and the path of the dated backup it will take (for example
settings.json.bak-20261004-101500, beside the original). - Click to confirm. Only then is anything written. The diff is checked again at that moment: if the file changed since you looked, Nook stops and shows you a new diff instead.
- Open a new Claude Code session to pick the hooks up.
Hooks that belong to other tools are never touched. The full story, including what exactly is written, is in How Nook talks to Claude Code. To undo it, use Uninstall hooks… in the same place.
Install the usage status line (optional)
The 5-hour and weekly usage limits reach Nook through Claude Code’s status line. In Settings → Claude Code there is a separate Usage limits block with its own Install… button and the same preview, backup and click.
- If you already have a status line, Nook keeps it: your command still runs and still shows. Uninstalling puts it back exactly as it was.
- If you have none, Nook prints nothing of its own. Claude Code then hides its keyboard hints (“? for shortcuts”), because any status line replaces them.
- Numbers appear on subscription plans and refresh only while a session runs.
There is also an optional Reply format block that adds a marked section to your CLAUDE.md, asking Claude to shape replies so Nook can show decisions, warnings and tips. Skip it if you do not want it.
Start a Claude Code session
In any terminal, go to a project and run claude. Send a prompt. Within a moment a row for the session appears in the island with its state: working, thinking, needs you, done or error. Start a second session in another folder and you get a second row. Sessions that were already running before you installed the hooks will not appear until they are restarted.
The same works in the integrated terminal of VS Code, and in Cursor’s terminal (see Cursor and Nook).
A tour of the island
The island lives at the top of your screen. It is folded to a thin pill most of the time, opens when you point at it, and opens by itself when a session needs you. Its mascot, Gullu, wears the state of your sessions.
Home
The first page lists every running session, one row each, with its state and what it is doing. The header shows your usage limits (if installed) and your PC’s CPU, GPU and RAM. A button on each row takes you to the window the session runs in.
The session panel
Open a session to see its last message, its subagents as a tree, and its pending permission requests or questions. Edits show a real diff.
The Shelf
The Shelf is a row of small widgets for the moments between prompts: To-do, Timer, Reminders, Media, Mirror and Projects. See Shelf widgets.
Keyboard shortcuts
Nook has three global shortcuts. They work in any app, and each can be changed or switched off in Settings.
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl Alt Space | Expand the session panel large, or shrink it again. |
| Ctrl Shift Space | Open the session panel at its normal size. Press Space to expand it. |
| Ctrl Alt Enter | Go to the session that needs you: brings the window of that session forward. |
If a shortcut does nothing, another app may hold the key combination. See shortcut conflicts.
Approvals and questions
When Claude Code wants to run a command, edit a file or ask you something, the island opens on that request. You can allow or deny a permission request, or answer a question, right there. A few things to know:
- Never without a click. Nook never approves anything for you.
- The terminal still works. If nobody answers within about two minutes, or if Nook is closed, Claude Code asks in the terminal as usual. Answering in the terminal also works while the island is showing the same request.
- Edits show a real diff, so you can see what you are allowing.
Auto-hide and visibility
In Settings → Island → Visibility you choose how the folded island behaves:
- Auto-hide the folded island after 5, 10, 30 or 60 seconds, or never. The default is one minute. Point at the top edge of the screen to wake it.
- Hide only when no session is active: while a session is working, thinking or asking, the island stays.
- Hide in full-screen apps (on by default): the island stays out of the way of videos, games and presentations, but a permission request or a question still shows so you can answer it.
Under General you can pick which display it lives on (the main display, or the one the mouse is on) and whether Nook launches at startup. Under Appearance there are themes, reduced motion and Gullu’s playful reactions.
Next: how the hooks work, or troubleshooting if no sessions show up.