A native macOS-only app that gathers the state of a development environment ─ normally scattered across several terminal tabs ─ into a single window. It lists repository status, AI coding tool session history, usage costs, dependencies, and the contents of configuration files, and the official site sums up the concept as “one dashboard instead of six terminal tabs.” It supports Claude Code and Codex sessions, and its centerpiece is a replay feature that plays back past sessions like a video. No account is required, and all data stays on your own Mac. It was built by Benji Taylor, a Los Angeles-based designer and engineer, and released in February 2026.
Key Features
- All environment state on one screen: Local repository status, running and past sessions, dependencies, and environment settings are laid out on a single dashboard. It cuts down on opening window after window just to run
git statusor chase down a config file - Session replay: Pick a past Claude Code or Codex session and scrub through its timeline. Prompts, tool calls, and file changes flow in chronological order, and edited files light up as they update. You can change playback speed or step through one event at a time, which suits reviewing work you let an agent run unattended
- Cost tracking: See what your AI coding tool usage has cost, right in the dashboard. You can tell at a glance which project or session drove the spend
- Configuration visibility: Check the state of Claude Code-side settings ─ agents, skills, and MCP servers ─ without opening the config files directly
- Cross-cutting search: Search across sessions, agents, skills, repositories and more, with results narrowing as you type
- Fully local, no account: There is no sign-up and no cloud sync; what it reads never leaves your Mac. That makes it easy to adopt in environments where you handle work code
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Key features |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | All features available. No account required ─ just download the .dmg from the official site |
Pricing is as of August 2026. The developer has said on X that it is free to use with no plans to monetize it, though that could change in the future. Please check the official site for the latest information.
Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- Free, with no account required ─ very little friction to try it
- Fully local operation means work code paths and session contents are not sent anywhere
- Session replay lets you retrace, step by step, what an AI agent read and how it changed things
- Cost, repositories, and configuration all sit on one screen, which pays off most for people juggling several projects
- Supports Codex sessions in addition to Claude Code
⚠️ Cons
- macOS only, and it assumes a fairly recent macOS (the Tahoe generation); Windows and Linux are not supported
- Still at a 0.0.x beta version, so specification changes and bugs are possible
- As an individually built app, long-term maintenance and support are not guaranteed
- It is a viewer for inspecting state; driving or running sessions from it is not the main focus
- There is no proper documentation site, so you have to explore the app to learn the details
Comparison with Similar Services
| Comparison | Readout | Claudoscope | claude-control |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form | Native macOS app (.dmg download) | Native macOS app (OSS) | macOS desktop app (OSS) |
| Main strength | Session replay, consolidated environment view | Conversation history analysis, security features such as secrets detection | Monitoring and managing multiple sessions |
| Supported tools | Claude Code / Codex | Claude Code / Cowork | Claude Code |
| Source code | Closed | Public on GitHub | Public on GitHub |
| Price | Free | Free (OSS) | Free (OSS) |
Who Is It For
- Developers who use Claude Code or Codex daily and run several repositories and sessions in parallel
- People who want to retrace, after the fact, what work they delegated to an AI agent
- Anyone who wants to see on screen how their AI coding tool costs are adding up month to month
- Anyone whose agents, skills, and MCP settings have grown to the point where it is hard to remember what was written where
- People who prefer locally contained tools and would rather not hand data to the cloud
Summary
Readout answers a problem that developers hit once they start using AI coding tools seriously ─ not being able to see what state things are in ─ with a free, native macOS dashboard. The session replay in particular is an easy-to-grasp way to review an agent’s work after the fact. It carries the constraints of being a beta and macOS-only, but since it is free and requires no account, it is the kind of tool that costs little to adopt if your environment fits.