Add global keyboard shortcuts for approve/deny permissions

[lancehambly]

Context

Hey! Love this project — the Dynamic Island UX for Claude Code is brilliant. I kept finding myself reaching for keyboard shortcuts to approve/deny permissions without having to mouse up to the notch, especially during fast iteration loops. So I put together this feature as a suggestion.

These are proposed changes only — I don't have any permissions on this repo. Happy for you to take, adapt, cherry-pick, or ignore any of this. Just wanted to share what worked well for me and a colleague.

What this adds

System-wide keyboard shortcuts for approving/denying Claude Code permission requests, plus several UX improvements to the notch behavior around permissions.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
⌘⇧Y	Approve the selected pending permission
⌘⇧N	Deny the selected pending permission
⌘⇧↑	Cycle selection to previous pending session
⌘⇧↓	Cycle selection to next pending session

• Shortcuts work globally from any app — uses Carbon RegisterEventHotKey, no Accessibility permission required
• Shortcuts are configurable via a new "Keyboard Shortcuts" row in the settings menu, with a shortcut recorder UI
• Can be enabled/disabled from settings

Multi-session approval selection

When multiple Claude sessions have pending permission requests simultaneously:

• An amber accent bar on the left edge of the row indicates which session the shortcut will act on
• ⌘⇧↑ / ⌘⇧↓ cycles between pending sessions (wraps around)
• First pending session is auto-selected by default
• Selection auto-reconciles when sessions resolve or new ones arrive
• A count badge (e.g. "2") appears on the closed notch when 2+ sessions need approval

Notch behavior improvements

• Always expands for permissions — removed the TerminalVisibilityDetector check that suppressed expansion when a terminal was visible. Users need to see what tool is requesting approval.
• Persistent while pending — clicking outside the notch no longer dismisses it when there are unanswered permission requests. Clicks still pass through to the underlying app.
• Auto-retracts when done — after all permissions are resolved, the notch closes automatically (0.8s for shortcut-triggered, 5s for manually-opened). Only applies when showing the instances list, not when user is in chat or menu.
• Dynamic sizing — instances list height scales to content (~52pt per row) instead of a fixed 320pt, clamped between 120-400pt.

Design decisions

• Carbon RegisterEventHotKey over NSEvent.addGlobalMonitorForEvents(.keyDown) — the latter doesn't reliably fire for keyboard events when the app isn't focused. Carbon hotkeys are the proper macOS API for this and don't require Accessibility permission.
• KeyCombo model is Codable and persisted via UserDefaults (through AppSettings) so custom bindings survive app restarts.
• Selection state lives on NotchViewModel — it's UI state, not session state, and needs to be accessible from both SwiftUI views and the shortcut handler.
• Sorted approval IDs in the cycling logic match the visual sort order in ClaudeInstancesView so what the user sees matches what they cycle through.

Files changed

New files (3)

File	Purpose
Models/KeyboardShortcut.swift	KeyCombo model — key code + modifier flags, Codable, human-readable displayString (e.g. "⌘⇧Y"), full Carbon key code → string mapping
Services/Shortcuts/KeyboardShortcutHandler.swift	Singleton that registers Carbon hotkeys, routes events to approve/deny/cycle handlers, selection-aware targeting
UI/Components/ShortcutSettingsRow.swift	Expandable settings row with enable/disable toggle, shortcut recorder for each binding, reset to defaults

Modified files (5)

File	Change
Core/Settings.swift	Added shortcutsEnabled, approveShortcut, denyShortcut to AppSettings with UserDefaults persistence
Core/NotchViewModel.swift	Added selectedPendingSessionId, hasPendingPermissions, reconcilePendingSelection(), cyclePendingSelection(), dynamic instanceCount-based sizing
UI/Views/NotchView.swift	Wired shortcut handler startup, selection reconciliation in onChange, count badge in closed header, auto-retract timers, always-expand for permissions
UI/Views/NotchMenuView.swift	Added ShortcutSettingsRow() to the appearance settings section
UI/Views/ClaudeInstancesView.swift	Added isSelected parameter to InstanceRow, renders amber left accent bar when selected + waiting for approval

Testing done

Tested manually on macOS 15.6, MacBook Pro with notch:

• Single permission request — ⌘⇧Y approves from another app
• Single permission request — ⌘⇧N denies from another app
• Two concurrent permission requests — ⌘⇧↑/↓ cycles selection, accent bar moves
• Approve selected session — remaining session auto-selects
• Notch stays open on click-away while permissions pending
• Notch auto-retracts after all permissions resolved
• Custom shortcut recording in settings
• Dynamic notch height with 1 vs multiple sessions
• Count badge shows on closed notch with 2+ pending

Screenshots

(Built and tested locally — happy to provide screenshots/recordings if helpful)

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Thanks again for building Claude Island — it's become part of my daily workflow. Let me know if you have any questions about the implementation or want me to adjust anything.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code