Guide

Claude Island alternatives

By Donncha O'Toole · Updated 7 October 2026

Claude Island was renamed Vibe Notch, and as of 7 October 2026 its last commit was on 20 April 2026. If you want a maintained free replacement, use CodeIsland or Open Island. If you also run Codex or agents on other machines, Notchbird covers both.

We make Notchbird, one of the apps below, so weigh our view accordingly. Every fact here comes from each product's own site, README, changelog or GitHub, read on 7 October 2026, and is linked under Sources. We have not benchmarked the other apps. Email [email protected] if something has changed and we will correct it.

Is Claude Island still maintained?

Its README says "actively maintained", but the GitHub history shows no commits since version 1.3.2 on 20 April 2026, with 56 open issues. It still works for many people. It supports Claude Code only, needs macOS 15.6, and sends anonymous launch and session-start events to Mixpanel. Vibe Island's own comparison describes it as functional but unmaintained; that is a competitor's view, though the commit history agrees.

Why people move on

• New Claude Code features, such as changes to hooks or questions, may not be picked up.
• It covers Claude Code only, and many people now run Codex too.
• It has no usage-limit meters and no remote machines.
• Some people would rather not have analytics in a tool that watches their sessions.

Alternatives that are still moving

Notch Pilot is close in spirit, Claude-only and small, but it has also been quiet since April.

Where Notchbird fits

Notchbird does the job Claude Island did, answering Claude Code permission prompts and questions from the notch, and adds Codex alerts, sessions on other machines and Claude and Codex usage limits. Approvals are opt-in: Notchbird shows you the change to Claude Code's settings before making it, unanswered prompts go back to the terminal, and nothing is approved on its own. It has no analytics. It isn't free, and it isn't open source.

Switching cleanly

Claude Island works by adding hooks to Claude Code, and so do its replacements. When you switch, make sure only one app is answering each prompt:

1. Quit Claude Island and move it to the Bin.
2. Open ~/.claude/settings.json and look in the hooks section for entries that point to the old app or its scripts in ~/.claude/hooks. Remove them, and keep a copy of the file first.
3. Install the new app and let it add its own hook. Apps that show you the change before writing it, as Crest and Notchbird do, make this easy to check.
4. Start a fresh Claude Code session and trigger a prompt, for example by asking Claude to run a command you haven't allowed, to confirm the new app shows it.

Keep Claude Island if

It still works for you, you only use Claude Code on one Mac, and you prefer free and open source. Nothing forces a switch. For the wider field, see the best notch apps for Claude Code and Codex and other ways to approve Claude Code prompts.

Sources

• Vibe Notch (formerly Claude Island) on GitHub
• CodeIsland on GitHub
• Open Island on GitHub
• Coucou on GitHub
• Notch Pilot on GitHub
• Vibe Island: alternatives page

Common questions

What happened to Claude Island?

It was renamed Vibe Notch. The GitHub repository is still up, but as of 7 October 2026 the last commit was on 20 April 2026.

What is the best free Claude Island alternative?

CodeIsland is the most complete free replacement, with 30+ agents and usage limits. Open Island and Coucou are also free, open source and actively developed.

Does Notchbird work like Claude Island?

Yes for the core job: Notchbird answers Claude Code permission prompts and questions from the notch. It adds Codex alerts, remote machines over SSH and usage limits, and it is paid.