claude-continue-watcher

Claude Code rate limits are annoying. Less annoying if something types continue for you every few seconds until the servers are back. :=)

This is a tiny background watcher that detects the idle transient-error banner in a Claude Code session, API Error: Server is temporarily limiting requests, 529 Overloaded, etc., and sends continue until the API recovers.

Cross-platform via tmux (Linux, macOS, Windows/WSL), plus a native iTerm2 + Apple Terminal backend on macOS when you are not using tmux.

Live counter

claude-continue-watcher.vercel.app — a running tally of every continue auto-sent by people running this, so a human didn't have to. Contributing is opt-in and anonymous: set CCW_TELEMETRY=1 and the watcher sends only a count plus a random id (no hostname, no content). Backend + privacy notes in counter/.

Install

Via skills.sh:

npx skills add floomhq/claude-continue-watcher

Then run the installer (auto-picks tmux if a tmux server is running, else iTerm2 on macOS; sets up launchd on macOS / systemd-user on Linux):

bash ~/.claude/skills/claude-continue-watcher/install.sh
# force a backend: WATCHER=tmux bash ~/.claude/skills/claude-continue-watcher/install.sh

Or clone and install directly:

git clone https://github.com/floomhq/claude-continue-watcher
bash claude-continue-watcher/skills/claude-continue-watcher/install.sh

How it decides to act

It scans the live tail of each session and sends continue only when ALL hold:

1. Real Claude session — footer chrome (shift+tab to cycle) present, so it never fires into a bare shell or a tail -f of its own log.
2. Idle — esc to interrupt absent (not mid-turn).
3. Error banner — the literal API Error: line.
4. Transient — temporarily limiting requests / Overloaded / overloaded_error / 529 / server-side issue.

After a send the session goes busy, so it won't over-send; it re-fires only once the session is idle-errored again. Real usage-limit and auth errors never trigger it.

Manage

touch ~/.claude/claude-watcher.pause   # pause (kill switch)
rm    ~/.claude/claude-watcher.pause   # resume
tail -f ~/.claude/logs/claude-continue-watcher.log
bash ~/.claude/skills/claude-continue-watcher/uninstall.sh

Tunables (INTERVAL, TAIL_LINES, DRY_RUN, SKIP_PATTERN) are documented in skills/claude-continue-watcher/SKILL.md.

Platforms

Backend	Where	Notes
tmux	Linux, macOS, Windows (WSL)	Run your Claude Code sessions inside tmux. The cross-platform path.
macOS native	macOS	Scans both iTerm2 and Apple Terminal, no tmux needed. First run needs a one-time Automation permission grant for each app.

Not supported: native Windows terminals without WSL (no buffer-read API). Force a backend with WATCHER=tmux or WATCHER=iterm.

License

MIT