Golem Code

If we're going to summon the beast we may as well give it a face.

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Summon Claude Code as an embodied avatar that follows you around your computer so you can always keep tabs on your running Claude Code instances. golem-code renders a procedurally generated agent avater in a floating native window that reacts in real-time to your coding agent's activity — tool calls, subagent spawns, permission requests, and more.

Requirements

• macOS (the native overlay window uses macOS-specific APIs)
• Claude Code installed and configured

Installation

golem-code works as a combination of a wrapper CLI around claude code, and a claude code plugin.

1. First, install the CLI:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chrisjpatty/golem-code/main/install.sh | sh

This downloads the latest summon binary for your Mac and installs it to /usr/local/bin. Set SUMMON_INSTALL_DIR to install elsewhere:

SUMMON_INSTALL_DIR=~/.local/bin curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chrisjpatty/golem-code/main/install.sh | sh

2. Install the Claude Code plugin

After installing the binary, open Claude Code and install the plugin:

/plugin marketplace add chrisjpatty/golem-code
/plugin install golem-code

This registers the hooks that let Summon see what Claude Code is doing. You only need to do this once.

3. Close claude code and start golem-code

summon

Updating

summon --update

This downloads the latest release and replaces the current binary in-place.

Usage

summon is a drop-in wrapper for Claude Code. Use it exactly as you would use claude:

# Start a new session
summon

# Start with an initial prompt
summon "Fix the failing tests in src/utils"

# Continue the most recent conversation
summon -c

# Resume a specific session
summon -r <session-id>

# Work in a different directory
summon --cwd ~/my-project

# Open the face in a browser tab instead of the native overlay
summon --browser

# Forward flags to Claude Code (everything after -- is passed through)
summon -- --model sonnet

CLI reference

summon [options] [prompt]

Options:
  -p, --prompt <text>         Initial prompt to send to Claude Code
  -c, --continue              Continue the most recent conversation
  -r, --resume <session-id>   Resume a specific session
  --cwd <dir>                 Working directory (default: current directory)
  --port <port>               Server port (default: 6661)
  --browser                   Open face in browser instead of native overlay
  --no-open                   Don't auto-open the browser/overlay
  --update                    Update summon to the latest version
  -v, --version               Show version
  -h, --help                  Show help
  --                          Pass remaining arguments to Claude Code

How it works

Summon sits between you and Claude Code:

1. Spawns Claude Code in a PTY (pseudo-terminal), so your terminal experience is unchanged
2. Runs an HTTP/WebSocket server that receives hook events from a bundled Claude Code plugin
3. Launches a native overlay window (Tauri/Rust) that renders the 3D face via a WebGL frontend
4. Translates hook events into facial expressions

Peer discovery

When you launch a second summon instance, it checks ~/.golem/instances/ for a running primary. If one is found, the new instance connects as a peer over WebSocket and forwards its events — the primary's overlay renders both faces side by side. Each peer gets assigned a unique color from a 12-color palette.

Browser mode

If you don't want the native overlay or are on a non-macOS platform, use --browser to open the face in a browser tab instead:

summon --browser

The 3D face renders identically in the browser — you just lose the floating always-on-top overlay behavior.

Troubleshooting

The overlay doesn't appear

• Check that port 6661 is available (or use --port to pick another)
• Try summon --browser to verify the face renders in a browser

Faces aren't reacting to agent activity

• Make sure the Claude Code plugin is installed: run /plugin install golem-code inside Claude Code
• Check that Summon's server is running — look for [summon] Golem server: http://localhost:6661 in your terminal output

Multiple instances aren't connecting

• Each instance registers in ~/.golem/instances/. Stale entries from crashed sessions are cleaned up automatically, but you can manually clear that directory if needed.

Building from source

Requirements

• Bun runtime
• Rust toolchain (for the native overlay)

Build

# Install dependencies
bun install

# Build everything (frontend + overlay + CLI)
bun run build

# Skip the Rust overlay build (faster, browser-only mode)
bun run build --skip-overlay

This produces a single compiled binary at dist/summon. The overlay binary is embedded inside it and extracted to ~/.golem/bin/ on first run.

Development

# Run from source (builds frontend on demand, uses local overlay binary)
bun run summon

# Run with Vite dev server for frontend hot-reload
bun run summon -- --dev

Project structure

packages/
  cli/          Bun CLI — PTY spawning, HTTP/WS server, instance registry, peer coordination
  frontend/     React Three Fiber 3D face rendering — procedural geometry, expressions, post-processing
  overlay/      Tauri/Rust native macOS overlay — transparent window, CoreGraphics cursor tracking
  plugin/       Claude Code plugin — hook definitions that POST events to the CLI server
  types/        Shared TypeScript types — event protocol, commands, color palette