Claude Desktop Buddy

claude-desktop-buddy

Claude for macOS and Windows can connect Claude Cowork and Claude Code to maker devices over BLE, so developers and makers can build hardware that displays permission prompts, recent messages, and other interactions. We've been impressed by the creativity of the maker community around Claude - providing a lightweight, opt-in API is our way of making it easier to build fun little hardware devices that integrate with Claude.

**Building your own device?** You don't need any of the code here. See **[REFERENCE.md](REFERENCE.md)** for the wire protocol: Nordic UART Service UUIDs, JSON schemas, and the folder push transport.

As an example, we built a desk pet on ESP32 that lives off permission approvals and interaction with Claude. It sleeps when nothing's happening, wakes when sessions start, gets visibly impatient when an approval prompt is waiting, and lets you approve or deny right from the device.

Hardware

The firmware targets ESP32 with the Arduino framework. As written, it depends on the M5StickCPlus library for its display, IMU, and button drivers—so you'll need that board, or a fork that swaps those drivers for your own pin layout.

Flashing

Install [PlatformIO Core](https://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/core/installation/), then:

pio run -t upload

If you're starting from a previously-flashed device, wipe it first:

pio run -t erase && pio run -t upload

Once running, you can also wipe everything from the device itself: **hold A → settings → reset → factory reset → tap twice**.

Pairing

To pair your device with Claude, first enable developer mode (**Help → Troubleshooting → Enable Developer Mode**). Then, open the Hardware Buddy window in **Developer → Open Hardware Buddy…**, click **Connect**, and pick your device from the list. macOS will prompt for Bluetooth permission on first c