github.com via Hacker News

bigarrow CLI Points Claude Code, Codex at macOS 'Allow' Buttons

TL;DR

  • bigarrow, a macOS CLI by Franz Zenhofer, lets AI coding agents draw click-through arrows and labeled signs on top of real UI elements.
  • It installs via Homebrew, ships as a skill for Claude Code and Codex, and auto-removes its overlays after a default eight seconds.
  • The tool deliberately cannot click, type, or screenshot; it only points, keeping humans in the loop for Allow prompts, MFA, CAPTCHA and payments.

Franz Zenhofer has shipped a macOS command-line tool whose entire job is to point.

`bigarrow` paints a big arrow and a labeled sign on top of whatever window an AI coding agent needs you to look at. The Allow button in a permission prompt, the multi-factor code, the CAPTCHA, the payment confirmation. Then it goes away. The README puts the premise bluntly: "Your AI agent can refactor a monorepo, write a migration and explain monads, but when it needs you to click one button it prints 'please click Allow in the dialog' into a terminal you are not looking at. bigarrow gives it a finger."

The CLI installs through Homebrew with `brew install franzenzenhofer/tap/bigarrow` and wires into Claude Code and Codex via `bigarrow install-skill`. An agent can run `bigarrow point --element "Allow" --app "System Settings" --text "Franz, click Allow"` and a labeled arrow lands on the real button. The overlay is click-through, never steals keyboard focus, and auto-removes after a default eight seconds.

What it refuses to do is press anything. The tool points; the human clicks. That is the design: no automation, no screenshotting, no typing, just a Swift binary the repo describes as having "no daemon, menu-bar icon, account, telemetry, or AI inside." It needs macOS 14 or newer and ships under an MIT license.

Our agents coverage has filed 458 stories in the last 90 days; most are about bigger loops. bigarrow is unusual for working on the last six inches of one.