claude-review

Faster than HTML. Calmer than the terminal.

A reading pane docked inside Claude Code, beside the conversation. It shows the session's latest reply, rendered for reading in a padded column, and follows the live turn as Claude writes. Its plan, the question Claude is waiting on, and the task list are one key away.

claude-review is a Claude Code mod: a plugin of function hooks that runs inside Claude Code, so there is no second terminal, no transcript path and nothing to keep in sync.

Install

claude plugin marketplace add r3al1tym/claude-review
claude plugin install review-pane@claude-review

The next session opens the pane by itself once the terminal is 144 columns or wider. At any width, /claude-review opens it and closes it again.

From a clone, link the folder into your skills directory, where Claude Code loads it in every session as review-pane@skills-dir and reloads it when you save a file:

git clone https://github.com/r3al1tym/claude-review ~/src/claude-review
ln -s ~/src/claude-review ~/.claude/skills/review-pane

For one session only: claude --plugin-dir ~/src/claude-review.

Use

The pane follows the live turn. Give it the keyboard with ctrl+x then Tab (until you do, its key row says ctrl+x ⇥ focus), and Esc hands the keys back.

| Keys | What they do | | --- | --- | | h l | earlier / later turn; an earlier turn leads with the prompt it answered | | ↑ ↓ j k, wheel, PgUp PgDn, Home End, g | scroll | | f | freeze the view while Claude keeps working; again to unfreeze | | r | back to the live turn | | t | next surface: plan, question, response, tasks, whichever this turn has | | y | copy the surface shown | | m | the guide: every key, plus the session's diagnostics | | q | close the pane |

A plan waiting for your approval and a pending question lead while Claude waits on them. While the view is frozen or on an earlier turn, new reply lights up in the key row when a reply lands on the live turn.

To change the default, set Open on start in /config (on: the pane opens by itself on a wide terminal; off: only /claude-review opens it). claude plugin disable review-pane@claude-review turns the mod off everywhere, and enable turns it back on.

How it works

The mod reads the conversation through the hooks API ($.session.messages()) and refreshes as rows land (session.append), so the pane updates while Claude writes, not only when a turn ends. It writes nothing to the session, makes no network calls and touches no files; y puts text on your clipboard through Claude Code.

In the terminal it lays out its own rows (hooks/markdown.ts, hooks/screen.tsx): a monochrome markdown theme where emphasis comes from weight and only code keeps its syntax colours, a 4-cell gutter, and chrome pinned at the edges. A rule with the claude review label sits at the top, and a rule and one key row sit at the bottom. The rules carry ▲ and ▼ N% when there is more above or below. The desktop app and VS Code draw the same reply with their own Markdown and buttons.

Limitations

• Early access. Function hooks are an early-access Claude Code surface that may change between releases. This version is checked against Claude Code 2.1.287 with claude plugin validate . and claude plugin test ..
• Letter keys. A pane's keys are letters and digits, so the guide is m and surfaces are t, and the pane needs the keyboard (ctrl+x then Tab) before they work.
• No horizontal scroll. Wide tables shrink their widest columns and wrap.

The standalone CLI

claude-review began as a Python TUI you ran in a second terminal pane. The mod replaces it. Its last release, v0.5.3, still installs with pipx install git+https://github.com/r3al1tym/[email protected], and its source lives at that tag.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for the development loop. Security posture and how to report a vulnerability are in SECURITY.md; the project follows a Code of Conduct.

License

MIT © r3al1tym.