Know which Claude Code session needs you.
TabTower is a free Windows app that puts every Claude Code session, from every VS Code window, on one live deck. The one waiting for you blinks, and one click takes you to its tab.
The problem
Running one Claude Code session is easy; running five across several VS Code windows is not. A session stops to ask for permission or finishes its turn, then sits there unnoticed while you work somewhere else. The cost is the minutes between "Claude stopped" and "you looked", and TabTower turns that into a glance.
What it does
Live status per session
Each session is a row on its workspace card, coloured by Claude Code's own hooks: blue while working, blinking orange while waiting for you, purple when it is your turn, grey when idle.
One click to the right tab
Click a session row and the deck focuses its VS Code window, activates that session's tab and stops the blink. A closed session resumes with its full history.
Notifications that withdraw
When the deck is buried, a session that needs you raises a Windows notification and a taskbar badge. Both go away the moment you handle it, even outside the deck.
Tokens per session
Every session row shows the tokens it has used so far. Hover the count for the breakdown and how full the context window is now.
A tasks page, if you want one
Point TabTower at a JSON file your own tooling writes and it lists your tasks next to your live sessions. Click a task to open a session in its workspace: a new one, or the one already linked to it.
Scriptable, and out of the way
A full CLI over a named pipe, an optional reserved strip of the monitor that maximized windows never cover, and it starts with Windows with your layout restored.
One card per workspace
Every VS Code workspace gets a card with its git branch and its sessions. A card can also show a live preview of its window, drawn by the Windows compositor with no screen capture and no code injection; switch it off to keep the deck compact.
Install
Needs Windows 10 or 11, and VS Code with the Claude Code extension. No admin rights and no .NET runtime: the release is self-contained.
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Download the latest
TabTower-<version>-win-x64.zipand unblock it before you extract it:Unblock-File .\TabTower-<version>-win-x64.zip -
Extract it anywhere and run the installer:
powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\install.ps1
The installer puts TabTower in your user profile, installs its companion VS Code extension (TabTower Connector) so a click can reveal the right tab, registers the Claude Code hooks after backing up your settings, and starts the app. Upgrading is the same two steps; uninstall.ps1 removes it.
Your sessions on your phone
Off by default. Turn it on and, over your own Tailscale network, your phone can:
- see every open session and its status,
- open a new session, or close one together with its tab,
- reopen a session you just closed,
- jump into the Claude app on a session that has a link there.
Each new device is paired by typing the code it shows into a prompt on your PC. Setup and security model.