A developer named Ryan Stephen has released lil agents, a free, open-source macOS app that places two tiny animated characters above your dock — and turns them into one-click gateways to your favorite AI coding CLI.

Two Characters, Four AIs

The characters are named Bruce and Jazz. They walk back and forth above your dock using transparent HEVC video animations, complete with sound effects when they finish a task. Click either one and a themed popover terminal opens. From the menubar you can switch between Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot CLI, and Google Gemini CLI at any time.

The app ships four visual themes — Peach, Midnight, Cloud, and Moss — and shows "thinking bubbles" with playful phrases while an agent works through a request. There are no accounts, no analytics, and no data collection beyond what the AI provider's own CLI sends.

Traction

The repo was published March 23 and crossed 600 GitHub stars in under a week, earning a spot on the weekly trending list. It's MIT licensed and built as a universal binary for both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. macOS Sonoma (14.0+) is required; you need at least one supported CLI already installed.

Why It Matters

AI CLIs have become serious development tools, but launching a terminal window every time interrupts flow. Lil Agents makes the interaction ambient — the characters are always there, always ready, and they signal completion so you can keep working without watching a spinner. It's a small UX idea that turns a power tool into something that actually invites use.

The latest release is v1.1.1 and is available as a direct download from lilagents.xyz.