Claude Code — Steroids Mode 💉🚀

Right-click any folder → open it in Claude Code. Or launch nine parallel Claude sessions in a 3×3 grid — "Steroids Mode".

A tiny, no-dependency add-on for macOS and Windows that puts Claude Code one right-click away. Stop opening a terminal, cd-ing into your project, and typing claude every single time. Just right-click the folder.

Warning

Both menu items launch Claude with --dangerously-skip-permissions ("YOLO mode") — Claude can read, edit, and run commands without asking for confirmation. Only use this on folders and projects you trust. See the safety note below.

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✨ What it does

It adds two entries to your folder right-click menu:

Menu item	What happens
Open in Claude	Opens one terminal in that folder and starts Claude Code (YOLO mode).
Open in Claude — Steroids (9×)	Opens 9 Claude Code sessions at once, tiled in a 3×3 grid over your screen, all pointed at that folder (YOLO mode).

On macOS it also installs a lean menu bar app — a small grid icon (⊞) next to the clock, started at every login — with three actions, each also on a true global hotkey that works from any app:

Hotkey	Action
⌃⌥C	New Claude session (one Terminal window, YOLO mode, in ~)
⌃⌥S	Steroids Mode — 9 sessions in a 3×3 grid
⌃⌥T	Arrange Terminals — tile all Terminal windows on the current desktop into a grid sized to the count: 4 → 2×2, 9 → 3×3, 10 → 4×3, 16 → 4×4 …

Either Option/Control key works (left or right). Windows on other desktops/Spaces and minimized windows are left alone.

Windows gets the same trio: a system tray icon next to the clock with the three actions and global hotkeys Ctrl+Alt+C / Ctrl+Alt+S / Ctrl+Alt+T — Steroids Mode there is nine panes in one Windows Terminal window, and Arrange tiles the Windows Terminal windows on the current virtual desktop. Starts automatically at every login.

Both run with --dangerously-skip-permissions. See the safety note.

   Steroids Mode = 9 Claude sessions, one folder, one click

   ┌─────────┬─────────┬─────────┐
   │ claude  │ claude  │ claude  │
   ├─────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
   │ claude  │ claude  │ claude  │
   ├─────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
   │ claude  │ claude  │ claude  │
   └─────────┴─────────┴─────────┘

Why nine? When you want to throw a swarm of agents at a codebase — parallel refactors, parallel investigations, multiple worktrees, or just brute-forcing a problem from nine angles — one click sets up the whole battlefield.

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📦 Install — macOS

Requirements: macOS, the Claude Code CLI on your PATH, and the built-in Terminal.app.

git clone https://github.com/yairixStudio/claude-code-steroids.git
cd claude-code-steroids/macos
zsh install.sh

Then: right-click any folder in Finder → Quick Actions → “Open in Claude” or “Open in Claude — Steroids (9×)”.

You'll also get the menu bar icon (⊞) and the global hotkeys ⌃⌥C / ⌃⌥S / ⌃⌥T (to change a combo, edit macos/scripts/steroids-menubar.swift and re-run the installer). Compiling them needs Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install). Optional: drag Arrange Terminals from ~/Applications to your Dock for a one-click tile button.

• The first run asks for Automation permission (to let Terminal arrange windows) — click OK.
• If the items don't appear, log out/in or relaunch Finder (Option-right-click the Finder dock icon → Relaunch).

Uninstall: zsh macos/uninstall.sh

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📦 Install — Windows

Requirements: Windows 10/11, Windows Terminal, and the Claude Code CLI on your PATH.

git clone https://github.com/yairixStudio/claude-code-steroids.git
cd claude-code-steroids\windows
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\install.ps1

Then: right-click any folder → “Open in Claude” or “Open in Claude — Steroids (9x)”. On Windows 11 they may live under “Show more options.” The Steroids grid is a single Windows Terminal window split into nine panes.

You'll also get the tray icon (by the clock) and the global hotkeys Ctrl+Alt+C / Ctrl+Alt+S / Ctrl+Alt+T (to change a combo, edit windows/scripts/steroids-tray.cs and re-run the installer).

No administrator rights are needed — everything is written under your user (HKCU), and the tray app is compiled locally with the csc.exe that ships with Windows.

Uninstall: powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\windows\uninstall.ps1

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⚙️ How it works

• macOS uses native Finder Quick Actions (Automator “Run Shell Script” services). The Steroids action calls a small AppleScript that reads your screen size via NSScreen (no extra permissions), opens nine Terminal windows running claude --dangerously-skip-permissions, and tiles them into a 3×3 grid. The menu bar app is a single ~100-line Swift file (NSStatusItem + Carbon's RegisterEventHotKey — true global hotkeys that beat the frontmost app's own shortcuts, no Accessibility permission needed), compiled locally by the installer and started at login as a LaunchAgent. Arrange Terminals is a JXA script: it reads on-screen window bounds via CGWindowList (which only reports the current Space), matches them to Terminal's scriptable windows, and retiles them into a ceil(√n)-column grid over the visible screen area.
• Windows uses registry context-menu entries under HKCU that call PowerShell, which drives Windows Terminal (wt.exe) split-pane commands to build the grid. The tray app is a single C# file (NotifyIcon + RegisterHotKey) compiled locally by the installer and started at login via the HKCU Run key. Arrange Terminals enumerates Windows Terminal windows with Win32 EnumWindows, keeps only those on the current virtual desktop (IVirtualDesktopManager), and retiles them into a ceil(√n)-column grid over the primary work area.

Everything is plain text and easy to audit — read the macos/ and windows/ folders.

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⚠️ A note on --dangerously-skip-permissions

Both actions — Open in Claude and Steroids (9×) — launch Claude with --dangerously-skip-permissions (a.k.a. “YOLO mode”). That means Claude will read, edit, and execute commands in that folder without stopping to ask for permission — and in Steroids Mode, nine agents do it at once.

Use it only on folders and projects you trust. Don't point it at code you just downloaded, a client's repo you haven't reviewed, or anything where an unattended command could do damage.

Prefer the normal, prompt-on-each-action behavior? Remove --dangerously-skip-permissions from the scripts — it's a one-line edit, clearly marked in:

• macos/quick-actions/Open in Claude*.workflow/Contents/document.wflow (and macos/scripts/steroids-grid.sh)
• windows/scripts/open-in-claude.ps1 and windows/scripts/steroids-grid.ps1

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❓ FAQ

What is Claude Code Steroids Mode? A right-click add-on that opens a folder in Claude Code, or launches nine parallel Claude Code sessions in a 3×3 grid, on macOS and Windows.

Do I need to know how to script anything? No. Run the one-line installer, then use the right-click menu.

Does it work with iTerm / Warp / other terminals? The macOS version targets the built-in Terminal.app; the Windows version targets Windows Terminal. PRs for other terminals are welcome.

Why does Claude still ask “Is this folder trusted?” the first time? That's Claude Code's own one-time per-folder trust prompt — separate from this tool. Accept it once per folder and you won't see it again.

Can I change the grid to 2×2 or 4×4? Yes — the grid math lives in macos/scripts/steroids-grid.sh and windows/scripts/steroids-grid.ps1.

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🤝 Contributing

Issues and PRs welcome — especially Linux support, iTerm/Warp support, and configurable grid sizes.

📄 License

MIT © yairixStudio

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