deals-dev — the terminal CLI

Earn while your agent thinks. One small, zero-dependency CLI that turns idle moments in your coding agent — or your whole terminal — into ad space you get paid for. 70% of the ad revenue goes to you.

Works with Claude Code, Codex, tmux, zsh, bash, fish, starship, and anything else that can run a command.

What is deals.dev?

deals.dev is a marketplace for coding-agent idle time:

• Advertisers bid in a live auction for one sponsored line. A block buys 1,000 five-second impressions; the highest bid serves first, from $1.
• Developers (you) run this CLI. Every confirmed five-second impression credits 70% of the bid to your balance, in real time.
• Clicks pay 50× an impression — sponsored lines are OSC 8 hyperlinks (cmd/ctrl-click in iTerm2, Kitty, WezTerm, VS Code's terminal), or run deals-dev open.
• Cash out from $25 — instantly via Stripe Connect, or manually (PayPal/Venmo/Wise/ACH) from your dashboard.

Every impression, click, and cent lands in an auditable ledger you can watch at deals.dev/dashboard.

Install & configure

npm install -g deals-dev                  # or use npx deals-dev everywhere
deals-dev setup --key dd_live_xxx --zsh   # key from https://deals.dev/dashboard

That's it for zsh (macOS default): --zsh adds a removable block to your ~/.zshrc that puts the sponsor in your window title, right prompt, and a MOTD line on every new shell. Open a new terminal and you're earning.

setup writes ~/.deals-dev/config.json. Alternatively use environment variables: DEALS_DEV_API_KEY (and optionally DEALS_DEV_API_URL for self-hosted instances). Using bash/fish/starship or an agent instead? See below.

Commands

| Command | What it does | | --- | --- | | setup --key dd_live_xxx [--zsh] | save your API key; --zsh wires up your terminal automatically | | statusline | Claude Code statusLine command — reads stdin, prints the sponsor | | notify | Codex notify hook — confirms impressions on turn events | | line [--plain] | print one sponsored line (ANSI-colored or plain) | | title | set the terminal window/tab title to the sponsor (precmd hook) | | motd | sponsored message-of-the-day banner for shell startup | | prompt [--plain] | compact dimmed prompt segment (RPROMPT / PS1 / starship) | | open | open the current sponsor in your browser — registers the 50× click |

All placements share one impression pipeline: the ad is cached for ~10 seconds (one five-second display block plus rotation), then confirmed and the next sponsor rotates in. No double-billing, no matter how many placements you run.

Claude Code

Add to ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "statusLine": {
    "type": "command",
    "command": "npx deals-dev statusline"
  }
}

Sponsored lines appear in the status line while Claude works. Every ~6 seconds of activity is one confirmed impression credited to your balance.

Codex

Add to ~/.codex/config.toml:

notify = ["npx", "deals-dev", "notify"]

Each turn event confirms the outstanding impression and queues the next ad.

Terminal — window title, MOTD, prompt segment

Your whole terminal can earn, not just your agent:

zsh (~/.zshrc)

One command — adds a clearly-marked, removable block to ~/.zshrc:

deals-dev setup --key dd_live_xxx --zsh

Or add it yourself:

if command -v deals-dev >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  autoload -Uz add-zsh-hook
  _deals_dev_title() { deals-dev title }
  add-zsh-hook precmd _deals_dev_title      # sponsor in the window title
  setopt PROMPT_SUBST
  RPROMPT='%F{8}$(deals-dev prompt --plain)%f'  # right-prompt segment
  deals-dev motd                            # sponsored line on every new shell
fi

bash (~/.bashrc)

PROMPT_COMMAND='deals-dev title'
PS1="$PS1\$(deals-dev prompt) "
deals-dev motd

fish (~/.config/fish/config.fish)

function fish_right_prompt
    deals-dev prompt
end

function fish_title
    deals-dev prompt --plain
end

if status is-interactive
    deals-dev motd
end

starship (~/.config/starship.toml)

[custom.deals]
command = "deals-dev prompt --plain"
when = true
style = "dimmed white"

tmux, scripts, anything else

deals-dev line          # ANSI-colored sponsored line
deals-dev line --plain  # plain text

How it works under the hood

1. GET https://deals.dev/api/v1/ad returns the current top-bidding ad and opens a pending impression. The CLI caches it in ~/.deals-dev/ for ~6s.
2. After the display block, the impression is confirmed via POST /api/v1/events — confirmation is what pays; all amounts are computed server-side.
3. Offline or no campaigns live? Lines stay quiet, confirmations queue and retry, nothing breaks.

The full HTTP API is documented at deals.dev/docs if you want to build your own integration.

Privacy

The CLI sends exactly three things to deals.dev: your API key (to credit the right account), your OS platform (used only for advertiser OS targeting), and impression confirmations. No code, no prompts, no commands, no file paths — ever. It's one short file with zero dependencies; read it yourself.

Fair-play rules

• Impressions are rate-limited server-side to human-plausible speeds.
• An impression only pays after a full five-second display block is confirmed.
• One click per impression, within 10 minutes of a confirmed view.
• Scripted farming earns nothing and gets the API key revoked.

Uninstall

Remove the snippets from your shell/agent config, then:

npm uninstall -g deals-dev
rm -rf ~/.deals-dev

License

MIT