idledev-cli

Earn while your AI agent thinks.

IdleDev runs a live sponsor display alongside your AI coding agent. While the agent is working — planning, calling tools, waiting for a build — a sponsored ad appears on your screen. You keep 65 % of every impression and click.

Get your device token → https://idledev.xyz/dev

Supported agents

| Agent | How IdleDev attaches | Display | |---|---|---| | Claude Code | Auto status-bar hook (1-line) | Status bar | | OpenCode | Auto sidebar (full pane, images) | Sidebar | | Gemini CLI | idledev start wrapper | Sidebar | | OpenAI Codex | idledev start wrapper | Sidebar | | Hermes | idledev start wrapper | Sidebar | | Cursor / Aider / any terminal agent | idledev start wrapper | Sidebar |

All agents work on Mac and Windows. Linux support is in progress.

Quick start — Claude Code

npm i -g idledev-cli
idledev install          # patches ~/.claude/settings.json (backup kept)
idledev signin <token>   # paste your token from idledev.xyz/dev

Restart Claude Code. A sponsored line now appears in the status bar:

 AD   Vercel — Ship faster with Vercel  idledev.xyz/go/… ↗

Click the link — IdleDev records the click and opens the advertiser's page.

Quick start — any other agent

npm i -g idledev-cli
idledev signin <token>
idledev start claude      # or: codex / gemini / opencode / hermes / <command>

idledev start wraps your agent and draws a live sponsor sidebar next to it. On Windows the sidebar uses a PTY compositor with full image support (sixel / quarter-block art). On Mac it uses a tmux split pane with Chafa image rendering.

Commands

| Command | What it does | |---|---| | idledev install | Patches ~/.claude/settings.json for the Claude Code status bar | | idledev signin <token> | Saves your device token | | idledev start [agent] | Launches the sidebar wrapper (any agent) | | idledev status | Prints one status-bar ad and exits (used internally by Claude Code) | | idledev uninstall | Removes the Claude Code hook | | idledev whoami | Shows the masked token currently active | | idledev signout | Removes the saved token | | idledev help | Shows usage |

How it works

• Two display modes.
  • Status bar — a single sponsored line inside Claude Code's built-in status area. Zero visual disruption, OSC 8 hyperlink, 4 s impression window.
  • Sidebar — a live pane next to your agent with brand logo, headline, and clickable URL. Supports full-colour images where the terminal allows.
• Bid-market rotation. Top 5 live campaigns ranked by bid. Rank 1 gets a slot every 2 ticks, rank 2 every 4, rank 3 every 6, and so on. Higher bid → more screen time.
• 4-second impression window. One impression per window — no double-counting.
• Click tracking. Every ad carries a unique tracking link. Sidebar clicks are captured by the compositor; status-bar clicks use OSC 8 and the /go/ redirect.
• 65 % revenue share. floor(bid_per_block × 0.65) per impression, floor(bid_per_block × 5 × 0.65) per click, written to your ledger instantly.
• Hard caps. $50 / hour and $300 / day per device, enforced server-side.
• Safe rendering. All ad text is stripped of ANSI escapes and control characters — a malicious campaign cannot hijack your shell.
• Bot protection. Device token + User-Agent required; polls under 3 s are throttled and logged; clicks require a matching recent impression on the server.
• Category filters. Block categories (gambling, crypto, adult, etc.) from the dashboard at idledev.xyz/dev.

Earnings

Impression = floor(campaign_bid × 0.65)   per 4-second window
Click      = floor(campaign_bid × 5 × 0.65)

Both hit your ledger the moment they happen. View live totals and withdrawal history at https://idledev.xyz/dev.

Environment

| Variable | Default | Purpose | |---|---|---| | IDLEDEV_API | https://idledev.xyz | Override API base (staging / self-host) |

Config file: ~/.idledev/config.json

Requirements

• Node.js ≥ 18
• node-pty and sharp are optional (auto-installed on Windows for the PTY compositor and image rendering; safe to skip on Mac)

License

Copyright © 2026–2027 Ishaan Verma. All Rights Reserved.

You may use this CLI to earn from your own devices (personal or commercial use of the running binary is permitted). You may not:

1. Copy, re-implement, or adapt the rendering technique used here — including the PTY compositor, image-in-terminal (sixel / quarter-block) sponsor sidebar, idle-detection mechanism, or any system that injects sponsored content alongside an AI agent terminal process.
2. Build a competing product that monetises AI coding-agent idle time using a substantially similar approach to the one implemented here.
3. Redistribute, sublicense, fork, or resell this software or any derivative of it.

Source code is made available for inspection only. No other rights are granted.