🐾 meow-claude-code

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   /\_/\   < meow! >  poking Claude Code awake...
  ( o.o )
   > ^ <
  (")_(")

Claude's usage limit runs on a rolling ~5h window that starts at your first prompt. meow sends a tiny MEOW (cheap haiku model) every 5 hours from a time you choose (default 07:00) to keep a fresh window open all day.

New: meow --test runs a one-off connectivity check (PASS/FAIL + timing), and transient connection errors now auto-retry with capped exponential backoff — so a blip when the Mac wakes from sleep no longer logs a failure.

Install (macOS / Linux)

Run it straight from npm — no clone:

npx meow-claude-code --start     # schedule every 5h from 07:00
npx meow-claude-code --status

Or install the meow command globally:

npm i -g meow-claude-code
meow --start 07:00

Or from source (interactive setup, also links a meow command):

git clone <this-repo> && cd meow-claude-code && ./install.sh   # --yes for defaults

Needs the claude CLI, signed in (run claude once). Uninstall: meow --stop pauses; ./install.sh --uninstall removes everything.

Commands

| Command | What it does | | --- | --- | | meow | Send a MEOW now (haiku) + print the art | | meow --test | One-off MEOW; report PASS/FAIL + timing (test, doesn't skew status) | | meow --status | Show install, schedule, and last run | | meow --start [HH:MM] | MEOW every 5h from HH:MM (default 07:00) | | meow --stop | Stop the schedule | | meow --install-cron [HH:MM] / --uninstall-cron | Linux: same, via cron | | meow --help | Usage |

meow --start 07:00 fires at 07:00, 12:00, 17:00, 22:00, 03:00 (5×/day, ~5h apart). Bare meow start / meow stop work too. No global install? Use npx meow-claude-code <cmd> (or ./meow.sh <cmd> from the repo). Each run logs one line to ~/.meow-claude.log.

Notes

• macOS uses launchd, which runs in your login session so it can read the keychain — plain cron usually can't and fails with Not logged in.
• The script installs outside ~/Documents so the scheduler can execute it (protected folders give Operation not permitted).
• Transient connection errors (e.g. firing right as the Mac wakes, before the network is up) are retried up to 10× with exponential backoff (5s, 10s, 20s, 40s, then capped at 60s — ~6 min total) before logging a failure; auth errors fail fast. Tune MAX_ATTEMPTS / RETRY_BACKOFF_SECONDS / RETRY_MAX_DELAY at the top of meow.sh.
• Not firing? Check ~/.meow-claude.log; a MEOW FAILED line shows why.