# Developers: Know which session needs you first

> Source: https://www.joinrecall.com/use-cases/developers
> An example day with four agent sessions: see which Claude Code or Codex session waits on you, then get the chat, tab and workspace back in one click.

"I usually have a few Claude Code sessions running while I work on something else, and the one that stops to ask is never the one I'm looking at. Recall shows me which session is waiting, and one click puts me back in that tab."
Jagan Ramesh, Product lead @ ZoomInfo & Founder @ Mangos AI. Recall is a Mangos customer.

Recall sits beside Claude Code and Codex on your Mac. It shows which session is waiting on you, and after a break or on ⌥⌘R, one click reopens that exact chat with your tab and workspace.

Who this page is for: developers who run several Claude Code or Codex sessions and lose track of which one is waiting.

## Example: what comes back

Example: a fictional day at Atlas, a small mobile app team. People, projects and messages are made up.

### Claude Code
- Where you left off: Notification settings screen (project: Atlas mobile app)
- Your note: "Wire the toggles to the API, then test on iOS 18"
- Reopens Claude chat (VS Code): The exact chat on the toggles, in atlas-mobile
- Reopens Google Chrome: The tab on the notification categories spec
- Reopens Figma: The app opens, you pick the file
- Waiting on you: Claude Code wants to run the Android tests, blocked 12 min, with the optional hooks on

### Codex
- Where you left off: Retry tests for the sign-in fix (project: Atlas mobile app)
- Your note: "Codex is writing the retry tests. Read its diff, then ask Sam why the refresh does not retry."
- Reopens Google Chrome: The tab on PR #482, only that tab
- Reopens Codex: The exact conversation on the retry tests, in the Codex app
- Reopens Slack: The app opens, you pick the DM with Sam
- Waiting on you: Claude Code finished its turn 55 min ago: Write App Store screenshot captions

### Your own code
- Where you left off: Offline sync conflicts (project: Atlas mobile app)
- Your note: "Ask Sam whether the sync queue survives an app restart"
- Reopens VS Code: The workspace folder you were in: atlas-mobile
- Reopens Notion: The app opens, you pick the page
- Waiting on you: Codex finished its turn 26 min ago: Add pricing page analytics events

## The session that waited 40 minutes for a yes

You hand four jobs to agents and go back to your own code, and two minutes later one stops to ask if it can run the Android tests. You find it after the planning call, in a row of identical tabs, and read back through the chat to remember what you told it.

- **Your work:** Several Claude Code or Codex sessions running at once, beside the code you write yourself.
- **Where you lose the thread:** One stops to ask and sits there waiting on you, in a tab you are not looking at. Getting back in means rereading the chat, or digging through commits for the reasoning.
- **What Recall gives you:** Which session needs you first, that exact chat back, and your own line on where you stopped.

## Your day with four sessions running

An example day at Atlas, with the optional Claude Code hooks on (Settings, under Integrations).

- **10:52, Catch the crash session when it stops to ask.** It wants to run ./gradlew connectedAndroidTest, in a tab you are not looking at. With the hooks on, it goes to the top of Waiting on you in the menu bar the moment it stops, and one quiet nudge comes after five minutes if you miss it. You approve it and go back to the toggles. (Go to session · brings the terminal forward with that tab selected)
- **11:30, The planning call takes you mid-change.** You are halfway through the notification toggles in VS Code. Before you join, you press ⌥⌘B and type one line: “Wire the toggles to the API, then test on iOS 18”. Had the call app come to the front first, a small Leave a note? pill could offer the same: click it to note the thread you left. (Note · keeps that line on the thread you were in)
- **13:20, Pick up the toggles after lunch.** Smart Return waits at the bottom right with your note and what will open: Claude chat (VS Code), Google Chrome and Figma. You untick Figma under Choose and click Return to where you were. That exact chat and the spec tab come back. How you got here lists what you asked Claude Code, in your own words. (Smart Return · lists what reopens, and nothing opens until you click)
- **17:40, Clear what finished and leave a line for tomorrow.** Codex finished the pricing page analytics hours ago without a sound, and it has stayed listed since its turn ended. Go to session opens that Codex conversation. Back in the toggles, you press ⌥⌘B and type where tomorrow starts. (Agents · a session that finished its turn stays listed and never nags)

## What you can do with it: Built around the session that waits on you

### Go straight to the session waiting on you

Go to session brings a waiting Claude Code or Codex session forward, in its editor or terminal, with that tab selected. With the optional hooks on, a Claude Code session that needs your approval goes first. Codex shows when its turn ends, never as blocked, and the Codex CLI comes back as its window.

### See what comes back, and untick the rest

Smart Return lists the tab, the workspace folder and up to three Claude Code or Codex chats from that thread, and nothing opens until you click. Untick anything under Choose. The item you were last on comes to the front. Shortcut: ⌥⌘R.

### Save your place before the planning call

Press ⌥⌘B before you switch and type where you stopped, and that line leads the Smart Return card when you come back. It works from any app, and the note goes on the thread of the app in front. Shortcut: ⌥⌘B.

How Recall shows your agents: https://www.joinrecall.com/ai-agents-mcp

## Before you install: where it stops, and what it keeps

### Know where it stops

- **Other agents:** Only Claude Code and Codex show up as sessions. Any other coding agent gets no row.
- **Blocked:** Claude Code only, with the optional hooks on, and so is its five-minute nudge. Codex shows when its turn ends. Without hooks, Recall checks about every 30 seconds.
- **Codex CLI:** Go to session raises the terminal window, not the tab.
- **Long jobs:** Recall does not notice when an export or render finishes. That is planned next on the roadmap.
- **MCP:** Your agents cannot read Recall. A local, read-only MCP server is being explored: direction, not commitment.
- **Editors:** VS Code, Cursor and Windsurf return the workspace folder, not the file and line. Terminal and iTerm2 open a new window in that folder, JetBrains IDEs your project, Xcode the file. Slack and Figma open as apps.
- **Platform:** macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon (M1 or newer). Windows is on the roadmap with no date.

### Recall sends no code to a cloud model

What is on your screen stays on your Mac. Recall Core, our own model, reads the screen about every 15 seconds and discards the image. One exception to discarding the image: when a chat message becomes a task, Recall may keep a small picture of that chat on your Mac, only while the task is open. No screenshot, window title or description of your work goes to a cloud AI service, and agent sessions stay in the same local history. No team view, microphone, camera, keystrokes or clipboard. Usage analytics and crash reports are on by default, never carry anything from your screen, and one switch turns them off. Diagnostics sharing is off by default. When it is on, screenshots redacted on your Mac can be sent to us, and redaction masks keys and credentials, not your code.

## Questions developers ask

### Does it work with agents other than Claude Code and Codex?

No. Only Claude Code and Codex get a place in the Agents list and a chat that comes back. With any other agent, Recall still follows the work on your screen, and VS Code, Cursor and Windsurf return as the workspace folder you were in.

### Do I have to install the hooks?

No. Without them, Recall checks about every 30 seconds and can tell running from waiting. Only Claude Code's hooks show the moment a session stops for your approval, so the blocked state and its five-minute nudge are Claude Code only and need them. In Settings, under Integrations, Install hooks adds tagged entries to ~/.claude/settings.json for Claude Code and a notify entry to ~/.codex/config.toml for Codex, which tells Recall when a turn ends. Remove hooks takes them out.

### Will Recall tell me when a Codex session needs approval?

No. Codex tells Recall only when a turn ends, so a Codex session shows as waiting, never as blocked. The blocked state and its five-minute nudge are Claude Code only, with the optional hooks on.

### Does it matter if I run Claude Code in a terminal or in VS Code?

Only a little. In a terminal, Go to session brings it forward with the session's tab selected. On a return, the chat row takes over the terminal row with the matching folder: Recall tries Go to session first, and reopens that terminal only if that neither raised its window nor opened its folder. The Codex CLI is the exception in a terminal: Go to session raises its window, not its tab.

### Does Recall know when a session's work is really done?

Not always. When a session's closing message says the work is done, Recall can close that loop on its own. When it is not sure, the row asks you: Confirm done or Not done. It goes by that message, so it can be wrong.

### Can my coding agent read what Recall knows?

Not today. A local, read-only Recall MCP server is being explored on the roadmap, with no date.

### Does Recall send any of my code to a cloud model?

No. Recall Core, our own model, runs entirely on your Mac, and no screenshot, window title or description of your work is sent to a cloud AI service. There is no training on your work, except diagnostics you choose to share, and sharing is off by default.

### How soon does it start working, and what does it cost?

Within the hour you see your first threads: related tabs, files and chats grouped under one name. Tonight your whole day is on the Today page. Smart Return arrives tomorrow, after a break. Setup asks before the one-time Recall Core download of about 1.9 GB, and Recall needs Screen Recording and Accessibility permissions. The 30-day free trial needs no card. After that it is $14 / month, or $9 / month billed annually at $108: one plan, one device, with a 7-day money-back guarantee.

## Links

- All use cases: https://www.joinrecall.com/use-cases
- How Recall shows your agents: https://www.joinrecall.com/ai-agents-mcp
- Smart Return: https://www.joinrecall.com/smart-return
- How Recall works: https://www.joinrecall.com/how-it-works
- AI agents: https://www.joinrecall.com/ai-agents-mcp
- Docs: https://www.joinrecall.com/docs
- Roadmap: https://www.joinrecall.com/roadmap
- Pricing: https://www.joinrecall.com/pricing
- Trust Center: https://www.joinrecall.com/trust
- Site overview for AI agents: https://www.joinrecall.com/llms.txt