Automater
One tray for every AI coding session
About Automater
Automater is a local desktop tray app for people who run several AI coding assistants at once and have lost track of them. Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Grok, Kimi, Qwen and dozens of other tools each keep their own session history, in their own folder, in their own format, with no shared search and no single view of what is running. Automater solves that fragmentation from the machine outward: it reads the transcript files these tools already write, folds them into one searchable local library, flags the moment an agent stops and is waiting on you, and meters usage across nine providers so you can see how much of each plan is left before it runs out. The whole thing lives in the system tray and, in its free Lite tier, needs no account and no setup wizard - it finds the sessions your tools already save and indexes them locally, with nothing uploaded.
What makes Automater distinct is its local-first, privacy-preserving stance in a category that usually pushes everything to the cloud. The session library is a plain file on your own disk that stays searchable whether or not you keep paying, and the two features that matter most operationally - the "Needs You" flag when an agent blocks on a permission prompt, and approval visibility - are explicitly never paywalled. It knows where 41 tools write across 45 session formats and reopens a session in its own CLI where that CLI supports resume. The free Lite tier is genuinely useful on its own; the paid PRO tier adds the parts that act rather than just observe - chatting with an engine you pick, starting and steering managed agent sessions, computer control, a fleet view across machines, and metered cloud voice - while everything in Lite stays free.
You install the Automater Lite app on Windows, macOS on Apple silicon, or Linux; there is no account and the install takes about a minute. On first run it scans the machine for the AI CLIs and desktop apps you already use and indexes the transcript files each one writes, in place, without plugins or configuration. You then work from a single tray panel built out of cards: a session library you can full-text search across every vendor at once and reopen where resume is supported, a live activity view that shows which agents are running and raises an amber "Needs You" flag the instant one stops and waits on you, and a usage panel that counts tokens locally and draws quota headroom for nine providers on one screen so you catch a runaway before it eats the week. A local voice card lets you press a hotkey, speak, and have the text land in whatever window has focus, with status read back in a local voice. You can pin the panel, park it at a screen edge to auto-hide, or use it as an ordinary always-on-top window, and you choose which cards sit in the deck and in what order.
- •Unified Session Library - Reads the transcripts 41 AI tools already write across 45 formats and copies them into one local, full-text-searchable library, with one-click resume into the original CLI where that CLI supports it.
- •Needs-You Flags - Live activity shows every agent on the machine and raises an amber flag the moment one stops and waits on a question, permission prompt or approval, and this visibility is never paywalled.
- •Cross-Provider Usage Meters - Counts tokens locally as agents work and draws quota headroom for nine providers on a single screen, reading unknown rather than zero when a probe cannot answer, so a runaway is visible before billing catches it.
- •Local Voice Control - A global hotkey transcribes speech on your own hardware straight into the focused window and reads agent status back in a local voice, with no cloud dependency in the free tier.
- •Local-First Privacy - The normalized session library is a file on your own disk that stays searchable whether or not you pay; nothing leaves the machine unless you opt in to the public leaderboard or PRO cloud voice.
- •PRO Operate And Fleet Tools - The paid tier adds acting rather than watching: chat with a chosen engine, start and steer managed agent sessions, computer control with permission, a multi-machine fleet view and metered cloud voice.
Automater is aimed at developers and power users who run multiple AI coding agents in parallel and feel the chaos of it - the person juggling Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, Grok and a few more across a Windows machine and a WSL box, or across macOS and Linux, who cannot see all of them at once. It fits anyone who has lost a useful session because it was buried in a different folder for every tool, who has left an agent parked on a permission prompt for an hour without noticing, or who has blown through a token plan because there was no single meter. Because the Lite tier is free forever, needs no account, and keeps its library on local disk, it also suits privacy-conscious developers who want their transcripts to stay on their own machine rather than in a vendor cloud. The PRO tier extends the same panel for developers who want to act from the tray - steering managed sessions, allowing computer control, and watching a fleet of machines - making it a fit for heavier multi-agent operators rather than someone running a single assistant occasionally.
Pricing
- Lite$0/mo
- PROContact sales
- EnterpriseContact sales
From the vendor pricing page, 2026-09-29
