Claude Code permission prompts, across many terminals.

Without Mastlight

1. Know what the prompt offers

   A permission prompt shows what Claude is about to do, then asks whether to proceed. For a shell command the options are Yes, Yes, and don’t ask again for that command pattern (for example npm test *), and No. Read the command before you answer; the prompt is the only place the real command is shown.

   How long “don’t ask again” lasts depends on the tool. For shell commands it is saved per repository. For file edits it lasts until the session ends.

2. Ask less often, on purpose

   Run /permissions to see and change the rules. Allow rules let a tool run without asking, ask rules always prompt, and deny rules block it. Allow the commands you have approved a hundred times, such as your test runner, and leave the rest.

3. Pick a permission mode

   Press Shift+Tab to cycle through modes; the status bar shows which one is on. Modes change what Claude asks about, for example accepting file edits automatically, or planning before it edits anything. Claude Code also has an auto mode, where a classifier reviews actions instead of you. Claude Code’s permission modes page explains each one.

4. Be careful with the skip-everything flag

   Claude Code has a flag, --dangerously-skip-permissions, that removes the prompts. Its own dev container docs warn that even inside a container it does not stop a malicious project from sending out anything reachable there, including the Claude Code credentials. Use it only on repositories you trust.

5. Find out when a session is waiting

   A Notification hook or the terminal bell can tell you a session paused for a prompt. It does not tell you which of your terminals it was. The many sessions guide shows the setup.

How Mastlight does it

Mastlight does not change what Claude Code asks about. It changes where you answer.

rm -rf dist && npm run build

Drawn for this page: the three kinds of card. In the app they are built from what the session is really asking.

• One inbox. Every session’s waiting permission, plan or question lands in the Inbox, oldest first, with filters for Permissions, Questions and Errors. ⌘ J Ctrl Shift J jumps to the oldest one.
• The real thing on the card. The card shows the actual command, the plan, or the question with its options, taken from what Claude Code sent.
• One key. From the message box, ⌥ 1 Alt 1 allows once and ⌥ 3 Alt 3 denies. Plans and questions answer the same way, by number.
• No approve-everything button, on purpose. Each card is one decision.
• The terminal is still there. If a card goes unanswered until its hook times out, Claude Code’s normal prompt appears in the session’s terminal, so you can answer there.

It works through Claude Code’s hooks, so Mastlight never types into a terminal to answer a permission prompt.

One catch. If your Claude Code is set to bypass permissions, sessions never ask, so there is nothing to show as a card. In the New session sheet, Ask before acting starts that one session in the default mode. Your own Claude settings are not read or changed.