[FEATURE] Menu Bar Only Mode (Hide Dock Icon Option)
Preflight Checklist
- [x] I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
- [x] This is a single feature request (not multiple features)
Problem Statement
Feature Request: Menu Bar Only Mode (Hide Dock Icon Option)
Current Behavior:
Claude Desktop always shows an icon in the Dock, even when minimized
or running in the background.
Proposed Solution
Requested Feature:
Add a user preference to hide the Dock icon and run Claude exclusively
from the menu bar, similar to apps like:
- Raycast
- Alfred
- Rectangle
- Bartender
Proposed Implementation:
Settings → General → "Show in Dock" (checkbox, enabled by default)
- When disabled: App only appears in menu bar
- When enabled: Current behavior (shows in Dock)
Use Case:
For users who:
- Use Claude frequently throughout the day
- Prefer minimal Dock clutter
- Access the app primarily through keyboard shortcuts or menu bar
Additional Context:
This would also provide a workaround for the current quit bug (issue #14951)
where Cmd+Q doesn't properly close the app, since menu bar apps typically
have a "Quit" option in their menu.
Platform: macOS
Priority: Enhancement/Nice-to-have
Alternative Solutions
_No response_
Priority
Critical - Blocking my work
Feature Category
CLI commands and flags
Use Case Example
_No response_
Additional Context
_No response_
23 Comments
YES 🥹 The ChatGPT desktop app does this: you can quit the app (such that it disappears from the dock), but the "menu bar process" remains open and you can give it prompts with the hotkey.
This feels 100% needed! Claude is honestly the only BIG model i like to use, and it leaves me trying to close it to get rid of clutter in my dock, than trying to hotkey it 10 minutes later with no response. It seriously kills my workflow and I end up back with m365 Copilot, which tells me half the time that it simply "can't discuss that topic"
I was surprised to find out that this feature isn't built into Claude. Definitely much needed. The menu bar is a much cleaner setup, especially when you can use the CAPS key as a voice prompt (this feature I love btw).
bro please
I've heard that @bcherny is going to tackle this one for his grateful fans and costumers THIS WEEK! 🥳🙏
Commenting here to throw my hat into this ring, as well.
Another up comment. I t is almost a deal breaker for me. I also tried editing the file info.plist with the needed key
LSUIElementset to true but in that case everytime I launch the app I am required to login again, pretty annoying.You should do this before Apple implements its own AI assistant. It needs to be elegant and feel like part of the system. Users don't appreciate an icon that's always open in the dock, especially for an application like this one, which is intended to be open permanently.
ChatGPT fixed it now? Haven't used it recently but they used to be always in dock before too.
ChatGPT has been menu only for a very long time. I switched to Claude and this feature is my biggest sticking point. This GitHub thread is the only thing stopping me from switching back. Fingers crossed.
Same here. I like my Dock nice and clean. LSUIElement works but is cumbersome as I have to login again for every single app start. So definitely a +1 from me.
not sure what you have, but I just opened it, updated just in case and it is still in the dock, and I don't see an option to remove it.
Change "Show in Menu Bar" to "Always". Close the ChatGPT app and Dock icon will go disappear. You will still be able to use your shortcut, open the chat bar, interact normally. Dock icon will only appear if you click "Open ChatGPT Windows" explicitly from the Menu Bar icon or open the app via the Applications folder.
<img width="600" height="552" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/1a959e04-d36e-4cec-9789-64a485baef1b" />
That's the key feature. Quick access to Claude system wide, even when it's not open.
ugh. Always had it that way and it was still in dock. Changed it to "When app is running" yesterday when trying to get rid of it. Changed it back to always today, closed the window - nothing, quit it(cmd+q), and it removed itself from dock but stayed in menu. It seems I have to quit it every time as closing window does not remove it from the dock.
@OctavianGuzu @fvolcic @ashwin-ant @chrislloyd
Please hear the community! This should take like an hour or so to implement using Opus 4.6.
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please we all need this
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please the community need this
Can we please get this?
Yes please we need this!
Please, people, instead of posting "I/we need this!", follow the GitHub conventions every respectable vibe-coding developer should know about and add a 👍 (or whichever emotion strikes you) to the first message.
I subscribed to this topic to be notified of actual updates, but these comments are clogging up my inbox.
Hopefully clogs up the product managers at anthropic inboxes and they hear us.
Meanwhile, this is a community and everyone is free to do whatever they want and feel free to express themselves and reach out to the companies they want.
If this was an open source software that anyone could just collaborate with PRs I would be agreeing with you (I would actually be pushing a PR to fix this myself). But since this is not the case, this is indeed the correct channel to express how much the community wants this feature.
There's an unsubscribe button right here >>>>>>>
Not to gatekeep, but there are established etiquette, standards, and behaviours around interacting with GitHub repos that software developers have built up over many, many years.
If you're new to this, welcome! GitHub is a place where developers collaborate on software. This is where we file bugs, propose features, and review code. It is not intended as a general suggestions box or customer support channel, and maintainers (especially on popular repos like this one) are often triaging thousands of issues.
As a subscriber to this thread, I'd personally appreciate it if we could keep the discussion focus on implementation details, rather than "+1 Me too!!".
You can see the most "upvoted" feature requests here: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues?q=is%3Aissue%20state%3Aopen%20sort%3Areactions-%2B1-desc%20label%3Aenhancement. At the time of this writing, this request is number 31 on the list. Show your support by adding a 👍 to the Issue.