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The first minute
A welcome window of seven screens on your own sessions, three sample rows when you have none at hand, and a tip the first time something happens.
The first launch opens a small window, whether Claude Code is connected yet or not. Seven screens, one idea and one button each, and the button does whatever is still missing on this Mac. When that step is already done, it says Next.
| Screen | What its button does |
|---|---|
| See every agent at a glance | Connect Claude Code, or Connect Claude Code and Codex where Codex is installed |
| Your first lamp | waits for a session to speak; with none at hand, puts three sample rows in the panel |
| Three colours to know | yellow is working, green has an answer to read, amber is waiting for you and the only thing that blinks |
| One click and you are there | asks macOS for Accessibility, so a click can choose the right window and not just the app |
| Answer without changing window | installs the helper, so a permission can open under its row with Allow and Deny |
| ⌘K finds everything | a session, a past conversation, a message to send or a question for LampMaster |
| That's it | turns on alerts, only for a session that needs you or stops |
The window reads the Mac every second, so a step you finish somewhere else is ticked off on its own. Getting started, in Settings › About & help, opens it again.
When the panel is empty
It says what to do rather than sitting blank. Not connected: «No lamps yet», with Connect Claude Code. Connected but quiet: «Start or restart a Claude Code session», with the samples beside it. Sessions that were already open before you connected pick up the connection when they restart.
Practice with samples
Practice with samples puts three invented rows at the top of your real panel, under a band that says Samples with Remove beside it:
- api works for a few seconds, then has an answer to read, then asks to run
npm publish, so the three colours worth knowing play out in about twenty seconds; - docs-site has an answer waiting;
- events works.
A click on a sample reads it, the way a click reads a real answer, and the row goes to rest. The samples are drawn and nothing else: no notification, no count in the bar, no search and no LampMaster round ever sees them. Remove takes them away. Practice with samples, in Settings › About & help, starts them again.
In 1.0 the same lesson played in a second copy of the app, opened over the real panel. That copy is gone.
A tip the first time
The first time something is on the panel, two lines at the top say what it means and what can be done, with Got it:
- a session asks: click it, or answer from the panel with the helper;
- a turn stops: point at the row to read why;
- four fifths of the five-hour window are used: a row's More menu offers a lighter model;
- six rows or more: ⌘K finds one by a few letters;
- a row folds under Resting: a click lists what is there.
Each tip once, one a day at most, only while the panel is on screen and nobody is typing in the bar, and gone by itself once its thing is over. For everything else, What LampBoard can do lists it in one place.