Meetings
Reads your Mac calendar. The edge burns down like a fuse before each event, and the label gets a Join button for Zoom, Meet, Teams or Webex.
amber · countdown fuse
Version 1.0 for macOS 14 and later
Your screen's edge,
Your screen's edge,
lit for what matters.
Periph is a Mac app that lights the border of your display when something needs you. A meeting about to start. Claude Code waiting on you. A sale. A mic that's still live. You see it without looking for it.
One-time purchase · Free updates · No account
Join
What is Periph?
Notifications you catch in the corner of your eye.
Periph is a menu bar app for macOS that turns the edge of your screen into a signal. Each event has its own colour and its own motion, so you know what happened before you read a word.
Banners stack up in one corner and vanish. The screen edge is the one place your peripheral vision always covers, on a MacBook, an external monitor or a Mac mini. Periph draws there, and nowhere else.
- Signals
- 6 built in, plus your own
- Works on
- Every display, notch or not
- Requires
- macOS 14 Sonoma or later
- Chips
- Apple silicon and Intel
- Download
- About 1 MB
- Price
- One-time, 2 Macs
Six signals
Each one looks, and moves, differently.
You learn them in a day. After that a glance at nothing in particular tells you what's going on.
AI agents
One click connects Claude Code. A comet circles your screen when it finishes, and the edge pulses when it needs your permission.
violet · comet
AI usage limits
One pulse at 80% and one at 95% of your Claude Code or Codex limit, with the reset time. No more hitting the wall mid-task.
orange · single pulse
Sales
The edge blooms green with the amount and the buyer when a payment lands on Stripe, Dodo Payments or Polar. Optional sound.
green · bloom
On air
A steady red edge whenever any app is using your microphone, with the app's name. You always know if you're still live.
red · steady
Focus
Start a session and the edge slowly drains. It steps aside for a meeting or a sale, then picks up where it left off.
teal · slow drain
The film
Twenty-nine seconds, five signals.
Set-up
Running in two minutes.
Drag it to Applications
Open Periph and paste your licence key. It lives in the menu bar and has no Dock icon.
Switch on what you want
Allow calendar access for meetings, click Connect for Claude Code, paste a read-only key for sales. Each one is optional.
Get back to work
The edge stays dark until something happens. Nothing to check, nothing to dismiss.
Custom triggers
Light the edge from anything you can script.
# when a long build finishes npm run build && open -g "periph://glow?title=Build%20passed&color=33d17a" # a ten-minute countdown with a button open -g "periph://glow?effect=fuse&seconds=600&title=Deploy&url=https://…" # a 50-minute focus session open -g "periph://focus?minutes=50"
- Works from Terminal, Shortcuts, Raycast and cron. Anything that can open a link.
- Four effects: pulse, comet, steady edge and countdown fuse.
- Your words and colours, plus an optional button that opens a web link.
- One command to stop: periph://stop
How it compares
Not a notch app. Not another banner.
| Periph | Notch apps | macOS notification banners | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where it shows | The whole screen edge | The camera cut-out | Top-right corner |
| External monitors, Mac mini, Mac Studio | Yes, every display | No notch to attach to | Yes |
| Readable without looking at it | Yes, by colour and motion | No, you read a panel | No, you read text |
| Covers your work | Never, clicks pass through | Expands over the menu bar | Covers the corner |
| Stays for ongoing states (live mic, focus) | Yes | Sometimes | No, banners disappear |
| Scriptable | Yes, periph:// links | Rarely | With extra tools |
Make it yours
Five themes. Or pick every colour.
Soft glow or crisp line, brightness, reach, corner roundness, label at the top or bottom, one display or all of them. Try a theme on the screen above.
Click-through
The light never blocks a click. Only the label's button is clickable, and only while it's showing.
Easy on the battery
Nothing is drawn while the edge is dark. A steady edge redraws 12 times a second, not 60.
Private by design
Calendar, mic status and AI usage never leave your Mac. Payment keys stay in your Keychain.
Pricing
Pay once. Keep it.
$9$19
Early-bird price for the first 50 buyers
- All six signals and custom triggers
- Two Macs per licence
- Free updates
- 14-day refund, no questions
Secure checkout by Dodo Payments. Taxes handled for you.
Questions
Asked, answered.
What is Periph?
Periph is a Mac app that lights the border of your display when something needs your attention. It has six signals: meeting countdowns, AI agent alerts, AI usage-limit warnings, sale alerts, an on-air mic indicator and a focus timer. Each one has its own colour and motion, so you know what happened without reading a notification.
Which Macs does Periph work on?
Any Mac running macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on Apple silicon or Intel. It works on every display, including external monitors and Macs without a notch.
How is Periph different from a notch app?
Notch apps live in the camera cut-out of a MacBook screen, so they have nowhere to go on an external monitor, a Mac mini or a Mac Studio. Periph uses the whole screen edge, which every display has, and signals with colour and motion in your peripheral vision instead of a small panel you have to look at.
How does Periph know when Claude Code finishes?
When you click Connect, Periph adds two hooks and a status line to Claude Code's settings file, after saving a backup. Claude Code then tells Periph when it stops, when it needs permission, and how much of your 5-hour and weekly limits you have used.
Is Periph a subscription?
No. Periph is a one-time purchase with free updates. One licence covers two Macs and comes with a 14-day refund.
Does Periph send my data anywhere?
No. Calendar events, microphone status and AI usage are read on your Mac and stay there. Payment keys are stored in the macOS Keychain and are sent only to the payment provider they belong to. The only other network request is the licence check.
What permissions does Periph need?
Calendar access, and only if you switch on meeting countdowns. It does not need Accessibility, Screen Recording or microphone access.
Will Periph drain my battery?
While the edge is dark Periph draws nothing. A steady edge redraws 12 times a second and a long countdown twice a second, instead of 60.