The handful of things that go wrong, and what to do about each. If yours is not here, write to aruntemme@gmail.com.
Inkling does not bundle Claude Code. It runs the claude binary you have installed, and looks for it in these places:
~/.local/bin/claude — where the official installer puts it/opt/homebrew/bin/claude — Homebrew on Apple silicon/usr/local/bin/claude — Homebrew on Intel, or an npm global install~/.claude/local/claude — older local installsInstall it with the official one-liner, then run claude once in Terminal and sign in. Inkling needs a paid Claude plan or a Console API key, because Claude Code does.
Put a symlink in one of the locations above. In Terminal:
Then quit and reopen Inkling. Menu-bar apps do not inherit your shell's PATH, which is why Inkling checks fixed locations instead.
Run claude in Terminal. If it asks you to log in, or tells you your plan does not include Claude Code, fix that there first. Inkling cannot sign in for you; it never handles your credentials.
Inkling needs Accessibility, Screen Recording and Automation. The menu-bar item shows a button for each one that is missing and opens the right pane. If you would rather do it by hand, open System Settings → Privacy & Security and find:
Turn on the switch next to Inkling. If Inkling is not in the list, click + and choose it from Applications.
Turn on the switch next to Inkling. macOS will ask you to quit and reopen the app; do that, or the change does not take effect.
This pane only lists apps that Inkling has already tried to talk to, such as Finder or Safari. Expand Inkling and turn on each app you want pieces to work with. If you clicked Don't Allow earlier, this is where you undo it.
This happens after an update or a reinstall, when macOS is still holding the grant for the old copy of the app. Select Inkling in the list, remove it with −, quit Inkling, reopen it, and grant the permission again when it asks.
This is Gatekeeper, the macOS check that runs the first time an app downloaded from the internet is opened. The message usually appears when the zip was unpacked by something that left the quarantine flag on the app without a proper first-open, or when the bundle was copied from another Mac.
In Finder, right-click (or Control-click) Inkling.app in Applications and choose Open, then Open again in the dialog. You only need to do this once.
In Terminal:
It removes the download marker so macOS stops asking. If the app still won't open, delete it and download it again from this site.
Press ⌃ ⌥ ⌘ . (Control-Option-Command-Period) from anywhere. Every piece lets go of what it was bonded to and flows back into the notch, and any agent that was working is stopped. Use it when a piece is stuck, when you want a clean slate, or when you simply want everything off your screen now.
Pieces also return on their own when you quit Inkling.
/Applications/Inkling.app to the Trash.~/Library/Application Support/Inkling/, which holds the piece registry and the random install ID.~/.claude/skills/. They are plain folders; Claude Code can keep using them, so we do not remove them for you.Claude Code itself is untouched by any of this. See the privacy policy for exactly what lives where.
Email aruntemme@gmail.com with your macOS version, how you installed Claude Code, and what the fluid was doing when things went wrong (sagging off the notch means a failure; a slow throb means it is waiting for your approval).
Found a bug? Email is the issue tracker for now; include what you dropped it on and what you asked.