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Helixor Code Menu Bar Tray

The tray is a lightweight macOS menu-bar appliance for the local Helixor Code companion. It is engineered to give instantaneous operational status: is the companion running, is an index actively compiling, is MCP reachable, and how to quickly launch the Local Desk.

What The Tray Monitors

Clicking the menu-bar tray icon displays the companion's real-time operational status:

  • Companion Health: Real-time status of the local process on port 18733 (Production slot).
  • HTTP Connected: Direct confirmation that the companion daemon is reachable and responding.
  • Execution State: Whether the companion is idle, serving agent queries, or actively indexing files.
  • Version Alignment: Confirms CLI and companion version parity (e.g. CLI 0.4.29 · Companion 0.4.29).
  • Source Root Management: Quick visibility into registered code roots with quick-add and remove controls.
  • Connected Hub: Remote hub identity (e.g. code.helixor.dev) and connection mode.
macOS Menu Bar Tray COMPANION UP
Helixor Code macOS menu bar tray showing Companion Up, HTTP connected, slot production 18733, and configured source roots

Starting & Managing The Tray

The tray normally launches automatically when running helixor up:

helixor up

Start runtime in headless mode without the menu-bar tray:

helixor up --no-tray

Require the tray to launch and fail if macOS desktop access is unavailable:

helixor up --require-tray

Connect to an already running tray instance without relaunching:

helixor up --reuse-tray

Status States

Indicator Meaning Recommended Action
Idle (Green Dot) Companion is healthy and listening for agent MCP calls. Ready for use with Claude Code or Codex.
Active (Cyan Pulse) Companion is parsing source files or processing an agent query. Normal operation during active development.
Warning (Amber) Stale configuration, index root mismatch, or hub unreachable. Run helixor doctor in your terminal.
Offline (Red / Grey) Companion process has stopped or port is blocked. Run helixor up or helixor repair.

Troubleshooting

If the tray indicates that the companion is down while your terminal shows processes running:

  1. Verify port 18733 is not occupied by another process: lsof -i :18733.
  2. Check companion status with helixor status.
  3. Reconcile registered slots and permissions: helixor repair.
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