claude-intercom

An MCP server that lets Claude Code sessions talk to each other.

Run many Claude Code sessions at once (e.g. with agent-deck, tmux, or just several terminals) and let them:

• list_sessions — discover recent sessions and see which are live right now
• whoami — find out which session you are
• send_message — drop an async message into another session's inbox
• read_messages — pick up messages other sessions sent you
• reply — answer a message you received
• ask — ask a live session a question and get its answer back synchronously

No daemon, no database. Messages are plain JSON files under ~/.claude-intercom/, and sessions are discovered from Claude Code's own transcripts (~/.claude/projects/).

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How it works

• Discovery. Every Claude Code session writes a transcript to ~/.claude/projects/<project>/<session-id>.jsonl. list_sessions reads those for the session id, project, first prompt (as a title), and last-active time.
• Liveness. A session is "live" if its claude process is running inside a tmux pane. The server correlates tmux panes → processes → the session id each one has open.
• Self-identity. The server walks up from its own process to the parent claude process and uses lsof to find which transcript that process has open — that's you. (Override with CLAUDE_INTERCOM_SESSION if detection ever fails.)
• Live delivery / ask. For a live target, the message is typed into its tmux pane with tmux send-keys. For ask, the server then tails the target's transcript and returns the assistant text that appears in response.

Heads up: live delivery and ask interrupt whatever the target session is doing, exactly as if you typed into its terminal. Async send_message (the default) does not — the recipient sees it when it next calls read_messages.

Requirements

• Node.js ≥ 18
• tmux, ps, and lsof on PATH (standard on macOS/Linux) — only needed for liveness, live delivery, and ask. Async messaging works without them.

Install

From source (recommended today)

git clone https://github.com/AriOliv/claude-intercom
cd claude-intercom
npm install
npm run build

Then register it with Claude Code (user scope = available in every session):

claude mcp add intercom -s user -- node "$(pwd)/dist/index.js"

If you run several Claude Code config dirs, register it in each:

CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=~/.claude     claude mcp add intercom -s user -- node "$(pwd)/dist/index.js"
CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=~/.claude-ari claude mcp add intercom -s user -- node "$(pwd)/dist/index.js"

Via npx (once published to npm)

claude mcp add intercom -s user -- npx -y claude-intercom

Or add it to your MCP config manually:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "intercom": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/claude-intercom/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Usage

In any Claude Code session:

"List the other sessions I have open."

"Ask the litellm session whether the model-selection refactor is merged yet."

"Tell the BRLA session I'm done with the migration — it can rebase."

"Check my intercom inbox."

Configuration

| Env var | Default | Purpose | | --- | --- | --- | | CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR | ~/.claude | Where Claude Code stores projects/ transcripts | | CLAUDE_INTERCOM_DIR | ~/.claude-intercom | Where messages are stored | | CLAUDE_INTERCOM_SESSION | _(auto)_ | Force this server's session identity (a session id) | | CLAUDE_INTERCOM_RESUME_FLAGS | _(empty)_ | Extra flags passed to claude -p --resume when ask reaches an idle session (e.g. --dangerously-skip-permissions). Empty = safe default. |

Reaching idle sessions

ask works whether the target is live or idle. A live session (running in a tmux pane) gets the question typed into its terminal. An idle session — one whose transcript exists but isn't currently running — is resumed headlessly with claude -p --resume <id> in its own cwd, so you can still reach it; the thread continues in the same transcript. Set CLAUDE_INTERCOM_RESUME_FLAGS if those headless resumes need extra flags.

Hands-off pickup (optional Stop hook)

hooks/pickup-stop.mjs is a Claude Code Stop hook: when a session finishes a turn, it pulls any unread messages addressed to that session and feeds them back so the session handles them (and replies) without anyone calling read_messages. Register it in settings.json:

{ "hooks": { "Stop": [ { "hooks": [
  { "type": "command", "command": "node /absolute/path/to/claude-intercom/hooks/pickup-stop.mjs" }
] } ] } }

Development

npm install
npm run build      # compile to dist/
npm run dev        # run from source with tsx

Limitations

• Liveness, live delivery, and ask assume sessions run inside tmux. Plain-terminal sessions still work for list_sessions and async send_message/read_messages.
• ask reads the answer by tailing the target's transcript; it returns the assistant text produced after the question, capped at ~4k chars. It's pragmatic, not a structured RPC.
• A session only checks its inbox when something calls read_messages (or you tell it to). Pair it with a hook or a polling loop if you want hands-off pickup.

License

MIT