for Claude Code, Codex, Gemini & Grok · macOS
Three agents running, then the beachball.
Your AI coding agents quietly grow their memory as they take on longer, more autonomous runs — and a few sessions can freeze your whole Mac. ShellJolt watches every agent session and warns you before that happens — and never closes your terminal, editor, or agent without asking.
$ memlive⚡ SHELLJOLT — LIVE 2026-06-15 14:22:01 ────────────────────────────────────────── RAM : 12,800 / 16,384 MB [ TIGHT ]Free/Swap : 22% free · 4,096 MB swap Sessions : 3 (RSS 11,400 MB) · budget 4,200 MB ea ⇒ warning early — while you still have room to act ──────────────────────────────────────────⚠ memory tight — close a Chrome tab to free ~2 GB?[ asks first · nothing else is touched ]
curl -fsSL https://shelljolt.com/install | shFree & open source · installs in seconds · no login, no AI-API keys, nothing logged in. Or activate Pro →
What you get
Free lite · open source · $0
- Live memlive dashboard — RAM, swap, CPU and every AI-CLI session
- Early warnings before a freeze — it watches and tells you, never touches your work
Pro · $39 / year
- Everything in Free, plus —
- Adaptive budgeting that shares memory across many live sessions
- A true memory cap on Node/V8 CLIs (a sized budget for Claude Code)
- Per-machine self-tuning + the always-on background watchdog
Cancel anytime. Pro unlocks the engine that enforces the budget; free lite watches and warns.
Questions developers ask
Why does Claude Code freeze my Mac?
Long or multi-session agent runs steadily grow their memory footprint. On a Mac with limited RAM, a few sessions can exhaust memory and swap, and the whole system stalls. ShellJolt watches that footprint and warns you before it gets there.
Can ShellJolt cap Claude Code's memory?
Not a hard cap — macOS gives no notarization-safe way to hard-limit Claude Code's memory (it runs on Bun/JSC). Instead ShellJolt sizes a budget for it and warns you early. For Node/V8-based CLIs it can apply a true cap via --max-old-space-size.
Which AI coding CLIs does it work with?
Claude Code, Codex, Gemini and Grok CLIs today, and it adapts to others automatically. It sits on top of your existing terminal and shell — it isn't a replacement for either.
Will it close my terminal or kill my agent?
No. ShellJolt only ever warns and asks. At most, with your consent, it offers to close a Chrome tab to free memory. Your terminals, editor, and AI agents are never force-closed.
Does it read or send my code or prompts?
No. ShellJolt never reads or transmits your code, prompts, files, or keys. It only samples local memory and resource metrics. It also makes zero calls to any AI provider's API or login.
Does it run on Apple Silicon?
Yes — macOS on both Apple Silicon and Intel. Linux and Windows are next (where the OS even allows a true per-process memory cap).