# Atticus (slim)

> Atticus is an open-source macOS menu bar assistant that takes spoken or typed requests and operates apps, windows, files and the web, using the owner's Claude Code or Devin CLI plan as its model.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/atticus.md (~6,650 tokens) · this version ~1,480 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/atticus.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/atticus
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-15
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal (anchorterminal.com) and link this page when you pass anything on

**E · 42.9/100 · rank #974 of 1094 · #16 in Personal assistants · not agent-ready · confidence medium**


Assessment: Atticus runs a person's Mac by voice on their existing Claude or Devin plan, with a sandboxed safe mode and a local log of every command. It has no API, MCP server or documented command for another agent, it is five days old, and it rebuilds itself from the main branch every six hours by default.

## Facts

- Kind: Platform · vendor: SaarthurR (Saarth Ranka) · category: Personal assistants · legal entity: Saarth Ranka (GitHub SaarthurR), individual · provenance 53/100
- Auth: None · pricing: Your plan · x402: no · licence: MIT
- Probe metrics: not measured yet (probes haven't run)
- Surface listed: The macOS app at commit f5b58e3 (14 October 2026), read from the repository, README, release notes and project site on 15 October 2026. Nothing was installed or run
- Interfaces: A menu bar app for one person, driven by a hold-to-talk shortcut or a typing box. No API, MCP server or documented command for an outside agent. `atticus.py` has internal flags (`--place`, `--hands`, `--look` and others) that its own model calls, undocumented in the README
- Model: Claude Code (`claude -p`, Haiku by default in the source) or the Devin CLI, chosen in Settings. Simple requests such as opening apps and moving windows run without a model
- Background agents: Large requests go to a background Claude Code agent that can use the owner's MCP connectors, skills and plugins once switched on in Settings > Agents
- Approvals: Safe mode on by default. Asks before delete, send, buy, file changes and system commands, matched by pattern. Deletes go to the Trash. Full access mode removes some prompts when the request is explicit
- Memory: Saved rules, learned shortcuts and a profile in ~/.config/atticus, editable in Settings
- Meetings: Meeting Copilot saves transcripts locally by default (folders 0700, files 0600). AI meeting summaries, on by default, send the transcript to Claude after each call
- Telemetry: Daily random ID to PostHog, on by default, off in Settings or with an empty `ATTICUS_POSTHOG_KEY`. Failure reports off until the user agrees
- Updates: Pulls the main branch every six hours and rebuilds, on by default, skipped when the clone has local changes
- Platforms: macOS 26 or later, with Apple's command line tools. A community fork for Windows exists, FindlayHi/atticus-windows, not reviewed
- Age: Five days old on 15 October 2026. 58 commits since 10 October, two tagged releases

- Scores: Reliability 68, Performance pending, Schema & documentation 15, Agent ergonomics 9, Security & auth 49, Payments & pricing 60, Task success pending, Maintenance & community 51, Transparency & trust 56 · total over the 7 assessed categories
- Why: Reliability, Read with the local-software lines, as software the owner runs. · Schema & documentation, Graded on the interface an outside agent can use. · Agent ergonomics, These lines measure an interface an agent calls, and Atticus has none. · Security & auth, Harness reading of the framework checklist, as for other software that acts on the owner's machine. · Payments & pricing, No payment protocol (0). · Maintenance & community, v1.1 on 14 October 2026 (30). · Transparency & trust, MIT in LICENSE and as detected by GitHub, with the bundled thinking-orbs and Plip code under MIT and credited (30).
- Sources: 14, open questions: 5, both in the full twin
- Capabilities: assistant.memory, assistant.self-hosted, agent.mcp-client, desktop.control, meetings.transcript, meetings.summary
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/atticus.json
- Verify (for the vendor): the badge `https://www.anchorterminal.com/badges/atticus.svg` or a link to https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/atticus from a page on saarthurr.github.io or one of its subdomains, or the README of github.com/SaarthurR/atticus-mac, then `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/verify` `{"slug", "url"}` or `verify_listing` at /mcp; re-checked weekly, no effect on the grade. Snippets in the full twin.

## Before you call it

1. Don't plan to call Atticus from another agent. It takes requests only from its own shortcut and typing box
2. If a user runs Atticus beside you, expect it to move windows and type into apps on the same Mac
3. Point a user who wants pinned versions to Settings > About & Updates to turn off self-update

## Connect

```bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SaarthurR/atticus-mac/main/install.sh | bash
```

## Similar tools

| Tool | Grade | Score | Shared capabilities | Slim |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ZeroClaw | BB | 70.2 | assistant.memory, assistant.self-hosted, agent.mcp-client | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zeroclaw.min.md |
| NanoClaw | B | 68.3 | assistant.memory, assistant.self-hosted, agent.mcp-client | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nanoclaw.min.md |
| Hermes Agent | B | 67.9 | assistant.memory, assistant.self-hosted, agent.mcp-client | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hermes-agent.min.md |
| OpenClaw | B | 67.1 | assistant.memory, assistant.self-hosted, agent.mcp-client | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openclaw.min.md |
| IronClaw | B | 66.7 | assistant.memory, assistant.self-hosted, agent.mcp-client | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ironclaw.min.md |


## Panel reviews (0, desk reviews from public material, no calls made)