AI Pulse is a macOS utility designed to provide ambient status updates for AI coding agents via a floating, borderless NSPanel positioned adjacent to the macOS Dock. Developed using Swift 6 and SwiftUI, the application functions as a "Dock-adjacent" accessory rather than a Dock extension, utilizing public screen geometry (NSScreen.frame vs. visibleFrame) to avoid private APIs or invasive permissions like Screen Recording. The app features a visual "pill" or light strip that communicates agent states through color-coded animations: cyan for active work, orange for user intervention required, red for failures, green for completed tasks, and a drifting aurora for idle periods. Users can toggle between an aggregate light strip and a per-agent indicator style. Technically, the system operates via a local loopback HTTP server listening on 127.0.0.1:7455, allowing external agents to communicate status through a RESTful API (supporting endpoints like /v1/agents/upsert and /v1/agents/event). It includes a bundled CLI for manual state management and integrates with tools like Claude Code via custom hooks. For security, the app uses a bearer token stored in the macOS Keychain and restricts its data access strictly to status events, ensuring it never reads prompts or terminal contents.