LanternDownload

The app you were using
needs Lantern for its AI.

Lantern is a small companion app that lives in your Mac's menu bar. Apps that support it don't run their own AI — with your permission, they send requests through the Codex or Claude subscription already signed in on your Mac. Install it once, approve the app, and carry on where you left off.

Download for MacWhat you need

What you need before you start.

01

Codex or Claude

Lantern uses the subscription you already have — it doesn't create one. Install the Codex or Claude CLI and sign in before setup.

02

macOS 14 or later

Lantern runs on Apple silicon and Intel Macs.

03

Node.js 22 or later

The menu bar app uses Node.js to run Lantern's local service.

Set up Lantern and get back to your app.

01

Install and start Lantern

Open the Mac app. It finds the Codex and Claude CLIs installed on your Mac; choose the one apps should use.

02

Return to the app

Press its Connect Lantern button again. Lantern opens an approval window on your Mac.

03

Check the name and address

Approve the app only if the name and exact web address match the site you were on.

04

Carry on where you left off

The app's AI features now work. Requests run through your own subscription, on your normal account limits.

What approving an app allows.

What the app can send

  • Once approved, the app can send AI requests from its exact web address without asking you again for every prompt.
  • Every connection can send text prompts and receive text. A compatible Codex connection can also send reference images and receive a generated image.

What leaves your Mac

  • Your provider login stays inside the CLI on your Mac — the app never sees it. Prompts, attached images, and results pass through the app, Lantern's relay, and Codex or Claude.
  • Codex and Claude still run online against your normal account limits. With guided setup, Claude text requests start without tools. Codex text requests are read-only, though your own Codex settings and tools may still let it read files. Codex image requests can write only inside a fresh temporary folder.

How to stop access

  • Stop Lantern from the menu bar to pause every approved app at once. The menu cannot remove a single app yet; running setup again and restarting Lantern clears every approval.
  • Disconnecting inside an app only forgets that browser's connection. It does not remove the approval from Lantern.

Only approve apps you trust — the same judgement you'd use before signing into any site.

Lantern's macOS menu showing configured CLIs and approved apps

Install Lantern, then go back to the app that sent you here.

Download for Mac

No app in mind? Try the live demo once Lantern is running.