Introducing Andon: A New Way to Monitor Your AI Assistant

In today's fast-paced development environment, AI assistants have become indispensable tools for developers. Whether you're using Cursor, Windsurfer, Claude Code, or any other AI coding assistant, these tools help you write better code faster. But there's one common challenge: knowing when your AI is actively working, idle, or needs your attention.

The Problem We're Solving

Have you ever:

Waited for an AI response, unsure if it's still processing or has finished?
Missed an important prompt from your AI because you were focused on another window?
Wished for a more ambient way to stay connected to your AI's status?

These are the exact problems we set out to solve with Andon.

What is Andon?

Andon is a beautiful, paper lantern-inspired USB device that provides a visual indication of your AI assistant's status. Named after the traditional Japanese paper lanterns and inspired by the Andon cord system used in manufacturing, our device serves as a gentle, ambient notification system for your AI interactions.

How It Works

Andon connects to your computer via USB and integrates with AI assistants that support the MCP (Model Communication Protocol) standard. It changes color based on your AI's status:

Green: AI is idle and ready for your next command
Blue: AI is actively working on your request
Red: AI needs your attention or has encountered an error

The best part? You can customize these colors to match your preferences or workspace aesthetic.

Why We Built It

As developers who work with AI assistants daily, we found ourselves constantly switching between windows to check if our AI had responded. This context-switching was breaking our flow and reducing productivity.

We wanted something that would:

Live in our peripheral vision
Provide status updates without being distracting
Look beautiful on our desks
Be simple to set up and use

Compatibility

Andon works with popular AI coding assistants including:

Cursor
Windsurfer
Claude Code
Cline
Roo
Any other agent that supports the MCP standard

Join the Andon Journey

We're excited to bring Andon to developers worldwide. If you're interested in being among the first to experience Andon, join our preorder waitlist on our homepage.

Stay tuned for more blog posts where we'll dive deeper into Andon's features, share setup tutorials, and provide tips for maximizing your AI workflow.

Happy coding!

The Andon Team