The pool that leaves some accounts out

A MIT menu bar for a CLIProxyAPI pool, on macOS 26, that refuses to add every login together.

Category
Developer tools
Who it is for
Someone who already points a coding tool at CLIProxyAPI.
Possible model
Open source
Difficulty
Medium
Inspired by
Ebb · Ebb
Original launch
Watch the launch · Oct 27, 2026

Difficulty is an editorial estimate of technical and operational complexity, not a score.

Startup idea analysis by Startup Ideas. Last reviewed Oct 27, 2026. How we read a launch.

The startup idea

Lucas posted Ebb on October 27. His T3 Code setup has a provider called Pool. CLIProxyAPI spreads each request across his accounts, weighted by what each one has left. The missing piece was seeing that remainder, so he built a menu bar app. A reply the same minute says it is native SwiftUI and open source. The 5-hour and weekly numbers stay separate, never blended. It says when capacity comes back, retunes CLIProxyAPI's routing weights, and covers Claude, Codex, Devin, Kimi, and more. The repository is lucasnsaraujo/ebb. The license is MIT. The badge says macOS 26 or later. The readme says the 5-hour and weekly limits are one number each, per provider, and never added across providers. An account that has spent its week counts as no 5-hour capacity. xAI, Vertex, a Gemini API key, AI Studio, and OpenAI-compatible plugins are health only. They are never counted in a pool. Meta Muse can show "Limits not available" while the proxy cannot send the device-code token. The headline of the readme names Claude Code and Codex. The reply names a longer list. The post does not say macOS 26, or that some logins stay out of the math. This page did not read a quota.

The opportunity is the number the proxy is already using to route. A smaller product is two providers, shown apart, and a row that says health only. A bar that adds Claude and Codex into one percent is the thing the readme refuses.

Do not blend providers. Do not say every login has a 5-hour meter.

The problem

The proxy already routes by what is left, and the menu bar still does not say which account is empty.

Who would pay for this?

Primary
Someone who already points a coding tool at CLIProxyAPI.
Secondary
A person on macOS 26 with more than one Claude or Codex login.
Early adopter
One pool, two providers, the health-only row visible.

How could it make money?

Possible models. Nothing here is a claim about what Ebb charges.

  • No price. MIT.
  • The accounts are billed by whoever issued them.
  • The post does not name a seat.

What would the MVP look like?

  1. A menu bar with 5-hour and weekly, separate.
  2. Weights written back to the proxy.
  3. Providers that are never pooled, named.
  4. macOS 26 on the download.

How to validate the idea

  • Ask five people whether an xAI key moved the pool percent.
  • If it did, the health-only rule failed.
  • Do not add a Claude share and a Codex share and call it one limit.

How to differentiate

  • It reads the proxy you already run.
  • A spent week is not hidden inside the 5-hour bar.
  • Some providers are status only.
  • Do not become the proxy.

Original product launch

This launch is inspiration and evidence that someone shipped, not a partnership. The idea above is our reading of the broader opportunity. Ebb did not write it.

Product
Ebb
Source
Ebb
Film
Ebb, some accounts never enter the pool
Posted
Oct 27, 2026 · 0:16
Open original post

Product that inspired this idea

Lucas's post says his T3 Code setup has a provider called Pool, and CLIProxyAPI spreads each request across accounts by what each one has left. He built Ebb, a menu bar app, because the missing piece was seeing that remainder. A reply says it is native SwiftUI and open source, keeps the 5-hour and weekly numbers separate, retunes the proxy weights, and covers Claude, Codex, Devin, Kimi, and more. The readme says MIT, and macOS 26 or later. The 5-hour and weekly figures are never added across providers. xAI, Vertex, a Gemini API key, AI Studio, and OpenAI-compatible logins are health only. They are never counted in a pool. Meta Muse can show "Limits not available" when the proxy cannot send the device-code token. The post does not name the macOS floor, or the accounts that stay out of the pool. This page did not open the menu bar.

Posted by @nicecache. Watch the original launch. No separate product site is listed unless the post itself is the source.

  • macos
  • limits

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