The status line · Claude Code

A cockpit readout for every session.

Claude Code lets you replace the status line with your own script. Mine is a seven-row instrument — location, conversation economics, tokens, cache, spend, billing cycle, and rate limits — each a bold color-coded tag, all parsed in a single jq pass so it stays fast even on Windows Git-Bash. A traffic-light helper colors each figure green, amber, or red; a formatter turns raw seconds into plain-English time-to-reset.

The seven rows

LOCATION

folder, branch, uncommitted edits, project, active model

CONVO

chat memory, turns, per-turn economics, last-turn tokens

TOKENS

output · fresh-in · cache-write · cache-read · total

CACHE

turn hit-rate, cache-window countdown, session net saved

SPEND

session cost: list → billed → saved %, effective $/Mtok (an API-equivalent gauge, not a real charge)

CYCLE

billing cycle to date, resets on the 15th

LIMITS

session runtime, 5-hour + weekly caps, burn pace

The dollar figures are an API-equivalent usage gauge — what the same tokens would cost on the metered API — not a real subscription charge. It’s there to keep me honest about how much a given approach actually burns.

Take it

The whole script is public — one file, no dependencies beyond jq. A hook auto-publishes it every time I change it, so the gist is always the current build.

View the gist on GitHub