A Claude Code status line that shows context and limits

Claude Code can show a line at the bottom of the terminal that updates as you work. Here is a small script that makes it show the model, how many tokens are in context, and how much of your 5-hour and weekly limits you have used.

The quick way

Type /statusline in Claude Code and describe what you want in plain words, for example "show the model, context percentage and my 5-hour limit". It writes the script and updates your settings for you.

The script

If you would rather set it up by hand, save this as ~/.claude/statusline.sh. It needs jq, which most developer Macs already have.

#!/bin/bash
# Claude Code status line: model, tokens in context, and plan limits when available.
input=$(cat)
MODEL=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.model.display_name // "Claude"')
PCT=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.context_window.used_percentage // 0' | cut -d. -f1)
SIZE=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.context_window.context_window_size // 200000')
USED=$(( SIZE * PCT / 100 / 1000 ))
FIVE=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.rate_limits.five_hour.used_percentage // empty' | cut -d. -f1)
WEEK=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.rate_limits.seven_day.used_percentage // empty' | cut -d. -f1)
OUT="[$MODEL] ${USED}K in context (${PCT}%)"
[ -n "$FIVE" ] && OUT="$OUT | 5h ${FIVE}%"
[ -n "$WEEK" ] && OUT="$OUT | week ${WEEK}%"
echo "$OUT"

Make it runnable, then point Claude Code at it in ~/.claude/settings.json:

chmod +x ~/.claude/statusline.sh

{
  "statusLine": {
    "type": "command",
    "command": "~/.claude/statusline.sh"
  }
}

It prints a line like this:

[Opus] 128K in context (64%) | 5h 23% | week 41%

What the numbers mean

• K in context is how much the session re-reads on every reply. This is the number that makes a long session expensive.
• Percent is how full the context window is. The window is 200,000 tokens by default and 1,000,000 on models with extended context.
• 5h and week are how much of each plan limit you have used. Claude Code only provides these to Pro, Max and Ultra subscribers, and only after the first reply in a session, so the script leaves them out when they are missing.

What a status line cannot tell you

It only describes the session you are looking at. It will not tell you that a session in another terminal is three times the size, or that a subagent fan-out used most of the morning. It also says nothing if you are not at the terminal.

That is the gap Cost Doctor fills: every session on the machine, ranked, in your menu bar, with a note on which one to compact. And if a check fails while an agent is waiting, it turns the screen red.