claude-code-statusline

A status bar for Claude Code that shows what you actually need mid-session.

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What it shows

Segment	Meaning	Color
Sonnet 4.6	Active model	Magenta
122K	Total input tokens this session	Cyan
61%	Context window used	Green → yellow → orange → red
AC!!	Auto-compact imminent (≤ 20% remaining)	Yellow → orange → red
🌙 OFF-PK / PEAK	Anthropic API peak hours (5–11 AM Pacific, Mon–Fri)	Green (off-peak) / yellow (peak)
my-project	Working directory (last path segment)	Orange

The peak/off-peak indicator includes a live countdown to the next state change — useful if you're deciding whether to start a heavy session now or wait.

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Installation

Prerequisites: Node.js (18+) and Claude Code.

1. Copy statusline.js to ~/.claude/:

curl -o ~/.claude/statusline.js \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DFKHelper/claude-code-statusline/main/statusline.js

2. Add the statusLine key to ~/.claude/settings.json:

macOS / Linux

{
  "statusLine": {
    "type": "command",
    "command": "node /home/your-username/.claude/statusline.js"
  }
}

Windows

{
  "statusLine": {
    "type": "command",
    "command": "node C:/Users/your-username/.claude/statusline.js"
  }
}

3. Restart Claude Code. The status bar updates on every turn.

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Customization

The script is a single self-contained Node.js file (~100 lines). No build step, no dependencies.

Change peak hours or timezone

Find the isPeak assignment and edit the hour bounds or the timezone string:

// Change 5 and 11 to your preferred window, or swap the timezone
const isPeak = isWeekday && ptHour >= 5 && ptHour < 11;
// timeZone: 'America/Los_Angeles'  � change this

Adjust context color thresholds

if (used >= 95)      color = '\x1b[1;31m';       // red
else if (used >= 80) color = '\x1b[38;5;208m';   // orange
else if (used >= 60) color = '\x1b[1;33m';        // yellow
else                 color = '\x1b[0;32m';         // green

Change 95, 80, 60 to whatever breakpoints suit your workflow.

Remove a segment

Comment out the matching parts.push(...) call near the bottom of the file.

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Debugging

statusline-debug.js captures the raw JSON payload Claude Code pipes to the command and writes it to disk — handy when building your own status line.

1. Temporarily point settings.json at the debug script:

{
  "statusLine": {
    "type": "command",
    "command": "node /home/your-username/.claude/statusline-debug.js"
  }
}

2. Run Claude Code for one turn. The status bar shows DEBUG: wrote ....

3. Open the output file (default: ~/statusline-capture.json). Override the path with STATUSLINE_DEBUG_PATH.

example-input.json in this repo shows a sanitized example of the full payload schema, so you can build against it without running a live session.

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How it works

Claude Code pipes a JSON payload to the status line command via stdin on every turn. The script parses the context window metrics and model info, builds an ANSI-colored string, and writes it to stdout. Claude Code renders that string in the status bar.

Claude Code  ──stdin──▶  node statusline.js  ──stdout──▶  status bar
               JSON                              ANSI string

The 3-second setTimeout exits the process if stdin never closes — without it, Node processes stack up across long sessions.

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License

MIT