A Claude Code plugin that shows what's happening: context usage, rate limits, active tools, running agents, and todo progress, always visible below your input.

🌐 English | 中文文档

Inside Claude Code, run:

/plugin marketplace add jarrodwatts/claude-hud
/plugin install claude-hud
/reload-plugins
/claude-hud:setup

/claude-hud:setup points your status line at the HUD. Claude Code reloads settings on its own, so the HUD appears right away. To customize it, ask Claude or run /claude-hud:configure.

claude plugin marketplace add jarrodwatts/claude-hud
claude plugin install claude-hud@claude-hud

The default is two lines:

[Opus] │ my-project git:(main*)
Context █████░░░░░ 45% │ Usage ██░░░░░░░░ 25% (resets in 1h 30m)

• Line 1: model, a provider label when one is detected (Bedrock, Vertex, MiniMax), project path, and git branch.
• Line 2: context used (green, then yellow, then red as it fills) and your subscriber rate limits.

Optional lines, which you turn on with /claude-hud:configure:

◐ Edit: auth.ts | ✓ Read ×3 | ✓ Grep ×2        ← tools
◐ explore [haiku]: Finding auth code (2m 15s)    ← agents
▸ Fix authentication bug (2/5)                   ← todos

Claude HUD is a status line command. Claude Code runs it with session data on stdin (model, context window, cost, rate limits, prompt cache) and shows what it prints. Some optional elements, such as the tools, agents, and todos lines, also read the session transcript. It needs no separate window or tmux and works in any terminal.

/claude-hud:configure

The guided flow covers layout, activity lines, session info, usage, git, language, and a custom line. It previews the changes before saving and keeps every setting it doesn't ask about.

Everything else lives in ~/.claude/plugins/claude-hud/config.json (or under $CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR). Invalid values fall back to their defaults.

If several CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIRs share one plugins/ directory, put per-directory settings in $CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR/claude-hud.json. It uses the same shape, only needs the keys it changes, and is layered on top of the shared config:

{ "display": { "customLine": "Work Team" } }

Labels are available in English (the default), Simplified Chinese (zh-Hans, alias zh), and Traditional Chinese (zh-Hant, alias zh-TW).

Colors accept a name (dim, red, green, yellow, magenta, cyan, brightBlue, brightMagenta), a 256-color number (0-255), or hex (#rrggbb). colors.barFilled and colors.barEmpty take a single visible character; wide characters such as emoji may affect bar alignment in some terminals.

Usage shows whenever Claude Code sends subscriber rate_limits, which is after the first response of a session. API-key, Bedrock, and Vertex sessions have no subscriber limits, so it stays hidden. The 7-day window appears once it passes display.sevenDayThreshold:

Context █████░░░░░ 45% │ Usage ██░░░░░░░░ 25% (resets in 1h 30m) | Weekly █████████░ 85% (resets in 1d)

With display.usagePace, a window you're using faster than it refills turns amber (on track to end at 90% or more) or red (on track to run out first) and gets a ▲. Windows under 10% used stay neutral.

External snapshot. display.externalUsagePath reads a local JSON file. Its windows fill in when stdin has none, and its balance_label or model_scoped windows (for example a per-model weekly quota) add to stdin's. The file must be absolute and fresher than display.externalUsageFreshnessMs:

{
  "updated_at": "2026-04-20T12:00:00.000Z",
  "five_hour": { "used_percentage": 42, "resets_at": "2026-04-20T15:00:00.000Z" },
  "seven_day": { "used_percentage": 84, "resets_at": "2026-04-27T12:00:00.000Z" },
  "balance_label": "$12.50",
  "model_scoped": [{ "display_name": "Fable", "utilization": 89, "resets_at": "2026-04-27T11:00:00Z" }]
}

display.externalUsageWritePath does the reverse: it writes stdin's rate limits to a private .json file in an existing directory for other tools to read.

display.showCost shows Claude Code's own session cost, computed at list price or from your modelPricing table. Bedrock and Vertex bill through the cloud provider, so their cost is hidden unless display.showRoutedCost is also set.

display.showDailyCost adds today's spend across sessions (Today $12.34). It is kept in a small ledger in the plugin data directory, resets at local midnight, and counts a session from the first render that sees it. display.showWeeklyCost uses the same ledger from the start of the 7-day quota window, so it needs a subscriber session.

display.showPromptCache shows when the main conversation's prompt cache goes cold, such as Cache ⏱ until 14:30, or expired. It shows a clock time rather than a countdown because the status line doesn't repaint between turns, which is exactly when the cache drains; a clock time stays correct however old the render is. display.showCacheHitRate shows the share of input tokens read from the cache.

Set jjStatus.enabled to true to show jj status, such as jj:(mybookmark*) or jj:(wrulwzyw !conflict), instead of git in a directory with a .jj repository. The HUD runs jj read-only without snapshotting the working copy, so the dirty marker reflects jj's last snapshot. Ahead/behind and file stats are git-only.

{
  "lineLayout": "expanded",
  "pathLevels": 2,
  "gitStatus": { "showAheadBehind": true, "showFileStats": true },
  "display": {
    "showTools": true,
    "showAgents": true,
    "showTodos": true,
    "showDuration": true,
    "showCost": true
  },
  "colors": { "context": "cyan", "custom": "#FF6600" }
}

Claude Code re-runs the status line after each message, /compact, a permission or vim mode change, a rate-limit reset, and a prompt-cache expiry. To keep countdowns and durations ticking while a session is idle, add refreshInterval (seconds) to the statusLine entry in ~/.claude/settings.json.

CLAUDE_HUD_DISABLE=1 claude

Any value other than 0, false, off, or no blanks the HUD for that session without touching settings.json.

Claude HUD is local-only. It makes no network requests, never reads credentials, and calls no undocumented APIs. It reads Claude Code's stdin, the session transcript, Claude configuration files, and git or jj metadata for the current directory. Its only writes are small state files (output speed and the cost ledger) under ~/.claude/plugins/claude-hud, with private permissions.

--extra-cmd runs a shell command on every refresh and puts its output on the first line. It is ignored unless CLAUDE_HUD_ALLOW_EXTRA_CMD=1 is set in the HUD's environment. Treat it as arbitrary code execution and never use a command from an untrusted source.

The HUD doesn't appear. Send a message, because the status line renders after an interaction. Check that CLAUDE_HUD_DISABLE isn't set in your shell. Run /claude-hud:setup again if your Node or Bun path changed, for example after an nvm or mise upgrade.

Config isn't applying. Check the JSON for syntax errors: an invalid file falls back to the defaults. Check that values are in range; the options table lists them.

Usage is missing. Usage needs a Claude subscriber login and appears after the first response. Check display.showUsage.

Git or jj status is missing. Check that you're inside a repository and that gitStatus.enabled (or jjStatus.enabled with jj on PATH) is on.

An activity line is missing. Tools, agents, todos, skills, and MCP lines are off by default and only show when there's activity.

• Claude Code v2.1.260 or later
• macOS or Linux: Node.js 18+ or Bun
• Windows: Node.js 18+

git clone https://github.com/jarrodwatts/claude-hud
cd claude-hud
npm ci && npm test

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

MIT. See LICENSE.