claude-hud/README.md

Claude HUD

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

Install

Inside a Claude Code instance, run the following commands:

Step 1: Add the marketplace

/plugin marketplace add jarrodwatts/claude-hud

Step 2: Install the plugin

⚠️ Linux users: Click here first

On Linux, /tmp is often a separate filesystem (tmpfs), which causes plugin installation to fail with:

EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted

Fix: Set TMPDIR before installing:

mkdir -p ~/.cache/tmp && TMPDIR=~/.cache/tmp claude

Then run the install command below in that session. This is a Claude Code platform limitation.

/plugin install claude-hud

Step 3: Configure the statusline

/claude-hud:setup

Done! The HUD appears immediately — no restart needed.

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What is Claude HUD?

Claude HUD gives you better insights into what's happening in your Claude Code session.

What You See	Why It Matters
Project path	Know which project you're in (configurable 1-3 directory levels)
Context health	Know exactly how full your context window is before it's too late
Tool activity	Watch Claude read, edit, and search files as it happens
Agent tracking	See which subagents are running and what they're doing
Todo progress	Track task completion in real-time

What You See

Default (2 lines)

[Opus | Max] │ my-project git:(main*)
Context █████░░░░░ 45% │ Usage ██░░░░░░░░ 25% (1h 30m / 5h)

• Line 1 — Model, plan name (or Bedrock), project path, git branch
• Line 2 — Context bar (green → yellow → red) and usage rate limits

Optional lines (enable via /claude-hud:configure)

◐ Edit: auth.ts | ✓ Read ×3 | ✓ Grep ×2        ← Tools activity
◐ explore [haiku]: Finding auth code (2m 15s)    ← Agent status
▸ Fix authentication bug (2/5)                   ← Todo progress

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How It Works

Claude HUD uses Claude Code's native statusline API — no separate window, no tmux required, works in any terminal.

Claude Code → stdin JSON → claude-hud → stdout → displayed in your terminal
           ↘ transcript JSONL (tools, agents, todos)

Key features:

• Native token data from Claude Code (not estimated)
• Parses the transcript for tool/agent activity
• Updates every ~300ms

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Configuration

Customize your HUD anytime:

/claude-hud:configure

The guided flow walks you through customization — no manual editing needed:

• First time setup: Choose a preset (Full/Essential/Minimal), then fine-tune individual elements
• Customize anytime: Toggle items on/off, adjust git display style, switch layouts
• Preview before saving: See exactly how your HUD will look before committing changes

Presets

Preset	What's Shown
Full	Everything enabled — tools, agents, todos, git, usage, duration
Essential	Activity lines + git status, minimal info clutter
Minimal	Core only — just model name and context bar

After choosing a preset, you can turn individual elements on or off.

Manual Configuration

You can also edit the config file directly at ~/.claude/plugins/claude-hud/config.json.

Options

Option	Type	Default	Description
lineLayout	string	expanded	Layout: expanded (multi-line) or compact (single line)
pathLevels	1-3	1	Directory levels to show in project path
elementOrder	string[]	["project","context","usage","environment","tools","agents","todos"]	Expanded-mode element order. Omit entries to hide them in expanded mode.
gitStatus.enabled	boolean	true	Show git branch in HUD
gitStatus.showDirty	boolean	true	Show * for uncommitted changes
gitStatus.showAheadBehind	boolean	false	Show ↑N ↓N for ahead/behind remote
gitStatus.showFileStats	boolean	false	Show file change counts !M +A ✘D ?U
display.showModel	boolean	true	Show model name [Opus]
display.showContextBar	boolean	true	Show visual context bar ████░░░░░░
display.contextValue	percent | tokens | remaining	percent	Context display format (45%, 45k/200k, or 55% remaining)
display.showConfigCounts	boolean	false	Show CLAUDE.md, rules, MCPs, hooks counts
display.showDuration	boolean	false	Show session duration ⏱️ 5m
display.showSpeed	boolean	false	Show output token speed out: 42.1 tok/s
display.showUsage	boolean	true	Show usage limits (Pro/Max/Team only)
display.usageBarEnabled	boolean	true	Display usage as visual bar instead of text
display.sevenDayThreshold	0-100	80	Show 7-day usage when >= threshold (0 = always)
display.showTokenBreakdown	boolean	true	Show token details at high context (85%+)
display.showTools	boolean	false	Show tools activity line
display.showAgents	boolean	false	Show agents activity line
display.showTodos	boolean	false	Show todos progress line
display.showSessionName	boolean	false	Show session slug or custom title from /rename
usage.cacheTtlSeconds	number	60	How long (seconds) to cache a successful usage API response
usage.failureCacheTtlSeconds	number	15	How long (seconds) to cache a failed usage API response before retrying

Usage Limits (Pro/Max/Team)

Usage display is enabled by default for Claude Pro, Max, and Team subscribers. It shows your rate limit consumption on line 2 alongside the context bar.

The 7-day percentage appears when above the display.sevenDayThreshold (default 80%):

Context █████░░░░░ 45% │ Usage ██░░░░░░░░ 25% (1h 30m / 5h) | ██████████ 85% (2d / 7d)

To disable, set display.showUsage to false.

Requirements:

• Claude Pro, Max, or Team subscription (not available for API users)
• OAuth credentials from Claude Code (created automatically when you log in)

Troubleshooting: If usage doesn't appear:

• Ensure you're logged in with a Pro/Max/Team account (not API key)
• Check display.showUsage is not set to false in config
• API users see no usage display (they have pay-per-token, not rate limits)
• AWS Bedrock models display Bedrock and hide usage limits (usage is managed in AWS)
• Non-default ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL / ANTHROPIC_API_BASE_URL settings skip usage display, because the Anthropic OAuth usage API may not apply
• If you are behind a proxy, set HTTPS_PROXY (or HTTP_PROXY/ALL_PROXY) and optional NO_PROXY
• For high-latency environments, increase usage API timeout with CLAUDE_HUD_USAGE_TIMEOUT_MS (milliseconds)

Example Configuration

{
  "lineLayout": "expanded",
  "pathLevels": 2,
  "elementOrder": ["project", "tools", "context", "usage", "environment", "agents", "todos"],
  "gitStatus": {
    "enabled": true,
    "showDirty": true,
    "showAheadBehind": true,
    "showFileStats": true
  },
  "display": {
    "showTools": true,
    "showAgents": true,
    "showTodos": true,
    "showConfigCounts": true,
    "showDuration": true
  },
  "usage": {
    "cacheTtlSeconds": 120,
    "failureCacheTtlSeconds": 30
  }
}

Display Examples

1 level (default): [Opus] │ my-project git:(main)

2 levels: [Opus] │ apps/my-project git:(main)

3 levels: [Opus] │ dev/apps/my-project git:(main)

With dirty indicator: [Opus] │ my-project git:(main*)

With ahead/behind: [Opus] │ my-project git:(main ↑2 ↓1)

With file stats: [Opus] │ my-project git:(main* !3 +1 ?2)

• ! = modified files, + = added/staged, ✘ = deleted, ? = untracked
• Counts of 0 are omitted for cleaner display

Troubleshooting

Config not applying?

• Check for JSON syntax errors: invalid JSON silently falls back to defaults
• Ensure valid values: pathLevels must be 1, 2, or 3; lineLayout must be expanded or compact
• Delete config and run /claude-hud:configure to regenerate

Git status missing?

• Verify you're in a git repository
• Check gitStatus.enabled is not false in config

Tool/agent/todo lines missing?

• These are hidden by default — enable with showTools, showAgents, showTodos in config
• They also only appear when there's activity to show

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Requirements

• Claude Code v1.0.80+
• Node.js 18+ or Bun

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Development

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

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

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License

MIT — see LICENSE

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