claude-hud

# 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.

[![License](https://img.shields.io/github/license/jarrodwatts/claude-hud?v=2)](LICENSE)
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![Claude HUD in action](claude-hud-preview-5-2.png)

> 🌐 English | [中文文档](README.zh.md)

## 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**

<details>
<summary><strong>⚠️ Linux users: Click here first</strong></summary>

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

Then run the install command below in that session. This is a [Claude Code platform limitation](https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/14799).

</details>

```
/plugin install claude-hud
```

After that, reload plugins:

```
/reload-plugins
```


**Step 3: Configure the statusline**
```
/claude-hud:setup
```

<details>
<summary><strong>⚠️ Windows users: Click here if setup says no JavaScript runtime was found</strong></summary>

On Windows, Node.js LTS is the supported runtime for Claude HUD setup. If setup says no JavaScript runtime was found, install Node.js for your shell first:
```powershell
winget install OpenJS.NodeJS.LTS
```
Then restart your shell and run `/claude-hud:setup` again.

</details>

Done! Restart Claude Code to load the new statusLine config, then the HUD will appear.

On Windows, make that a full Claude Code restart after setup writes the new `statusLine` config.

---

## 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] │ my-project git:(main*)
Context █████░░░░░ 45% │ Usage ██░░░░░░░░ 25% (1h 30m / 5h)
```
- **Line 1** — Model, provider label when positively identified (for example `Bedrock`, `Vertex`), 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
```

---

## 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)
- Scales with Claude Code's reported context window size, including newer 1M-context sessions
- Parses the transcript for tool/agent activity
- Updates every ~300ms

---

## Configuration

Customize your HUD anytime:

```
/claude-hud:configure
```

The guided flow handles layout, language, and common display toggles. Advanced overrides such as
custom colors and thresholds are preserved there, but you set them by editing the config file directly:

- **First time setup**: Choose a preset (Full/Essential/Minimal), pick a label language, then fine-tune individual elements
- **Customize anytime**: Toggle items on/off, adjust git display style, switch layouts, or change label language
- **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

Edit `~/.claude/plugins/claude-hud/config.json` directly for advanced settings such as `colors.*`,
`pathLevels`, `maxWidth`, threshold overrides, `display.timeFormat`, and `display.promptCacheTtlSeconds`. Running `/claude-hud:configure`
preserves those manual settings while still letting you change `language`, layout, and the common
guided toggles.

Chinese HUD labels are available as an explicit opt-in. English stays the default unless you choose `中文` in `/claude-hud:configure` or set `language` in config. The short `zh` alias remains valid, and new guided config writes the canonical `zh-Hans` value.

### Options

| Option | Type | Default | Description |
|--------|------|---------|-------------|
| `language` | `en` \| `zh` \| `zh-Hans` | `en` | HUD label language. English is the default; set `zh` or `zh-Hans` to enable Simplified Chinese labels. |
| `lineLayout` | string | `expanded` | Layout: `expanded` (multi-line) or `compact` (single line) |
| `pathLevels` | 1-3 | 1 | Directory levels to show in project path |
| `maxWidth` | number \| `null` | `null` | Optional fallback width used only when terminal width detection fails completely |
| `forceMaxWidth` | boolean | false | Always use `maxWidth` when it is set, even if terminal width detection returns a smaller value |
| `elementOrder` | string[] | `["project","addedDirs","context","usage","promptCache","memory","environment","tools","skills","mcp","agents","todos","sessionTime"]` | Expanded-mode element order. Omit entries to hide them in expanded mode. Existing configs keep their explicit order until updated. |
| `display.mergeGroups` | string[][] | `[["context","usage"]]` | Expanded-mode groups that should share a line when adjacent. Set `[]` to disable merged lines. |
| `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.pushWarningThreshold` | number | 0 | Color the ahead count with the warning color at or above this unpushed-commit count (`0` disables it) |
| `gitStatus.pushCriticalThreshold` | number | 0 | Color the ahead count with the critical color at or above this unpushed-commit count (`0` disables it) |
| `gitStatus.showFileStats` | boolean | false | Show file change counts `!M +A ✘D ?U` |
| `gitStatus.branchOverflow` | `truncate` \| `wrap` | `truncate` | Keep current truncation behavior or let the git block wrap onto its own line boundary when possible |
| `display.showModel` | boolean | true | Show model name `[Opus]` |
| `display.showAddedDirs` | boolean | true | Show extra workspace directories from `/add-dir` (e.g. `+sparkle +lib-foo`); empty array renders nothing. In both layouts at most 5 dirs render (overflow shown as `+N more`) and basenames are truncated to 24 chars with `…` |
| `display.addedDirsLayout` | `inline` \| `line` | `inline` | `inline` puts dirs next to the project name with a `+name` prefix per dir; `line` renders them on a separate `Added dirs: name1, name2` line (no `+` prefix, comma-separated) |
| `display.showContextBar` | boolean | true | Show visual context bar `████░░░░░░` |
| `display.contextValue` | `percent` \| `tokens` \| `remaining` \| `both` | `percent` | Context display format (`45%`, `45k/200k`, `55%` remaining, or `45% (45k/200k)`) |
| `display.autoCompactWindow` | number \| `null` | `null` | When set to a positive number such as `200000`, compute the context percentage against this auto-compact window instead of the full model context window, matching the `/context` figure. Leave unset or `null` to preserve default full-window behavior. |
| `display.showConfigCounts` | boolean | false | Show CLAUDE.md, rules, MCPs, hooks counts |
| `display.showCost` | boolean | false | Show session cost using Claude Code's native `cost.total_cost_usd` when available, with a local estimate fallback for direct Anthropic sessions |
| `display.showOutputStyle` | boolean | false | Show the active Claude Code `outputStyle` from settings files as `style: <name>` |
| `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 Claude subscriber usage limits when available |
| `display.usageValue` | `percent` \| `remaining` | `percent` | Usage display format (`25%` used, or `75%` remaining) |
| `display.usageBarEnabled` | boolean | true | Display usage as visual bar instead of text |
| `display.usageCompact` | boolean | false | Display usage in a shorter text form such as `5h: 25% (1h 30m)`; takes precedence over `display.usageBarEnabled` |
| `display.showResetLabel` | boolean | true | Show the `resets in` prefix before usage countdowns |
| `display.timeFormat` | `relative` \| `absolute` \| `both` \| `elapsed` \| `elapsedAndAbsolute` | `relative` | How usage-window time is shown: countdown only (`resets in 2h 30m`), wall-clock reset (`resets at 14:30`), both, elapsed window percentage (`53% elapsed`), or elapsed plus wall-clock reset |
| `display.sevenDayThreshold` | 0-100 | 80 | Show 7-day usage when >= threshold (0 = always) |
| `display.externalUsagePath` | string | `""` | Optional path to a local usage snapshot file. When stdin `rate_limits` are present, only `balance_label` is appended; when they a