claude-code-status-line.md

Claude Code Custom Status Line

A custom status line for Claude Code that displays:

• Directory name
• Model name
• Context usage with progress bar and percentage
• Git branch with file counts and line changes (added/removed)

Preview

bin | Sonnet 4.5 | ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 12% | (main | 2 files +87 -1)

Setup Instructions

1. Create the status line script

Save this script to ~/.claude/status-line.sh:

#!/bin/bash

# Read JSON input from stdin
input=$(cat)

# Extract information from JSON
model_name=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.model.display_name')
current_dir=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.workspace.current_dir')

# Extract context window information
context_size=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.context_window.context_window_size // 200000')
current_usage=$(echo "$input" | jq '.context_window.current_usage')

# Calculate context percentage
if [ "$current_usage" != "null" ]; then
    current_tokens=$(echo "$current_usage" | jq '.input_tokens + .cache_creation_input_tokens + .cache_read_input_tokens')
    context_percent=$((current_tokens * 100 / context_size))
else
    context_percent=0
fi

# Build context progress bar (20 chars wide)
bar_width=15
filled=$((context_percent * bar_width / 100))
empty=$((bar_width - filled))
bar=""
for ((i=0; i<filled; i++)); do bar+="█"; done
for ((i=0; i<empty; i++)); do bar+="░"; done

# Get directory name (basename)
dir_name=$(basename "$current_dir")

# Colors
RED='\033[0;31m'
GREEN='\033[0;32m'
BLUE='\033[0;34m'
YELLOW='\033[0;33m'
CYAN='\033[0;36m'
GRAY='\033[0;90m'
NC='\033[0m' # No Color

# Change to the current directory to get git info
cd "$current_dir" 2>/dev/null || cd /

# Get git branch
if git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    branch=$(git branch --show-current 2>/dev/null || echo "detached")

    # Get git status with file counts
    status_output=$(git status --porcelain 2>/dev/null)

    if [ -n "$status_output" ]; then
        # Count files and get basic line stats (including new files)
        total_files=$(echo "$status_output" | wc -l | xargs)

        # Get stats from both staged and unstaged changes
        staged_stats=$(git diff --numstat --cached 2>/dev/null | awk '{added+=$1; removed+=$2} END {print added+0, removed+0}')
        unstaged_stats=$(git diff --numstat 2>/dev/null | awk '{added+=$1; removed+=$2} END {print added+0, removed+0}')

        staged_added=$(echo $staged_stats | cut -d' ' -f1)
        staged_removed=$(echo $staged_stats | cut -d' ' -f2)
        unstaged_added=$(echo $unstaged_stats | cut -d' ' -f1)
        unstaged_removed=$(echo $unstaged_stats | cut -d' ' -f2)

        # Count lines in untracked files (files starting with ??)
        untracked_lines=$(echo "$status_output" | grep '^??' | cut -c4- | xargs -I {} sh -c 'test -f "{}" && wc -l < "{}" || echo 0' 2>/dev/null | awk '{sum+=$1} END {print sum+0}')

        added=$((staged_added + unstaged_added + untracked_lines))
        removed=$((staged_removed + unstaged_removed))

        # Build status display
        git_info=" ${YELLOW}($branch${NC} ${YELLOW}|${NC} ${GRAY}${total_files} files${NC}"

        [ "$added" -gt 0 ] && git_info="${git_info} ${GREEN}+${added}${NC}"
        [ "$removed" -gt 0 ] && git_info="${git_info} ${RED}-${removed}${NC}"

        git_info="${git_info} ${YELLOW})${NC}"
    else
        git_info=" ${YELLOW}($branch)${NC}"
    fi
else
    git_info=""
fi

# Build context bar display
context_info="${GRAY}${bar}${NC} ${context_percent}%"

# Output the status line
echo -e "${BLUE}${dir_name}${NC} ${GRAY}|${NC} ${CYAN}${model_name}${NC} ${GRAY}|${NC} ${context_info}${git_info:+ ${GRAY}|${NC}}${git_info}"

2. Make it executable

chmod +x ~/.claude/status-line.sh

3. Update Claude Code settings

Create or update ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "statusLine": {
    "type": "command",
    "command": "~/.claude/status-line.sh"
  }
}

4. Restart Claude Code

The new status line will appear in your next Claude Code session.

Requirements

• jq - JSON processor (install via brew install jq on macOS)
• git - for repository information
• Claude Code CLI

Features

• Directory name - Shows current working directory basename
• Model name - Displays which Claude model is active
• Context usage - Visual progress bar and percentage
• Git status - Shows branch, file count, and line changes
  • Includes staged, unstaged, and untracked files
  • Shows added (+) and removed (-) line counts with colors

Thanks for that!

I made a few tweaks since I'm on iTerm instead of Ghostty, so the loading bar looks a bit off.
And removed dead code cost extraction that was never used

#!/bin/bash

# Read JSON input from stdin
input=$(cat)

# Extract information from JSON
model_name=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.model.display_name')
current_dir=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.workspace.current_dir')
context_size=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.context_window.context_window_size // 200000')
current_usage=$(echo "$input" | jq '.context_window.current_usage')

# Colors
RED='\033[0;31m'
GREEN='\033[0;32m'
BLUE='\033[0;34m'
YELLOW='\033[0;33m'
CYAN='\033[0;36m'
GRAY='\033[0;90m'
NC='\033[0m'
LIGHT_GRAY='\033[38;5;250m'
DARK_GRAY='\033[38;5;238m'

# Calculate context percentage
if [ "$current_usage" != "null" ]; then
    current_tokens=$(echo "$current_usage" | jq '.input_tokens + .cache_creation_input_tokens + .cache_read_input_tokens')
    context_percent=$((current_tokens * 100 / context_size))
else
    context_percent=0
fi

# Build context progress bar (15 chars wide)
bar_width=15
filled=$((context_percent * bar_width / 100))
empty=$((bar_width - filled))

bar=""
for ((i = 0; i < filled; i++)); do bar+="${LIGHT_GRAY}█"; done
for ((i = 0; i < empty; i++)); do bar+="${DARK_GRAY}█"; done
bar+="${NC}"

# Cost extraction
session_cost=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.cost.total_cost_usd // empty')
[ "$session_cost" != "empty" ] && session_cost=$(printf "%.4f" "$session_cost") || session_cost=""

# Directory info
dir_name=$(basename "$current_dir")
cd "$current_dir" 2>/dev/null || cd /

# Git information
git_info=""

if git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    branch=$(git branch --show-current 2>/dev/null || echo "detached")
    status_output=$(git status --porcelain 2>/dev/null)

    if [ -n "$status_output" ]; then
        total_files=$(echo "$status_output" | wc -l | xargs)

        # Staged changes
        staged_stats=$(git diff --numstat --cached 2>/dev/null | awk '{added+=$1; removed+=$2} END {print added+0, removed+0}')
        staged_added=$(echo "$staged_stats" | cut -d' ' -f1)
        staged_removed=$(echo "$staged_stats" | cut -d' ' -f2)

        # Unstaged changes
        unstaged_stats=$(git diff --numstat 2>/dev/null | awk '{added+=$1; removed+=$2} END {print added+0, removed+0}')
        unstaged_added=$(echo "$unstaged_stats" | cut -d' ' -f1)
        unstaged_removed=$(echo "$unstaged_stats" | cut -d' ' -f2)

        # Untracked files
        untracked_lines=$(echo "$status_output" | grep '^??' | cut -c4- | xargs -I {} sh -c 'test -f "{}" && wc -l < "{}" || echo 0' 2>/dev/null | awk '{sum+=$1} END {print sum+0}')

        added=$((staged_added + unstaged_added + untracked_lines))
        removed=$((staged_removed + unstaged_removed))

        git_info=" ${YELLOW}(${branch}${NC} ${YELLOW}|${NC} ${GRAY}${total_files} files${NC}"
        [ "$added" -gt 0 ] && git_info="${git_info} ${GREEN}+${added}${NC}"
        [ "$removed" -gt 0 ] && git_info="${git_info} ${RED}-${removed}${NC}"
        git_info="${git_info} ${YELLOW})${NC}"
    else
        git_info=" ${YELLOW}(${branch})${NC}"
    fi
fi

# Output
context_info="${bar} ${context_percent}%"
echo -e "${BLUE}${dir_name}${NC} ${GRAY}|${NC} ${CYAN}${model_name}${NC} ${GRAY}|${NC} ${context_info}${git_info:+ ${GRAY}|${NC}}${git_info}"

If auto-compact is enabled, wouldn’t it make sense to add the 45k allocated buffer to the current_tokens calculation ?

If auto-compact is enabled, wouldn’t it make sense to add the 45k allocated buffer to the current_tokens calculation ?

You raise a good point. However, I'd argue the opposite adjustment makes more sense: subtract the buffer from the total, not add it to current usage.

# The current approach: shows % of total context
context_percent=$((current_tokens * 100 / context_size))

# And with auto-compact awareness: shows % of usable context
usable_context=$((context_size - 45000))
context_percent=$((current_tokens * 100 / usable_context))

The real issue is that Claude Code doesn't have an official API or setting to expose the auto-compact status as a boolean (havn't found one 🤷). So you have to pass it manually either hardcoded or as an env var.