Claude Code Status Line

A custom status line script for Claude Code that enhances your terminal experience with rich contextual information.

Features

This status line script displays:

• Current Working Directory - Shows your current path (with ~ for home directory)
• Current Time - Displays time in HH:MM:SS format
• Git Information - Shows branch name and change indicators:
  • Red dot (●) - Unstaged changes
  • Green dot (●) - Staged changes
• Context Window Stats - Displays:
  • Model ID (e.g., claude-sonnet-4-5)
  • Token usage with decimal precision for hundreds (e.g., 45k.5k/200k)
  • Used percentage

Screenshot

Example status line output:

~/work/my-project [15:30:45] [±main ●●] [claude-sonnet-4-5 | 45k.5k/200k, 22%]

Requirements

• Claude Code CLI installed
• jq - JSON processor for parsing input

  # macOS
  brew install jq
  
  # Ubuntu/Debian
  sudo apt-get install jq
  
  # Other platforms - see https://stedolan.github.io/jq/download/

• Git (optional, for git information display)

Installation

1. Clone or Download the Script

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/claude-code-status-line.git
cd claude-code-status-line

# Or download just the script
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yourusername/claude-code-status-line/master/statusline-command.sh
chmod +x statusline-command.sh

2. Move to a Permanent Location

# Create a directory for custom scripts (if it doesn't exist)
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin

# Move the script
mv statusline-command.sh ~/.local/bin/

# Make it executable
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/statusline-command.sh

3. Configure Claude Code

Edit your Claude Code settings file to use the custom status line:

# Open Claude Code settings
# Location: ~/.claude/settings.json

Add or update the statusline_command setting:

{
  "statusline_command": "~/.local/bin/statusline-command.sh"
}

Alternative paths:

• If you keep scripts elsewhere: Use the full path (e.g., /Users/yourname/scripts/statusline-command.sh)
• If using the repository directly: Point to the script in the cloned repo

4. Restart Claude Code

Restart your Claude Code session to see the new status line in action.

How It Works

The script receives JSON input from Claude Code via stdin containing:

• Workspace information (current directory)
• Model details (model ID)
• Context window statistics (context size, used percentage)

It processes this data and outputs a formatted status line with:

• Color coding: Different colors for different information types
• Git status detection: Checks for staged/unstaged changes
• Performance optimization: Uses Git flags to skip optional locks (fsmonitor=false)
• Smart formatting: Token display with decimal precision (e.g., 45k.5k for 45,500 tokens)

Customization

You can modify statusline-command.sh to customize:

Change Colors

The script uses ANSI color codes:

• \033[1m - Bold
• \033[36m - Cyan (context info)
• \033[32m - Green (git branch symbol)
• \033[1;32m - Bold green (staged changes)
• \033[1;31m - Bold red (unstaged changes)
• \033[0m - Reset

Add More Information

You can extract additional data from the JSON input. Available fields include:

# See all available data
echo "$input" | jq '.'

Common fields used by the script:

• .workspace.current_dir - Current directory
• .model.id - Model identifier
• .context_window.context_window_size - Maximum context size
• .context_window.used_percentage - Percentage of context used

Change Time Format

Modify line 4 to use a different date format:

time=$(date "+%H:%M:%S")  # Current: 24-hour format
time=$(date "+%I:%M %p")   # 12-hour format with AM/PM
time=$(date "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M")  # Include date

Token Display Precision

The script shows token usage with decimal precision:

• 45k/200k - Exact thousands (45,000 tokens)
• 45k.5k/200k - With hundreds (45,500 tokens)

To remove decimal precision, modify lines 10 and 14:

# Remove this line:
tokens_dec=$((tokens_total / 100 % 10))

# And simplify the printf to remove the .$tokens_dec reference

Troubleshooting

Status line not appearing

• Verify the script path in ~/.claude/settings.json is correct
• Ensure the script is executable: chmod +x /path/to/statusline-command.sh
• Check that jq is installed: which jq

Git information not showing

• Ensure you're in a git repository
• Check that git is installed and in your PATH

Permission errors

• The script needs read access to your git repository
• Ensure the script file has execute permissions

Colors not displaying correctly

• Your terminal must support ANSI color codes
• Most modern terminals (iTerm2, Terminal.app, VSCode terminal) support this by default

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to:

• Report bugs or issues
• Suggest new features
• Submit pull requests
• Share your customizations

License

MIT License - Feel free to use and modify as needed.

Links

• Claude Code Documentation
• jq Manual

Inspiration

This script was created to enhance the Claude Code experience with rich, at-a-glance contextual information similar to popular shell prompts like Starship and Oh My Zsh.