Claude Powerline

A vim-style powerline statusline for Claude Code with real-time usage tracking, git integration, and custom themes.

Demo

Live demonstration: real-time usage tracking, git integration, and theme showcase

Dark	Light
Nord	Tokyo Night
Rose Pine	Create your own!

Features

Usage Tracking Real-time session costs 5-hour billing window monitoring Daily budget alerts with percentages Token breakdown (input/output/cached) Git Integration Branch status with clean/dirty indicators Commits ahead/behind remote tracking Repository info (SHA, tags, stash count) Working tree staged/unstaged/untracked counts

Customization 5 built-in themes (dark, light, nord, tokyo-night, rose-pine) Custom color configuration Three separator styles: minimal, powerline, and capsule Two character sets: unicode (Nerd Font) and text (ASCII) Multi-line layouts to prevent cutoff Performance Metrics Average and last response times Session duration tracking Message count monitoring Context usage with auto-compact threshold

Installation

Setup

Requires Node.js 18+, Claude Code, and Git 2.0+. For best display, install a Nerd Font or use --charset=text for ASCII-only symbols.

1. Add to your Claude Code settings.json:

{
  "statusLine": {
    "type": "command",
    "command": "npx -y @owloops/claude-powerline@latest --style=powerline"
  }
}

2. Start a Claude session - the statusline appears at the bottom during conversations.

Using npx automatically downloads and runs the latest version without manual updates.

Usage

Once added to Claude Code settings, the statusline runs automatically. For customization:

CLI Options:

• --theme - dark (default), light, nord, tokyo-night, rose-pine, custom
• --style - minimal (default), powerline, capsule
• --charset - unicode (default), text
• --config - Custom config file path
• --help - Show help

Examples:

claude-powerline --theme=nord --style=powerline
claude-powerline --theme=dark --style=capsule --charset=text
claude-powerline --config=/path/to/config.json

Environment Variables:

export CLAUDE_POWERLINE_THEME=dark
export CLAUDE_POWERLINE_STYLE=powerline
export CLAUDE_POWERLINE_CONFIG=/path/to/config.json
export CLAUDE_POWERLINE_DEBUG=1  # Enable debug logging

Styles

Configuration

Get example config:

# Download full-featured example config
curl -o ~/.claude/claude-powerline.json https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Owloops/claude-powerline/main/.claude-powerline.json

Config locations (in priority order):

• ./.claude-powerline.json - Project-specific
• ~/.claude/claude-powerline.json - User config
• ~/.config/claude-powerline/config.json - XDG standard

Override priority: CLI flags → Environment variables → Config files → Defaults

Config files reload automatically and no restart needed.

Segment Configuration

Directory - Shows current working directory name

"directory": {
  "enabled": true,
  "showBasename": false
}

Options:

• showBasename: Show only folder name instead of full path

Git - Shows branch, status, and repository information

"git": {
  "enabled": true,
  "showSha": true,
  "showWorkingTree": false,
  "showOperation": false,
  "showTag": false,
  "showTimeSinceCommit": false,
  "showStashCount": false,
  "showUpstream": false,
  "showRepoName": false
}

Options:

• showSha: Show abbreviated commit SHA
• showWorkingTree: Show staged/unstaged/untracked counts
• showOperation: Show ongoing operations (MERGE/REBASE/CHERRY-PICK)
• showTag: Show nearest tag
• showTimeSinceCommit: Show time since last commit
• showStashCount: Show stash count
• showUpstream: Show upstream branch
• showRepoName: Show repository name

Symbols:

• Unicode: ⎇ Branch • ♯ SHA • ⌂ Tag • ⧇ Stash • ✓ Clean • ● Dirty • ⚠ Conflicts • ↑3 Ahead • ↓2 Behind • (+1 ~2 ?3) Staged/Unstaged/Untracked
• Text: ~ Branch • # SHA • T Tag • S Stash • = Clean • * Dirty • ! Conflicts • ^3 Ahead • v2 Behind • (+1 ~2 ?3) Staged/Unstaged/Untracked

Metrics - Shows performance analytics from your Claude sessions

"metrics": {
  "enabled": true,
  "showResponseTime": true,
  "showLastResponseTime": false,
  "showDuration": true,
  "showMessageCount": true,
  "showLinesAdded": true,
  "showLinesRemoved": true
}

Options:

• showResponseTime: Total API duration across all requests
• showLastResponseTime: Individual response time for most recent query
• showDuration: Total session duration
• showMessageCount: Number of user messages sent
• showLinesAdded: Lines of code added during session
• showLinesRemoved: Lines of code removed during session

Symbols:

• Unicode: ⧖ Total API time • Δ Last response • ⧗ Session duration • ⟐ Messages • + Lines added • - Lines removed
• Text: R Total API time • L Last response • T Session duration • # Messages • + Lines added • - Lines removed

Model - Shows current Claude model being used

"model": {
  "enabled": true
}

Symbols: ✱ Model (unicode) • M Model (text)

Context - Shows context window usage and auto-compact threshold

"context": {
  "enabled": true,
  "showPercentageOnly": false
}

Options:

• showPercentageOnly: Show only percentage remaining (default: false)

Display: ◔ 34,040 (79%) or ◔ 79% (percentage only)

Symbols: ◔ Context (unicode) • C Context (text)

Model Context Limits

Configure context window limits for different model types. Defaults to 200K tokens for all models.

"modelContextLimits": {
  "sonnet": 1000000,
  "opus": 200000
}

Available Model Types:

• sonnet: Claude Sonnet models (3.5, 4, etc.)
• opus: Claude Opus models
• default: Fallback for unrecognized models (200K)

Note: Sonnet 4's 1M context window is currently in beta for tier 4+ users. Set "sonnet": 1000000 when you have access.

Tmux - Shows tmux session name and window info when in tmux

"tmux": {
  "enabled": true
}

Display: tmux:session-name

Version - Shows Claude Code version

"version": {
  "enabled": true
}

Display: v1.0.81

Symbols: ◈ Version (unicode) • v Version (text)

Session - Shows real-time usage for current Claude conversation

"session": {
  "enabled": true,
  "type": "tokens",
  "costSource": "calculated"
}

Options:

• type: Display format - cost | tokens | both | breakdown
• costSource: Cost calculation method - calculated (ccusage-style) | official (hook data)

Symbols: § Session (unicode) • $ Session (text)

Block - Shows usage within current 5-hour billing window (Claude's rate limit period)

"block": {
  "enabled": true,
  "type": "weighted",
  "burnType": "cost"
}

Options:

• type: Display format - cost | tokens | both | time | weighted
• burnType: Burn rate display - cost | tokens | both | none

Weighted Tokens: Opus tokens count 5x toward rate limits compared to Sonnet/Haiku tokens

Symbols: ◱ Block (unicode) • B Block (text)

Today - Shows total daily usage with budget monitoring

"today": {
  "enabled": true,
  "type": "cost"
}

Options:

• type: Display format - cost | tokens | both | breakdown

Symbols: ☉ Today (unicode) • D Today (text)

Budget Configuration

"budget": {
  "session": { "amount": 10.0, "warningThreshold": 80 },
  "today": { "amount": 25.0, "warningThreshold": 80 },
  "block": { "amount": 15.0, "type": "cost", "warningThreshold": 80 }
}

Options:

• amount: Budget limit (required for percentage display)
• type: Budget type - cost (USD) | tokens (for token-based limits)
• warningThreshold: Warning threshold percentage (default: 80)

Indicators: 25% Normal • +75% Moderate (50-79%) • !85% Warning (80%+)

Tip

Claude's rate limits consider multiple factors beyond tokens (message count, length, attachments, model). See Anthropic's usage documentation for details.

Character Sets

Choose between Unicode symbols (requires Nerd Font) or ASCII text mode for maximum compatibility.

{
  "display": {
    "charset": "unicode"
  }
}

Options:

• unicode (default) - Uses Nerd Font icons and symbols (⎇, ✱, ●, ↑, ↓, etc.)
• text - ASCII-only characters (~, M, *, ^, v, etc.) for terminals without Nerd Font

Combinations with styles:

The charset setting works independently from separator styles, giving you 6 possible combinations:

• minimal + unicode / text - No separators
• powerline + unicode / text - Arrow separators (requires Nerd Font for unicode)
• capsule + unicode / text - Rounded caps (requires Nerd Font for unicode)

CLI Usage:

claude-powerline --charset=text --style=minimal
claude-powerline --charset=unicode --style=powerline

Multi-line Layout

Prevent segment cutoff by organizing segments across multiple lines.

{
  "display": {
    "lines": [
      {
        "segments": {
          "directory": { "enabled": true },
          "git": { "enabled": true },
          "model": { "enabled": true }
        }
      },
      {
        "segments": {
          "session": { "enabled": true },
          "today": { "enabled": true },
          "context": { "enabled": true }
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Note

Claude Code system messages may truncate long status lines. Multi-line layouts prevent segment cutoff and improve readability.

Colors & Themes

Create custom themes and configure color compatibility:

{
  "theme": "custom",
  "display": {
    "colorCompatibility": "auto"
  },
  "colors": {
    "custom": {
      "directory": { "bg": "#ff6600", "fg": "#ffffff" },
      "git": { "bg": "#0066cc", "fg": "#ffffff" },
      "session": { "bg": "#cc0099", "fg": "#ffffff" }
    }
  }
}

Color Options: bg (hex, transparent, none) • fg (hex)

Compatibility Modes: auto (default), ansi, ansi256, truecolor

Environment Variables:

• NO_COLOR - Disable all colors when set to any non-empty value (follows NO_COLOR standard)
• FORCE_COLOR - Force enable color output (follows FORCE_COLOR standard):
  • 0 or false - Disable colors
  • 1 or true - Force basic 16 colors (ANSI)
  • 2 - Force 256 colors
  • 3 - Force truecolor (16 million colors)
  • Any other non-empty value - Force basic colors
• COLORTERM - Auto-detected for truecolor support

Priority: FORCE_COLOR overrides NO_COLOR (allowing color to be forced on even when NO_COLOR is set)

Performance

Execution times for different configurations:

• ~80ms default config (directory, git, model, session, today, context)
• ~240ms full-featured (all segments enabled)

Detailed Segment Timings

Segment	Timing	Notes
directory	~40ms	No external commands
model	~40ms	Uses hook data
session	~40ms	Minimal transcript parsing
context	~40ms	Hook data calculation
metrics	~40ms	Transcript analysis
git	~60ms	No caching for fresh data
tmux	~50ms	Environment check + command
block	~180ms	5-hour window transcript load
today	~250ms	Full daily transcript load (cached: ~50ms)
version	~40ms	Uses hook data

Benchmark: npm run benchmark:timing

Optimization Tips

• Global install: npm install -g to avoid npx overhead
• Disable unused segments for faster execution
• Cache cleanup: Remove ~/.claude/powerline/ if needed

Custom Segments

Extend the statusline using shell composition:

{
  "statusLine": {
    "type": "command",
    "command": "npx -y @owloops/claude-powerline && echo \" $(date +%H:%M)\"",
    "padding": 0
  }
}

Note

Use tput for colors: setab <bg> (background), setaf <fg> (foreground), sgr0 (reset). Example: echo "$(tput setab 4)$(tput setaf 15) text $(tput sgr0)". For complex logic, create a shell script with multiple commands, conditions, and variables.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues or pull requests.

See CONTRIBUTORS.md for people who have contributed outside of GitHub PRs.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.