🎯 Claude Code Usage Monitor

A privacy-first Claude Usage-Ops companion for Claude Code. It combines a Rich live terminal monitor with official statusline rate_limits, machine-readable state/export output, provenance labels, forecasting, and an opt-in local usage warehouse.

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📑 Table of Contents

• ✨ Key Features
• 🚀 Installation
  • ⚡ Modern Installation with uv (Recommended)
  • 📦 Installation with pip
  • 🛠️ Other Package Managers
• 📖 Usage
  • Get Help
  • Basic Usage
  • Configuration Options
  • Available Plans
• 🙏 Please Help Test This Release!
• ✨ Features & How It Works
  • Current Features
  • Understanding Claude Sessions
  • Token Limits by Plan
  • Smart Detection Features
• 🚀 Usage Examples
  • Common Scenarios
  • Best Practices
• 🔧 Development Installation
• Troubleshooting
  • Installation Issues
  • Runtime Issues
• 📞 Contact
• Related Tools
• 📚 Additional Documentation
• 📝 License
• 🤝 Contributors
• 🙏 Acknowledgments

✨ Key Features

🚀 v4.0.0 Major Update - Usage Ops Companion

• 🔎 Official-limit trust layer - --statusline captures Claude Code's official rate_limits; stale or expired captures fall back to labeled local estimates.
• 📦 Machine-readable protocol - --once, --compact, and --write-state all use one versioned snapshot builder with automation exit codes.
• 🏷️ Provenance labels - exported and displayed numbers distinguish official, local_estimate, experimental, and unknown confidence.
• 📈 Persistent usage warehouse - opt-in local history survives Claude's 30-day cleanup with project/model/day dimensions and CSV/JSON reports.
• 🧭 Forecasting and pace - reset-aware pace, date-context forecasts, official-only weekly percentages, and limit-hit freeze behavior.
• 🧩 Multi-source input - --data-paths, CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR, and WSL discovery can scan multiple directories without merging unrelated accounts into one 5-hour window.
• 🖥️ Rich UI parity - live Rich output, rich one-shot output, compact output, state files, and exports use the same snapshot contract.
• 🧰 External companion boundary - GUIs, trays, provider adapters, and status bars should consume --write-state or --once --output json.
• 🧪 Regression coverage - the non-integration suite now covers the trust layer, state protocol, warehouse, reports, title updates, multi-source paths, and timezone edge cases.

📋 Default Custom Plan

The Custom plan is now the default option, specifically designed for 5-hour Claude Code sessions. It monitors three critical metrics:

• Token usage - Tracks your token consumption
• Messages usage - Monitors message count
• Cost usage - The most important metric for long sessions

The Custom plan automatically adapts to your usage patterns by analyzing all your sessions from the last 192 hours (8 days) and calculating personalized limits based on your actual usage. This ensures accurate predictions and warnings tailored to your specific workflow.

🚀 Installation

⚡ Modern Installation with uv (Recommended)

Why uv is the best choice:

• ✅ Creates isolated environments automatically (no system conflicts)
• ✅ No Python version issues
• ✅ No "externally-managed-environment" errors
• ✅ Easy updates and uninstallation
• ✅ Works on all platforms

The fastest and easiest way to install and use the monitor:

Install from PyPI

# Install directly from PyPI with uv (easiest)
uv tool install claude-monitor

# Run from anywhere
claude-monitor  # or cmonitor, ccmonitor for short

Install from Source

# Clone and install from source
git clone https://github.com/Maciek-roboblog/Claude-Code-Usage-Monitor.git
cd Claude-Code-Usage-Monitor
uv tool install .

# Run from anywhere
claude-monitor

First-time uv users

If you don't have uv installed yet, get it with one command:

# On Linux/macOS:
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# On Windows:
powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"

# After installation, restart your terminal

📦 Installation with pip

# Install from PyPI
pip install claude-monitor

# If claude-monitor command is not found, add ~/.local/bin to PATH:
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc  # or restart your terminal

# Run from anywhere
claude-monitor  # or cmonitor, ccmonitor for short

⚠️ PATH Setup: If you see WARNING: The script claude-monitor is installed in '/home/username/.local/bin' which is not on PATH, follow the export PATH command above.

⚠️ Important: On modern Linux distributions (Ubuntu 23.04+, Debian 12+, Fedora 38+), you may encounter an "externally-managed-environment" error. Instead of using --break-system-packages, we strongly recommend:

1. Use uv instead (see above) - it's safer and easier
2. Use a virtual environment - python3 -m venv myenv && source myenv/bin/activate
3. Use pipx - pipx install claude-monitor

See the Troubleshooting section for detailed solutions.

🛠️ Other Package Managers

pipx (Isolated Environments)

# Install with pipx
pipx install claude-monitor

# Run from anywhere
claude-monitor  # or claude-code-monitor, cmonitor, ccmonitor, ccm for short

conda/mamba

# Install with pip in conda environment
pip install claude-monitor

# Run from anywhere
claude-monitor  # or cmonitor, ccmonitor for short

📖 Usage

Get Help

# Show help information
claude-monitor --help

Available Command-Line Parameters

Plan Options

Command Aliases

The tool can be invoked using any of these commands:

• claude-monitor (primary)
• claude-code-monitor (full name)
• cmonitor (short)
• ccmonitor (short alternative)
• ccm (shortest)

Save Flags Feature

The monitor automatically saves your preferences to avoid re-specifying them on each run:

What Gets Saved:

• View type (--view)
• Plan (--plan)
• Theme preferences (--theme)
• Timezone settings (--timezone)
• Time format (--time-format)
• Refresh rates (--refresh-rate, --refresh-per-second)
• Reset hour (--reset-hour)
• Custom token limits (--custom-limit-tokens)

Configuration Location: ~/.claude-monitor/last_used.json

Usage Examples:

# First run - specify preferences
claude-monitor --plan pro --theme dark --timezone "America/New_York"

# Subsequent runs - preferences automatically restored
claude-monitor --plan pro

# Override saved settings for this session
claude-monitor --plan pro --theme light

# Clear all saved preferences
claude-monitor --clear

Key Features:

• ✅ Automatic parameter persistence between sessions
• ✅ CLI arguments always override saved settings
• ✅ Atomic file operations prevent corruption
• ✅ Graceful fallback if config files are damaged
• ✅ Plan is saved and restored between sessions (override any time with --plan)
• ✅ An explicitly chosen theme is kept and not overwritten by auto-detection

Basic Usage

With uv tool installation (Recommended)

# Default (Custom plan with auto-detection)
claude-monitor

# Alternative commands
claude-code-monitor  # Full descriptive name
cmonitor             # Short alias
ccmonitor            # Short alternative
ccm                  # Shortest alias

# Exit the monitor
# Press Ctrl+C to gracefully exit

Development mode

If running from source, use python -m claude_monitor from the src/ directory.

Machine-readable Usage Protocol

Use these surfaces when another tool needs current usage without scraping the Rich TUI:

# One-shot JSON snapshot with source/confidence/provenance fields
claude-monitor --once --output json

# Compact one-line status output
claude-monitor --once --compact

# Keep an atomically-written state file up to date for status bars and dashboards
claude-monitor --write-state --state-file ~/.claude-monitor/state/latest.json

# Install as a Claude Code statusline hook to capture official rate_limits
claude-monitor --statusline

--once exits with automation-friendly codes: 0 ok, 10 near limit, 11 limit hit, 20 indeterminate/no active session, and 30 no data or config error. When official statusline data is fresh it wins; otherwise the snapshot falls back to a labeled local estimate.

Persistent Usage Warehouse

The warehouse is opt-in and local-only. It stores versioned records by source, account, project, model, and day so history can outlive Claude's 30-day cleanup.

# Start persisting usage locally
claude-monitor --warehouse

# Export warehouse-backed entries as JSON
claude-monitor --warehouse --view entries --output json

# Export session percentiles and burn-rate reports as CSV
claude-monitor --warehouse --view sessions --output csv
claude-monitor --warehouse --view burn-rate --output csv

Configuration Options

Specify Your Plan

# Custom plan with P90 auto-detection (Default)
claude-monitor --plan custom

# Pro plan (~44,000 tokens)
claude-monitor --plan pro

# Max5 plan (~88,000 tokens)
claude-monitor --plan max5

# Max20 plan (~220,000 tokens)
claude-monitor --plan max20

# Custom plan with explicit token limit
claude-monitor --plan custom --custom-limit-tokens 100000

Custom Reset Times

# Reset at 3 AM
claude-monitor --reset-hour 3

# Reset at 10 PM
claude-monitor --reset-hour 22

Usage View Configuration

# Real-time monitoring with live updates (Default)
claude-monitor --view realtime

# Daily token usage aggregated in table format
claude-monitor --view daily

# Monthly token usage aggregated in table format
claude-monitor --view monthly

Performance and Display Configuration

# Adjust refresh rate (1-60 seconds, default: 10)
claude-monitor --refresh-rate 5

# Adjust display refresh rate (0.1-20 Hz, default: 0.75)
claude-monitor --refresh-per-second 1.0

# Set time format (auto-detected by default)
claude-monitor --time-format 24h  # or 12h

# Force specific theme
claude-monitor --theme dark  # light, dark, classic, auto

# Clear saved configuration
claude-monitor --clear

Timezone Configuration

The default timezone is auto-detected from your system. Override with any valid timezone:

# Use US Eastern Time
claude-monitor --timezone America/New_York

# Use Tokyo time
claude-monitor --timezone Asia/Tokyo

# Use UTC
claude-monitor --timezone UTC

# Use London time
claude-monitor --timezone Europe/London

Logging and Debugging

# Enable debug logging
claude-monitor --debug

# Log to file
claude-monitor --log-file ~/.claude-monitor/logs/monitor.log

# Set log level
claude-monitor --log-level WARNING  # DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, CRITICAL

Available Plans

Advanced Plan Features

• P90 Analysis: Custom plan uses 90th percentile calculations from your usage history
• Cost Tracking: Model-specific pricing with cache token calculations
• Limit Detection: Intelligent threshold detection with 95% confidence

🚀 What's New in v4.0.0

Major Changes

Usage Ops Companion

• Official Claude Code statusline rate_limits are treated as the live source of truth when fresh.
• Every non-official number is labeled by provenance and confidence instead of being rendered as truth.
• Machine consumers get one stable snapshot contract through --once, --compact, and --write-state.
• Opt-in warehouse reports expose durable history, percentiles, burn-rate rows, and estimate-labeled plan recommendations.

Enhanced Functionality

• Pace and Forecast: Reset-aware pace labels, date-context forecasts, and limit-hit freeze behavior.
• Official Weekly: Seven-day percentages render only from official statusline data.
• Multi-source Paths: Multiple Claude data directories are deduplicated and source/account tagged.
• Cost Analytics: Current Anthropic pricing, cache token support, and unknown pricing for non-Anthropic routed models.

New CLI Options

• --statusline: Capture official Claude Code rate_limits.
• --once, --compact, --output json|text|csv: Script-friendly snapshot/report output.
• --write-state, --state-file: Atomic state files for companion tools.
• --warehouse, --warehouse-file, --warehouse-retention-days: Durable local usage history.
• --data-paths: Scan multiple Claude data directories without collapsing them.
• --filter-models anthropic: Exclude routed non-Claude models from Claude limit math.
• --set-terminal-title, --title-format: Snapshot-based terminal title updates.
• --no-header, --no-emoji, --hide-model-distribution: Glanceable display controls.

Breaking Changes

• v4 formalizes the snapshot schema and trust-layer semantics for companion tools.
• Package name remains claude-monitor; Python 3.9+ is still required.

✨ Features & How It Works

v4.0.0 Architecture Overview

The new version features a complete rewrite with modular architecture following Single Responsibility Principle (SRP):

🖥️ User Interface Layer

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🎛️ Monitoring Orchestrator

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🏗️ Foundation Layer

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🔄 Data Flow: Claude Config Files → Data Layer → Analysis Engine → UI Components → Terminal Display

Current Features

🔄 Advanced Real-time Monitoring

• Configurable update intervals (1-60 seconds)
• High-precision display refresh (0.1-20 Hz)
• Intelligent change detection to minimize CPU usage
• Multi-threaded orchestration with callback system

📊 Rich UI Components

• Progress Bars: WCAG-compliant color schemes with scientific contrast ratios
• Data Tables: Sortable columns with model-specific statistics
• Layout Manager: Responsive design that adapts to terminal size
• Theme System: Auto-detects terminal background for optimal readability

📈 Multiple Usage Views

• Realtime View (Default): Live monitoring with progress bars, current session data, and burn rate analysis
• Daily View: Aggregated daily statistics showing Date, Models, Input/Output/Cache tokens, Total tokens, and Cost
• Monthly View: Monthly aggregated data for long-term trend analysis and budget planning

🔮 Machine Learning Predictions

• P90 Calculator: 90th percentile analysis for intelligent limit detection
• Burn Rate Analytics: Multi-session consumption pattern analysis
• Cost Projections: Model-specific pricing with cache token calculations
• Session Forecasting: Predicts when sessions will expire based on usage patterns

🤖 Intelligent Auto-Detection

• Background Detection: Automatically determines terminal theme (light/dark)
• System Integration: Auto-detects timezone and time format preferences
• Plan Recognition: Analyzes usage patterns to suggest optimal plans
• Limit Discovery: Scans historical data to find actual token limits

Understanding Claude Sessions

How Claude Code Sessions Work

Claude Code operates on a 5-hour rolling session window system:

1. Session Start: Begins with your first message to Claude
2. Session Duration: Lasts exactly 5 hours from that first message
3. Token Limits: Apply within each 5-hour session window
4. Multiple Sessions: Can have several active sessions simultaneously
5. Rolling Windows: New sessions can start while others are still active

Session Reset Schedule

Example Session Timeline: 10:30 AM - First message (Session A starts at 10 AM) 03:00 PM - Session A expires (5 hours later)

12:15 PM - First message (Session B starts 12PM) 05:15 PM - Session B expires (5 hours later 5PM)

Burn Rate Calculation

The monitor calculates burn rate using sophisticated analysis:

1. Data Collection: Gathers token usage from all sessions in the last hour
2. Pattern Analysis: Identifies consumption trends across overlapping sessions
3. Velocity Tracking: Calculates tokens consumed per minute
4. Prediction Engine: Estimates when current session tokens will deplete
5. Real-time Updates: Adjusts predictions as usage patterns change

Token Limits by Plan

v4.0.0 Plan Limits and Labels

Advanced Limit Detection

• P90 Analysis: Uses 90th percentile of your historical usage
• Confidence Threshold: 95% accuracy in limit detection
• Cache Support: Includes cache creation and read token costs
• Model-Specific: Adapts to Claude 3.5, Claude 4, and future models

Technical Requirements

Dependencies (v4.0.0)

# Core dependencies (automatically installed)
pytz>=2023.3                # Timezone handling
rich>=13.7.0                # Rich terminal UI
pydantic>=2.0.0             # Type validation
pydantic-settings>=2.0.0    # Configuration management
numpy>=1.21.0               # Statistical calculations
pyyaml>=6.0                 # Configuration files
tomli>=1.2.0                # pyproject fallback on Python <3.11
tzdata                      # Windows timezone data
tzlocal>=5.0                # Windows local timezone to IANA resolver
wcwidth>=0.2.13             # Terminal display-width calculation

Python Requirements

• Minimum: Python 3.9+
• Recommended: Python 3.11+
• Tested on: Python 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13

Smart Detection Features

Automatic Plan Switching

When using the default Pro plan:

1. Detection: Monitor notices token usage exceeding 7,000
2. Analysis: Scans previous sessions for actual limits
3. Switch: Automatically changes to custom_max mode
4. Notification: Displays clear message about the change
5. Continuation: Keeps monitoring with new, higher limit

Limit Discovery Process

The auto-detection system:

1. Scans History: Examines all available session blocks
2. Finds Peaks: Identifies highest token usage achieved
3. Validates Data: Ensures data quality and recency
4. Sets Limits: Uses discovered maximum as new limit
5. Learns Patterns: Adapts to your actual usage capabilities

🚀 Usage Examples

Common Scenarios

🌅 Morning Developer

Scenario: You start work at 9 AM and want tokens to reset aligned with your schedule.

# Set custom reset time to 9 AM
./claude_monitor.py --reset-hour 9

# With your timezone
./claude_monitor.py --reset-hour 9 --timezone US/Eastern

Benefits:

• Reset times align with your work schedule
• Better planning for daily token allocation
• Predictable session windows

🌙 Night Owl Coder

Scenario: You often work past midnight and need flexible reset scheduling.

# Reset at midnight for clean daily boundaries
./claude_monitor.py --reset-hour 0

# Late evening reset (11 PM)
./claude_monitor.py --reset-hour 23

Strategy:

• Plan heavy coding sessions around reset times
• Use late resets to span midnight work sessions
• Monitor burn rate during peak hours

🔄 Heavy User with Variable Limits

Scenario: Your token limits seem to change, and you're not sure of your exact plan.

# Auto-detect your highest previous usage
claude-monitor --plan custom_max

# Monitor with custom scheduling
claude-monitor --plan custom_max --reset-hour 6

Approach:

• Let auto-detection find your real limits
• Monitor for a week to understand patterns
• Note when limits change or reset

🌍 International User

Scenario: You're working across different timezones or traveling.

# US East Coast
claude-monitor --timezone America/New_York

# Europe
claude-monitor --timezone Europe/London

# Asia Pacific
claude-monitor --timezone Asia/Singapore

# UTC for international team coordination
claude-monitor --timezone UTC --reset-hour 12

⚡ Quick Check

Scenario: You just want to see current status without configuration.

# Just run it with defaults
claude-monitor

# Press Ctrl+C after checking status

📊 Usage Analysis Views

Scenario: Analyzing your token usage patterns over different time periods.

# View daily usage breakdown with detailed statistics
claude-monitor --view daily

# Analyze monthly token consumption trends
claude-monitor --view monthly --plan max20

# Export daily usage data to log file for analysis
claude-monitor --view daily --log-file ~/daily-usage.log

# Review usage in different timezone
claude-monitor --view daily --timezone America/New_York

Use Cases:

• Realtime: Live monitoring of current session and burn rate
• Daily: Analyze daily consumption patterns and identify peak usage days
• Monthly: Long-term trend analysis and monthly budget planning

Plan Selection Strategies

How to Choose Your Plan

Start with Default (Recommended for New Users)

# Pro plan detection with auto-switching
claude-monitor

• Monitor will detect if you exceed Pro limits
• Automatically switches to custom_max if needed
• Shows notification when switching occurs

Known Subscription Users

# If you know you have Max5
claude-monitor --plan max5

# If you know you have Max20
claude-monitor --plan max20

Unknown Limits

# Auto-detect from previous usage
claude-monitor --plan custom_max

Best Practices

Setup Best Practices

1. Start Early in Sessions

   # Begin monitoring when starting Claude work (uv installation)
   claude-monitor

   # Or development mode
   ./claude_monitor.py

• Gives accurate session tracking from the start
• Better burn rate calculations
• Early warning for limit approaches

2. Use Modern Installation (Recommended)

   # Easy installation and updates with uv
   uv tool install claude-monitor
   claude-monitor --plan max5

• Clean system installation
• Easy updates and maintenance
• Available from anywhere

3. Custom Shell Alias (Legacy Setup)

   # Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc (only for development setup)
   alias claude-monitor='cd ~/Claude-Code-Usage-Monitor && source venv/bin/activate && ./claude_monitor.py'

Usage Best Practices

1. Monitor Burn Rate Velocity

   • Watch for sudden spikes in token consumption
   • Adjust coding intensity based on remaining time
   • Plan big refactors around session resets

2. Strategic Session Planning

   # Plan heavy usage around reset times
   claude-monitor --reset-hour 9

• Schedule large tasks after resets
• Use lighter tasks when approaching limits
• Leverage multiple overlapping sessions

3. Timezone Awareness

   # Always use your actual timezone
   claude-monitor --timezone Europe/Warsaw

• Accurate reset time predictions
• Better planning for work schedules
• Correct session expiration estimates

Optimization Tips

1. Terminal Setup

   • Use terminals with at least 80 character width
   • Enable color support for better visual feedback (check COLORTERM environment variable)
   • Consider dedicated terminal window for monitoring
   • Use terminals with truecolor support for best theme experience

2. Workflow Integration

   # Start monitoring with your development session (uv installation)
   tmux new-session -d -s claude-monitor 'claude-monitor'

   # Or development mode
   tmux new-session -d -s claude-monitor './claude_monitor.py'

   # Check status anytime
   tmux attach -t claude-monitor

3. Multi-Session Strategy
   • Remember sessions last exactly 5 hours
   • You can have multiple overlapping sessions
   • Plan work across session boundaries

Real-World Workflows

Large Project Development

# Setup for sustained development
claude-monitor --plan max20 --reset-hour 8 --timezone America/New_York

Daily Routine:

1. 8:00 AM: Fresh tokens, start major features
2. 10:00 AM: Check burn rate, adjust intensity
3. 12:00 PM: Monitor for afternoon session planning
4. 2:00 PM: New session window, tackle complex problems
5. 4:00 PM: Light tasks, prepare for evening session

Learning & Experimentation

# Flexible setup for learning
claude-monitor --plan pro

Sprint Development

# High-intensity development setup
claude-monitor --plan max20 --reset-hour 6

🔧 Development Installation

For contributors and developers who want to work with the source code:

Quick Start (Development/Testing)

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Maciek-roboblog/Claude-Code-Usage-Monitor.git
cd Claude-Code-Usage-Monitor

# Install in development mode
pip install -e .

# Run from source
python -m claude_monitor

v4.0.0 Testing Features

The new version includes a comprehensive test suite:

• 700+ non-integration tests across the snapshot, trust-layer, warehouse, UI, and timezone paths
• Unit tests for all components
• Integration tests for end-to-end workflows
• Performance tests with benchmarking
• Mock objects for isolated testing

# Run tests
cd src/
python -m pytest

# Run with coverage
python -m pytest --cov=claude_monitor --cov-report=html

# Run specific test modules
python -m pytest tests/test_analysis.py -v

Prerequisites

1. Python 3.9+ installed on your system
2. Git for cloning the repository

Virtual Environment Setup

Why Use Virtual Environment?

Using a virtual environment is strongly recommended because:

• 🛡️ Isolation: Keeps your system Python clean and prevents dependency conflicts
• 📦 Portability: Easy to replicate the exact environment on different machines
• 🔄 Version Control: Lock specific versions of dependencies for stability
• 🧹 Clean Uninstall: Simply delete the virtual environment folder to remove everything
• 👥 Team Collaboration: Everyone uses the same Python and package versions

Installing virtualenv (if needed)

If you don't have venv module available:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python3-venv

# Fedora/RHEL/CentOS
sudo dnf install python3-venv

# macOS (usually comes with Python)
# If not available, install Python via Homebrew:
brew install python3

# Windows (usually comes with Python)
# If not available, reinstall Python from python.org
# Make sure to check "Add Python to PATH" during installation

Alternatively, use the virtualenv package:

# Install virtualenv via pip
pip install virtualenv

# Then create virtual environment with:
virtualenv venv
# instead of: python3 -m venv venv

Step-by-Step Setup

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Maciek-roboblog/Claude-Code-Usage-Monitor.git
cd Claude-Code-Usage-Monitor

# 2. Create virtual environment
python3 -m venv venv
# Or if using virtualenv package:
# virtualenv venv

# 3. Activate virtual environment
# On Linux/Mac:
source venv/bin/activate
# On Windows:
# venv\Scripts\activate

# 4. Install Python dependencies
pip install pytz
pip install rich>=13.0.0
# 5. Make script executable (Linux/Mac only)
chmod +x claude_monitor.py

# 6. Run the monitor
python claude_monitor.py

Daily Usage

After initial setup, you only need:

# Navigate to project directory
cd Claude-Code-Usage-Monitor

# Activate virtual environment
source venv/bin/activate  # Linux/Mac
# venv\Scripts\activate   # Windows

# Run monitor
./claude_monitor.py  # Linux/Mac
# python claude_monitor.py  # Windows

# When done, deactivate
deactivate

Pro Tip: Shell Alias

Create an alias for quick access:

# Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
alias claude-monitor='cd ~/Claude-Code-Usage-Monitor && source venv/bin/activate && ./claude_monitor.py'

# Then just run:
claude-monitor

Troubleshooting

Installation Issues

"externally-managed-environment" Error

On modern Linux distributions (Ubuntu 23.04+, Debian 12+, Fedora 38+), you may encounter:

error: externally-managed-environment
× This environment is externally managed

Solutions (in order of preference):

1. Use uv (Recommended)

   # Install uv first
   curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

   # Then install with uv
   uv tool install claude-monitor

2. Use pipx (Isolated Environment)

   # Install pipx
   sudo apt install pipx  # Ubuntu/Debian
   # or
   python3 -m pip install --user pipx

   # Install claude-monitor
   pipx install claude-monitor

3. Use virtual environment

   python3 -m venv myenv
   source myenv/bin/activate
   pip install claude-monitor

4. Force installation (Not Recommended)

   pip install --user claude-monitor --break-system-packages

⚠️ Warning: This bypasses system protection and may cause conflicts. We strongly recommend using a virtual environment instead.

Command Not Found After pip Install

If claude-monitor command is not found after pip installation:

1. Check if it's a PATH issue

   # Look for the warning message during pip install:
   # WARNING: The script claude-monitor is installed in '/home/username/.local/bin' which is not on PATH

2. Add to PATH

   # Add this to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
   echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc

   # Reload shell
   source ~/.bashrc  # or source ~/.zshrc

3. Verify installation location

   # Find where pip installed the script
   pip show -f claude-monitor | grep claude-monitor

4. Run directly with Python

   python3 -m claude_monitor

Python Version Conflicts

If you have multiple Python versions:

1. Check Python version

   python3 --version
   pip3 --version

2. Use specific Python version

   python3.11 -m pip install claude-monitor
   python3.11 -m claude_monitor

3. Use uv (handles Python versions automatically)

   uv tool install claude-monitor

Runtime Issues

No active session found

If you encounter the error No active session found, please follow these steps:

1. Initial Test: Launch Claude Code and send at least two messages. In some cases, the session may not initialize correctly on the first attempt, but it resolves after a few interactions.

2. Configuration Path: If the issue persists, consider specifying a custom configuration path. By default, Claude Code uses ~/.config/claude. You may need to adjust this path depending on your environment.

CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=~/.config/claude ./claude_monitor.py

Related Tools

Claude Monitor stays a CLI-first, privacy-first core. GUIs, tray apps, hardware dashboards, and provider adapters belong in separate repositories; they should consume the state/export protocol through --write-state or --once --output json instead of parsing the Rich TUI or reimplementing the analyzer.

# Long-running file for status bars, tray apps, and dashboards
claude-monitor --write-state --state-file ~/.claude-monitor/state/latest.json

# One-shot JSON for hooks and scripts
claude-monitor --once --output json

Companion Displays

• Headroom: menu bar companion that reads Claude Code statusline output and focuses on official 5-hour and 7-day utilization.
• claude-statusbar: lightweight status bar display for terminal and IDE integrations.
• claude-monitor-cyd: ESP32 physical dashboard for local usage telemetry.
• Claude Code Usage Tracker: desktop usage tracker inspired by this project.
• Native menu bar and system tray apps are welcome as separate companion projects that consume the state file; they are not bundled into this Python package.

Provider and Adapter Boundary

Claude Monitor's built-in limit window is the Claude Code subscription quota. OpenCode, LiteLLM, Gemini/Qwen, z.ai, Bedrock, and other provider data should be modeled as separate source adapters with their own source.kind. Adapters should default to Claude Code data unless the user explicitly selects another source, and they must not auto-merge OpenCode/API/provider entries into the Claude 5-hour subscription window.

For Cursor and Claude Desktop there is no local usage/limit signal comparable to Claude Code's JSONL logs or statusline rate_limits, so they are out of scope for built-in live limit tracking unless such a signal becomes available.

📞 Contact

Have questions, suggestions, or want to collaborate? Feel free to reach out!

📧 Email: maciek@roboblog.eu

Whether you need help with setup, have feature requests, found a bug, or want to discuss potential improvements, don't hesitate to get in touch. I'm always happy to help and hear from users of the Claude Code Usage Monitor!

📚 Additional Documentation

• Development Roadmap - ML features, PyPI package, Docker plans
• Contributing Guide - How to contribute, development guidelines
• Troubleshooting - Common issues and solutions

📝 License

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

🤝 Contributors

• @adawalli
• @taylorwilsdon
• @moneroexamples

Want to contribute? Check out our Contributing Guide!

🙏 Acknowledgments

Sponsors

A special thanks to our supporters who help keep this project going:

Ed - Buy Me Coffee Supporter

"I appreciate sharing your work with the world. It helps keep me on track with my day. Quality readme, and really good stuff all around!"

Star History

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