clu-widget 2.2.0

Claude Usage Monitor — terminal widget and dashboard for tracking Claude Code usage

clu - Claude Usage Monitor

A terminal tool that monitors your Claude Code usage — from a cute animated widget to a full per-project dashboard.

What it does

Widget mode (default) — the original cute clu:

• 5-hour and 7-day sliding window usage with progress bars
• Reset countdowns for each window
• Token counts for the current period
• A little animated creature to keep you company

Dashboard mode (--dash) — full terminal dashboard:

• Everything from widget mode, plus:
• Per-project token breakdown with smart project names (parsed from local Claude Code data)
• Real-time utilization chart (live 5h usage over time)
• Session history with duration, message count, and model used
• Cache hit rate and efficiency metrics
• Daily token sparkline (14-day trend)
• Model usage breakdown
• External/untracked usage estimation (percentage of rate limit)
• Multi-source support (local + HPC + any synced .claude directory)

Installation

# Install from PyPI
pip install clu-widget

# Or install from source
git clone https://github.com/hsantanna/clu.git
cd clu
pip install .

Usage

# Widget mode — cute animated companion
clu

# Dashboard mode — full terminal dashboard
clu --dash

# Include data from a remote machine (e.g. HPC)
clu --dash --data-dir ~/hpc-sync/.claude

# Multiple remote sources
clu --dash --data-dir ~/hpc-sync/.claude --data-dir ~/server-sync/.claude

# Custom refresh interval
clu --refresh 60

# Don't resize the terminal window
clu --no-resize

# Pass a token directly
clu --token sk-ant-...

Options

Flag	Description
--dash	Full-terminal dashboard with per-project stats
--data-dir PATH	Additional .claude data directory (repeatable)
--refresh N	API refresh interval in seconds (default: 60)
--window N	Time window for sessions/projects: 5, 15, or 24 hours (default: 5)
--no-resize	Don't resize the terminal window
--token TOKEN	Override OAuth token

Using with HPC / Remote Machines

The dashboard reads local Claude Code conversation data from ~/.claude/projects/. If you run Claude Code on an HPC or remote server, you can sync that data to see it locally:

# Sync from HPC (run periodically or via cron)
rsync -az hpc:~/.claude/ ~/hpc-sync/.claude/

# Then view everything together
clu --dash --data-dir ~/hpc-sync/.claude

The API usage (5h/7d windows) is account-level — it shows all usage regardless of where Claude Code runs. The per-project breakdown comes from local JSONL files, so those need to be synced from remote machines.

Token Resolution

clu automatically finds your Claude Code OAuth token by checking (in order):

1. CLAUDE_TOKEN environment variable
2. macOS Keychain (multiple known service names)
3. Credential JSON files (~/.claude/.credentials.json, etc.)

If you've used Claude Code at least once, it should just work.

Requirements

• Python 3.9+
• rich - terminal formatting
• requests - HTTP client

Changelog

v2.2.0

Dashboard UX improvements and smarter project naming.

• Live retry countdown: rate limit errors now show a ticking countdown instead of a static message
• Cached data persists: usage bars stay visible during API errors instead of being replaced by error text
• Softer backoff: max retry capped at 120s (was 300s)
• Confused mascot: creature reacts appropriately during errors ("ugh, hold on...", "waiting...")
• Time window filter: sessions and projects panels filter to last 5h by default, configurable via --window (5, 15, or 24 hours)
• Smart project names: filesystem-aware leaf folder detection — bad-controls becomes "Bad Controls" instead of "Professor Research Bad Controls"
• Better layout: right panels (stats/sessions) get more horizontal space
• Active indicator: green arrow only appears on sessions active in the last 5 minutes

v2.1.1

Clean exit on Ctrl+C — no more traceback or errno 130 when installed via pip/pipx.

v2.1.0

Mascot redesign and rate limit handling.

• New pixel-art mascot: chunky background-colored sprite matching Claude Code's style — no more line-gap rendering artifacts
• Animated eyes: mascot blinks with ^ ^ eyes periodically and during bounce animations
• Antenna: cute violet *| antenna on top of the mascot
• 429 rate limit handling: respects Retry-After header from the API with exponential backoff
• Default refresh interval: increased from 30s to 60s to reduce API rate limiting

v2.0.0

Full dashboard mode with per-project analytics.

• Dashboard mode (--dash): full-terminal layout with hero panel, stats, projects, sessions, and live chart
• Smart project names: directory paths are parsed into human-readable names with title casing and acronym detection (e.g. sis-employment becomes SIS Employment)
• Per-project breakdown: ranked list of projects by token usage with proportional bars, session counts, and last-active timestamps
• Session history: recent sessions with message count, token usage, model, duration, and time ago
• Live utilization chart: real-time ASCII bar chart tracking 5h utilization over time with color-coded thresholds (green/amber/orange/red)
• External usage estimation: detects untracked usage from other devices as a percentage of rate limit capacity
• Daily sparkline: 14-day token usage trend with directional indicator
• Cache hit rate: shows cache efficiency as a percentage of total token volume
• Model breakdown: per-model token usage stats
• Multi-source data: --data-dir flag to include synced .claude directories from remote machines (HPC, servers)
• Stats panel: cost estimate, daily averages, cache hit rate, model split, and sparkline in a dedicated panel

v1.0.0

Initial release — cute terminal widget.

• 5h and 7d utilization bars with reset countdowns
• Animated ASCII creature with mood based on usage level
• Automatic OAuth token discovery (Keychain, credential files, env var)
• Auto-refresh with configurable interval

License

MIT