Show the model and context usage in the Claude Code status line

Claude Code pipes session data as JSON into your script's stdin and shows whatever the script prints to stdout below the prompt. It runs locally and uses no API tokens. For what happens when the context fills up, see Context limits and compact.

[1] Check that jq is installed. The script below uses it to read the JSON.

$ jq --versionjq-1.7

[2] Save the script as ~/.claude/statusline.sh. It prints the model display name, the folder name and context usage on one line.

#!/bin/bash# status line: [model] folder | context bar NN% (size)command -v jq >/dev/null || { echo "statusline: jq not found"; exit 0; }input=$(cat) MODEL=$(jq -r '.model.display_name // "?"' <<< "$input")DIR=$(jq -r '.workspace.current_dir // .cwd // ""' <<< "$input")PCT=$(jq -r '.context_window.used_percentage // 0 | floor' <<< "$input")SIZE=$(jq -r '.context_window.context_window_size // 0' <<< "$input") # non-numeric becomes 0, clamp to 0-100case "$PCT" in ''|*[!0-9]*) PCT=0 ;; esac[ "$PCT" -gt 100 ] && PCT=100 W=10FILLED=$((PCT * W / 100))BAR=""for ((i = 0; i < W; i++)); do  if [ "$i" -lt "$FILLED" ]; then BAR+="▓"; else BAR+="░"; fidone if [ "$SIZE" -ge 1000000 ]; then SZ="$((SIZE / 1000000))M"; else SZ="$((SIZE / 1000))k"; fiecho "[$MODEL] ${DIR##*/} | $BAR ${PCT}% of $SZ"

// 0 is the fallback when a value is null or missing. Early in a session used_percentage can be null, so the line is needed. ${DIR##*/} keeps only the last folder of the path.

[3] Make it executable.

$ chmod +x ~/.claude/statusline.sh

[4] Feed it sample JSON before starting Claude Code. The field names match the schema in the official docs.

$ echo '{"model":{"display_name":"Opus"},"workspace":{"current_dir":"/srv/app"},"context_window":{"context_window_size":200000,"used_percentage":42.7}}' | ~/.claude/statusline.sh[Opus] app | ▓▓▓▓░░░░░░ 42% of 200k

Try the state before the first response, when used_percentage is null:

$ echo '{"model":{"display_name":"Opus"},"workspace":{"current_dir":"/srv/app"},"context_window":{"context_window_size":200000,"used_percentage":null,"current_usage":null}}' | ~/.claude/statusline.sh[Opus] app | ░░░░░░░░░░ 0% of 200k

If the script exits with a non-zero code or prints nothing, the status line goes blank (see "Script errors or hangs" in the docs).

[5] Register it in ~/.claude/settings.json. If the file already has settings, add only the statusLine key.

{ "statusLine": {   "type": "command",   "command": "~/.claude/statusline.sh" }}

command can also be a one-line shell command instead of a script path. Claude Code reloads the settings on save and runs the script right away. Edits to the script file take effect on the next update.

[6] Know when it re-runs. The script runs once when a session starts (resumes included), then again on these events:

Changes that arrive together are batched by a 300 ms debounce, and the script runs once at the end. If a new update arrives while the script is still running, the running one is cancelled. A slow command makes the line update late.

[7] Add refreshInterval only when the line shows something that changes with time, or while the session sits idle. The unit is seconds and the minimum is 1.

{  "statusLine": {    "type": "command",    "command": "~/.claude/statusline.sh",   "refreshInterval": 30  }}

[8] If the line looks wrong, check in this order.

Each line you echo is shown as its own row, and ANSI colors and OSC 8 links work. The docs warn that multi-line output with escape codes is more prone to rendering glitches than one line of plain text. tput cols inside the script cannot read the terminal width; read the COLUMNS and LINES environment variables that Claude Code sets.