Monitor Your Claude AI Usage with a New Linux Taskbar Widget
The newly developed system tray widget for Linux provides real-time updates on your Claude AI subscription usage directly from your taskbar. This lightweight tool is particularly useful for tracking the 5-hour and 7-day rate limit windows, offering color-coded feedback to help you manage usage effectively.
Key Details
- Color-Coded Monitoring: The widget displays your 5-hour usage percentage directly in the taskbar with icons that change color from green to red, allowing quick assessment of your current consumption.
- In-Depth Usage Details: Clicking the taskbar icon opens a detailed window showing both 5-hour and 7-day utilization using progress bars and reset timers, keeping you informed of your limits.
- Smart Notifications: The widget sends desktop alerts for usage thresholds at 75%, 90%, and 100%, helping you avoid unexpected cutoffs.
- Automatic Setup: It auto-detects Claude Code credentials on Linux and refreshes every 2 minutes. You can set it to autostart with your system login for continuous monitoring.
Tech Stack
The widget is built using Python 3 with GTK3 and utilizes AppIndicator3 for the system tray functions along with Cairo for icon rendering. The tool interacts with the same internal API that Claude Code employs for data retrieval.
Installation Guide
# Install dependencies
sudo apt install python3 python3-gi gir1.2-appindicator3-0.1 gir1.2-notify-0.7
Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/StaticB1/claude_ai_usage_widget.git
cd claude_ai_usage_widget
chmod +x install.sh && ./install.sh
Start widget
claude-widget-start
This widget is designed to be compatible with any Linux distribution supporting GTK3, handling pyenv/conda conflicts to maintain a clean execution environment.
The widget is open source under the MIT license, and contributions from the community are encouraged on its GitHub repository.
📖 Read the full source: r/ClaudeAI
👀 See Also
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