Show HN: macOS menu bar app to track Claude usage in real time

[RichHickson]

I built a macOS menu bar app to track Claude usage in real time via API after hitting limits mid-flow too often.

Signed and notarised by Apple. Open source.

https://github.com/richhickson/claudecodeusage

https://x.com/richhickson

[dewey]

Alternatively there's also this with 1.7k stars already and supporting more services (Despite the name): https://github.com/steipete/CodexBar (https://codexbar.app)

[RichHickson]

Good shout. CodexBar covers a lot more ground. This one is intentionally minimal and Claude focused because that is all I personally needed.

[realharo]

Or just vibe code your own. Seems fitting.

[iLemming]

btw, I have failed to make the proper use of either of them - claudecodeusage keeps saying that I'm not signed in (I have Claude Desktop and CLI installed and signed in on both). CodexBar keeps saying "Claude usage probe timed out", even though it does show some numbers. I don't have a subscription, I just use the API.

[ttoinou]

Is it safe ? It needs to reads Keychain. Like the OP app

[DrammBA]

I loved the screenshot section of the readme followed by zero screenshots.

[8mobile]

This is a great idea and a useful one for avoiding having to monitor Claude's consumption. I've often exceeded the limit mid-process. If I'm not mistaken, something like this already exists, but I like the graphics and how the information is displayed. Congratulations!

[codepoet80]

Love it, installed and set it to run at Login. Can I follow you on any social media that isn't Xitter?

[RichHickson]

Thanks, appreciate it. Honestly, I am only really on X at the moment.

[ebbi]

This looks great. What am I doing wrong? I downloaded it, installed, but all I see is a red X in the toolbar. When I click on it, it says "Authentication expired. Run 'claude' to re-aut..." so I run claude in terminal and still nothing...

[RichHickson]

Hmmm. What version are you running?

[kingkongjaffa]

If I wanted to vibe code my own macOS menu bar apps is this a good starter project to use as a template?

Are there any others?

Do I just not need one (claude code can do it without a starter template at all)?

[Etheryte]

Use Hammerspoon [0][1], it comes with a lot of macOS integrations out of the box and you write Lua, which takes zero effort to pick up and use. For me a big benefit is that you don't need to touch Xcode at all.

[0] https://www.hammerspoon.org

[1] https://www.hammerspoon.org/docs/hs.menubar.html

[RichHickson]

That is exactly what I did. Claude scaffolded it from scratch based on behaviour, then I iterated and had Codex review it for safety.

[realharo]

Speaking of the macOS menu bar, is there some way to make it overflow into a hidden area behind an "expand" button that would appear when there is no more room, like the notification area in Windows does?

The macOS UI decision of "just pretend that whatever doesn't fit to the right of the notch doesn't exist" is baffling.

I've seen a few apps that claim to do that, but it's always done in some really hacky way (such as needing screen recording permissions), and the behavior is never that of simple overflow handling. Instead they have "always hidden" sections and things like that, which is not what I want.

[qaz_plm]

No template needed IMO.

I used CC just yesterday to build a native MacOS menu bar app by using plan mode (opus) until there was alignment then to edit mode for the build (I use Zed for the prompting).

CC walked me through the needed Xcode project setup and handled all of the code there after.

I’m sure something more complex would be more challenging but I was happy with a two-shot result for this native menu bar app.

[seriocomic]

Interesting, but not original - a simple search shows at least a dozen same/similar (better?) solutions? Anything that yours does that those don't?

[lebed2045]

what would be really cool (maybeme i missed it?), is for your tool show clear useful info on the "top panel", not just logo. Like mac-stats or littleSnitch do.

[JLO64]

Just yesterday I was trying to figure out a method to accurately estimate my remaining usage for the five hour sessions for a shell script. It wasn't until I pointed Claude at your repo and had it make something based off of that that I got it to work well.

Thank you!

[brtkwr]

I tried another alternative yesterday as I found myself hitting that /usage command too often and it didnt work too well but yours worked straight out of the box! Great job!

I built another tool that should have really been part of the core Claude Code CLI (which you may or may not find useful): https://github.com/agentic-utils/ccs

It lets you search and resume past Claude code conversations from anywhere.

[SparkyMcUnicorn]

Have you seen aichat[0]?

Doesn't support the "from anywhere" part, but the resume strategies are pretty cool.

[0] https://github.com/pchalasani/claude-code-tools#aichat-sessi...

[virajk_31]

cool! I had to always go to claude settings for this.

[luisvillamil]

Looks really cool

[dionian]

i like it, thanks for sharing

[RichHickson]

Thanks, Glad you like it!

[rootlocus]

"Follow me on X"

Why... just why? Why do people keep insisting on using it?

[rootusrootus]

The charitable explanation is "because that is where most people are." Network effect is real.

[travisgriggs]

I certainly won't.

I wonder if it's because they don't see other relevant low-cost/overhead solutions. "Follow me on facebook" certainly isn't going to be a win. "Follow me on Bluesky or Mastadon" is going to be ignored. "You can see my comments on insta" won't be relevant. "My TikTok is where it's at" might get you some young followers.

Other solutions (your own blog, medium, substack, etc), all come with more overhead and setup.

[worldsavior]

Because that's what he uses. Instead of shaming about using X and going off-topic, don't comment at all or comment something about the project.

[self_awareness]

Because people like using social media?

[bigyabai]

Form over followers over function, the 21st century design ethos.

[userbinator]

"Remember to like, share and subscribe."

[arondeparon]

Very constructive comment, the “grow up already” really was the cherry on top.

(Yes, this is sarcasm)