Claude Context Monitor
Live view of your Claude Code context window — right in the VS Code status bar.
Claude Context Monitor adds a traffic-light status bar item that shows how full the current Claude Code context window is, plus a breakdown panel that explains what is consuming those tokens (system prompt, tools, memory, conversation). All context data is read locally from Claude Code's session files — no network calls.
| Green (< 40%) |
Yellow (40–60%) |
Red (≥ 60%) |
 |
 |
 |
Features
Status bar indicator
- Always-visible traffic light: green below 40% fill, yellow 40–60%, red at 60% or higher
- Compact display:
$(hubot) ctx 42%
- Optional plan utilization next to the fill:
$(hubot) ctx 42% 5h 31% 7d 18%
- Configurable threshold to hide the item below a given fill %
Breakdown panel
Open via the command Claude Context: Open Breakdown Panel.
- Progress bar with both usable fill and raw context-window fill
- Token breakdown by category: System prompt, Tools, Memory, Conversation
- Per-model token breakdown
- Compact token counts (e.g.
12.3k) with copy-to-clipboard
- Plan rate-limit utilization (Last 5h / Last 7d), when enabled
- Collapsible info section: How context fill affects response quality
- One-click Start new Claude Code chat button
- Loading state while session data is read
Data source
The extension tails Claude Code's JSONL session files in ~/.claude/projects/. The core context-window feature makes no network calls — your conversation data never leaves your machine.
Configuration
| Key |
Type |
Default |
Description |
claudeContext.hideBelow |
number |
0 |
Hide the status bar item when fill % is below this value. 0 keeps it always visible. |
claudeContext.showHistoricalUsage |
boolean |
true |
Show plan utilization (5h / 7d) in the status bar and panel. Toggle also available via checkbox in the breakdown panel. |
claudeContext.showTotalFill |
boolean |
false |
Show total window fill % in parentheses in the status bar, e.g. ctx 47% (42%). Also shows a second bar in the panel. Toggle in the breakdown panel. |
Note on showHistoricalUsage
This option is on by default. When enabled, the extension sends one POST request to api.anthropic.com every 5 minutes using your stored Claude OAuth token to fetch your rate-limit utilization. These requests count against your Claude API usage. Disable it in VS Code Settings or via the checkbox at the bottom of the breakdown panel if you don't want the extension to make any network calls.
Requirements
- VS Code 1.85 or later
- Claude Code installed, with at least one active session
Usage
- Install the extension.
- Start (or resume) a Claude Code session in any project.
- The status bar item appears automatically and updates as the conversation grows.
- Click the item, or run Claude Context: Open Breakdown Panel from the command palette, to see the full breakdown.
Source & issues
Source code, issue tracker and changelog: https://github.com/komisla/vscode-claude-context
- long-kudo/vscode-claude-status — tracks historical cost (dollar amounts) from Claude Code logs. Claude Context Monitor instead shows the live context breakdown: which category (system prompt, tools, memory, conversation) is consuming tokens right now.
