Live Claude Code usage limits, right in your VS Code status bar.
Session (5-hour) and weekly (7-day) utilization — read from your local Claude Code login, no browser needed.
⚡ S 45% · W 10%
Claude Pulse shows how much of your Claude plan you've used, live, without leaving your editor. It reads
the session straight from your local Claude Code CLI login (~/.claude/.credentials.json, or the
macOS Keychain entry Claude Code-credentials) — the same OAuth token the claude CLI itself uses. It
never touches your browser cookies and sends your data nowhere except Anthropic's own API.
Features
Session & weekly usage — S <session%> · W <weekly%> in the status bar, updated automatically.
Color-coded — turns yellow, then red, as you approach your limit (thresholds are configurable).
Reset countdowns — hover to see exactly when your 5-hour and 7-day windows reset.
Details view — click the status bar (or run Claude Pulse: Show Details) for a breakdown,
including per-model weekly limits and your plan (Pro/Max).
No quota cost — uses a lightweight read-only endpoint; it does not consume any of your messages.
Resilient — caches the last values to disk and backs off gracefully on rate limits, so you always
see your latest numbers instead of errors.
How it works
On startup (and every pollIntervalSeconds, default 120s) it reads your local Claude Code OAuth token.
It calls https://api.anthropic.com/api/oauth/usage with that token as a Bearer token — the same
endpoint Claude Code's own CLI uses to show "approaching your usage limit" warnings.
The status bar renders S <session%> · W <weekly%>, colored by warnThreshold / criticalThreshold.
Resilience
The last known values are cached to disk, so a reload or a temporarily rate-limited fetch still
shows your most recent numbers instead of an error.
On HTTP 429 (rate limited) the extension backs off automatically — honoring the Retry-After
header when present, otherwise exponential backoff (2 → 15 min) — and keeps showing the last values.
It recovers on its own; no action needed.
Requirements
Claude Code CLI installed and signed in at least once (claude → /login). Get it at
claude.com/claude-code.
If your access token expires and no Claude Code session is active to refresh it, the status bar shows a
sign-in prompt — run claude again and click the status bar to retry.
Settings
Setting
Default
Description
claudePulse.pollIntervalSeconds
120
How often to auto-refresh (seconds, min 20; higher avoids API rate limits)
claudePulse.showRefreshSpinner
true
Flash a spinner on each auto-refresh
claudePulse.warnThreshold
75
% at which the status bar turns yellow
claudePulse.criticalThreshold
90
% at which the status bar turns red
claudePulse.showWeekly
true
Show weekly % alongside session %
claudePulse.credentialsPath
""
Override path to .credentials.json (auto-detected by default)
Commands
Command
Description
Claude Pulse: Refresh Now
Fetch the latest usage immediately
Claude Pulse: Show Details
Open the usage breakdown quick-pick
Privacy & security
Your token never leaves your machine except to authenticate directly with Anthropic's own API
(api.anthropic.com). There is no third-party server, telemetry, or analytics.
The extension only reads your Claude Code credentials file; it never modifies it.
The usage call is read-only and does not consume message quota.
Troubleshooting
"Sign in" prompt — run claude in a terminal and sign in, then click the status bar item.
"Waiting for the rate limit to reset" — you're temporarily rate-limited (HTTP 429). This clears
automatically; you can increase claudePulse.pollIntervalSeconds to reduce how often it polls.
Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Anthropic. "Claude" and "Claude Code" are
trademarks of Anthropic. This extension simply reads your own usage via Anthropic's API using your own
local login.
