AI Meter
Claude subscription usage — the 5-hour session limit and weekly limits — as a live gauge in the VS Code status bar.
⊞ 5h 74% 4.2h · wk 77% 1.6d · opus 62% 3.1d
Each segment is one rate limit: percent remaining and time until the limit resets. Hover for fuel-tank gauges with exact reset times; the item turns amber/red when any limit runs low.
How it works
AI Meter reuses the OAuth token that Claude Code stores after you log in (~/.claude/.credentials.json, or the Keychain on macOS) and polls Anthropic's usage endpoint (api.anthropic.com/api/oauth/usage) every 5 minutes. The last reading is cached, so the gauge appears instantly after a window reload.
- No account setup of its own — if Claude Code works, AI Meter works.
- The token is read locally and sent only to
api.anthropic.com. Nothing else is collected or transmitted.
- If no credentials are found (or the token expired), the item shows
— with an explanatory tooltip. Run Claude Code once to log in / refresh.
Cost mode (Bedrock / API key)
Bedrock and API-key setups have no subscription quota, so there is nothing for the usage endpoint to report. For those, AI Meter switches to cost mode: it reads the Claude Code transcripts under ~/.claude/projects/ locally and shows the model in use and today's token total with an estimated cost, priced at Anthropic list rates (input/output plus cache write/read). Hover for the 5h session figure, a last-7-day usage chart, and a per-model breakdown.
⊞ opus-5 5.2M $18.9
- Auto-selected when Claude Code is configured for Bedrock (
CLAUDE_CODE_USE_BEDROCK in the environment or in ~/.claude/settings.json's env block); force it with aiMeter.mode: "cost".
- Everything stays on the machine — cost mode makes no network requests.
- The figure is an estimate at Anthropic list prices; actual Bedrock/partner billing may differ.
Requirements
- Subscription mode: Claude Code logged in with a Claude subscription (Pro / Max / Team).
- Cost mode: Claude Code transcripts under
~/.claude/projects/ (written automatically as you use Claude Code).
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
aiMeter.mode |
auto |
subscription (OAuth usage API), cost (local transcript estimate), or auto (cost when Bedrock is configured). |
aiMeter.pollMinutes |
5 |
Poll interval in minutes. |
aiMeter.display |
remaining |
Show percent remaining (fuel-tank style) or percent used. |
aiMeter.showModelWeekly |
true |
Also show the model-scoped weekly limit (e.g. Opus) when reported. |
aiMeter.warnBelow |
25 |
Warning highlight when any limit has less than this % remaining. |
aiMeter.errorBelow |
10 |
Error highlight when any limit has less than this % remaining. |
aiMeter.hideWhenUnavailable |
false |
Hide the item entirely when no credentials are found. |
Switch Claude Code's backend
A small toggle button sits just left of the meter and shows which backend a
new Claude Code session will use — $(account) sub subscription (login) or
$(cloud) API API / Bedrock. Click it to flip between them: AI Meter writes
env.CLAUDE_CODE_USE_BEDROCK in ~/.claude/settings.json (0 = subscription,
1 = Bedrock/API), preserving the rest of the file.
- Takes effect on the next Claude Code session — start a new session to
apply. Running sessions keep their current auth (a live process can't
change how it authenticated).
- Switching to subscription requires being logged in (
claude login);
switching to Bedrock requires your AWS credentials to be available — the
toggle only flips the flag, it doesn't create credentials. If no API/Bedrock
credentials are found, the switch asks for confirmation first and the toggle
then stays amber with a warning icon until credentials are configured.
- If you also keep
aiMeter.mode at auto, the meter's display follows: cost
estimate under Bedrock, subscription limits under login.
- Note: an exported
CLAUDE_CODE_USE_BEDROCK in your shell environment would
override settings.json; the toggle manages the settings.json value.
Remote-SSH
AI Meter runs on whichever host the extension host runs on. Under Remote-SSH it
runs on the remote (declared extensionKind: ["workspace", "ui"]), so it
meters and toggles the remote's ~/.claude/ — the same environment the
remote Claude Code authenticates with. In a remote window the toggle affects the
remote Claude Code, not your laptop's (which is normally what you want). In a
local window it runs locally against your machine's ~/.claude/.
Commands
- AI Meter: Refresh Usage — also bound to clicking the meter status bar item.
- AI Meter: Switch Claude Code Backend (Subscription / API) — flip
~/.claude/settings.json's Bedrock flag; also bound to clicking the toggle button.
Development
# run: open this folder in VS Code, press F5 (Extension Development Host)
# package
npx @vscode/vsce package
