Statusline Generator

Overview

This skill provides tools and guidance for creating and customizing Claude Code statuslines. It generates multi-line statuslines optimized for portrait screens, integrates with

ccusage

for session/daily cost tracking, displays git branch status, and supports color customization.

When to Use This Skill

This skill activates for:

• Statusline configuration requests for Claude Code
• Cost information display (session/daily costs)
• Multi-line layouts for portrait or narrow screens
• Statusline color or format customization
• Statusline display or cost tracking issues
• Git status or path shortening features

Quick Start

Basic Installation

Install the default multi-line statusline:

1. Run the installation script:

   bash scripts/install_statusline.sh
   

2. Restart Claude Code to see the statusline

The default statusline displays:

• Line 1:

  username (model) [session_cost/daily_cost]

• Line 2:

  current_path

• Line 3:

  [git:branch*+]

Manual Installation

Alternatively, manually install by:

1. Copy

   scripts/generate_statusline.sh

   to

   ~/.claude/statusline.sh

2. Make it executable:

   chmod +x ~/.claude/statusline.sh

3. Update

   ~/.claude/settings.json

   :

   {
     "statusLine": {
       "type": "command",
       "command": "bash /home/username/.claude/statusline.sh",
       "padding": 0
     }
   }
   

Statusline Features

Multi-Line Layout

The statusline uses a 3-line layout optimized for portrait screens:

username (Sonnet 4.5 [1M]) [$0.26/$25.93]
~/workspace/java/ready-together-svc
[git:feature/branch-name*+]

Benefits:

• Shorter lines fit narrow screens
• Clear visual separation of information types
• No horizontal scrolling needed

Cost Tracking Integration

Cost tracking via

ccusage

:

• Session Cost: Current conversation cost
• Daily Cost: Total cost for today
• Format:

  [$session/$daily]

  in magenta
• Caching: 2-minute cache to avoid performance impact
• Background Fetch: First run loads costs asynchronously

Requirements:

ccusage

must be installed and in PATH. See

references/ccusage_integration.md

for installation and troubleshooting.

Model Name Shortening

Model names are automatically shortened:

• "Sonnet 4.5 (with 1M token context)"

  →

  "Sonnet 4.5 [1M]"

• "Opus 4.1 (with 500K token context)"

  →

  "Opus 4.1 [500K]"

This saves horizontal space while preserving key information.

Git Status Indicators

Git branch status shows:

• Yellow: Clean branch (no changes)
• Red: Dirty branch (uncommitted changes)
• Indicators:

  • *

    - Modified or staged files

  • +

    - Untracked files
  • Example:

    [git:main*+]

    - Modified files and untracked files

Path Shortening

Paths are shortened:

• Home directory replaced with

  ~

• Example:

  /home/username/workspace/project

  →

  ~/workspace/project

Color Scheme

Default colors optimized for visibility:

• Username: Bright Green (

  \033[01;32m

  )
• Model: Bright Cyan (

  \033[01;36m

  )
• Costs: Bright Magenta (

  \033[01;35m

  )
• Path: Bright White (

  \033[01;37m

  )
• Git (clean): Bright Yellow (

  \033[01;33m

  )
• Git (dirty): Bright Red (

  \033[01;31m

  )

Customization

Changing Colors

Customize colors by editing

~/.claude/statusline.sh

and modifying the ANSI color codes in the final

printf

statement. See

references/color_codes.md

for available colors.

Example: Change username to blue

# Find this line:
printf '\033[01;32m%s\033[00m \033[01;36m(%s)\033[00m%s\n\033[01;37m%s\033[00m\n%s' \

# Change \033[01;32m (green) to \033[01;34m (blue):
printf '\033[01;34m%s\033[00m \033[01;36m(%s)\033[00m%s\n\033[01;37m%s\033[00m\n%s' \

Single-Line Layout

Convert to single-line layout by modifying the final

printf

:

# Replace:
printf '\033[01;32m%s\033[00m \033[01;36m(%s)\033[00m%s\n\033[01;37m%s\033[00m\n%s' \
    "$username" "$model" "$cost_info" "$short_path" "$git_info"

# With:
printf '\033[01;32m%s\033[00m \033[01;36m(%s)\033[00m:\033[01;37m%s\033[00m%s%s' \
    "$username" "$model" "$short_path" "$git_info" "$cost_info"

Disabling Cost Tracking

If

ccusage

is unavailable or not desired:

1. Comment out the cost section in the script (lines ~47-73)
2. Remove

   %s

   for

   $cost_info

   from the final

   printf

See

references/ccusage_integration.md

for details.

Adding Custom Elements

Add custom information (e.g., hostname, time):

# Add variable before final printf:
hostname=$(hostname -s)
current_time=$(date +%H:%M)

# Update printf to include new elements:
printf '\033[01;32m%s@%s\033[00m \033[01;36m(%s)\033[00m%s [%s]\n...' \
    "$username" "$hostname" "$model" "$cost_info" "$current_time" ...

Troubleshooting

Costs Not Showing

Check:

1. Is

   ccusage

   installed? Run

   which ccusage

2. Test

   ccusage

   manually:

   ccusage session --json --offline -o desc

3. Wait 5-10 seconds after first display (background fetch)
4. Check cache:

   ls -lh /tmp/claude_cost_cache_*.txt

Solution: See

references/ccusage_integration.md

for detailed troubleshooting.

Colors Hard to Read

Solution: Adjust colors for your terminal background using

references/color_codes.md

. Bright colors (

01;3X

) are generally more visible than regular (

00;3X

).

Statusline Not Updating

Check:

1. Verify settings.json points to correct script path
2. Ensure script is executable:

   chmod +x ~/.claude/statusline.sh

3. Restart Claude Code

Git Status Not Showing

Check:

1. Are you in a git repository?
2. Test git commands:

   git branch --show-current

3. Check git permissions in the directory

Resources

scripts/generate_statusline.sh

Main statusline script with all features (multi-line, ccusage, git, colors). Copy this to

~/.claude/statusline.sh

for use.

scripts/install_statusline.sh

Automated installation script that copies the statusline script and updates settings.json.

references/color_codes.md

Complete ANSI color code reference for customizing statusline colors. Load when users request color customization.

references/ccusage_integration.md

Detailed explanation of ccusage integration, caching strategy, JSON structure, and troubleshooting. Load when users experience cost tracking issues or want to understand how it works.