Claude Usage Widget

The problem

Claude's API has usage limits that reset on rolling windows (5-hour and 7-day cycles). Without visibility into where you stand, you either hit the wall mid-conversation or under-use your allocation. There was no native way to see your usage at a glance without opening a browser and navigating to the billing page.

What I built

A native macOS desktop widget that floats on your screen and shows Claude API usage in real time. One glance tells you: how much you've used, whether you're pacing ahead or behind, and exactly when your limit resets. It lives on your desktop permanently, always visible, never in the way.

• Live progress ring: Color-coded from green to red as you approach your limit
• Pace indicator: Tells you whether your current usage rate will hit the cap before the window resets
• Reset countdown: Shows exactly when your 5-hour and 7-day limits reset
• Session alerts: Red border warning when your session expires and needs re-authentication
• Zero dependencies: Single-file Swift app. No frameworks, no package managers, compiles in one command.

Impact

• Open source and widely adopted: Public GitHub repo with active usage from the Claude power-user community
• Solves a real daily friction: Anyone using Claude's API heavily needs this visibility. It didn't exist, so I built it.
• Runs locally with zero cost: No server, no subscription, no external dependencies. Just a desktop widget that works.

Why it matters

This was the first tool I shipped publicly, a real developer utility, open source, built to solve a problem I had every day. The repo is on GitHub for anyone who wants to try it, contribute, or fork it.