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:

Run the installation script:

bash scripts/install_statusline.sh

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:

Copy scripts/generate_statusline.sh to ~/.claude/statusline.sh Make it executable: chmod +x ~/.claude/statusline.sh 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:

Comment out the cost section in the script (lines ~47-73) 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:

Is ccusage installed? Run which ccusage Test ccusage manually: ccusage session --json --offline -o desc Wait 5-10 seconds after first display (background fetch) 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:

Verify settings.json points to correct script path Ensure script is executable: chmod +x ~/.claude/statusline.sh Restart Claude Code Git Status Not Showing

Check:

Are you in a git repository? Test git commands: git branch --show-current 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.