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ClaudeBar Wiki

ClaudeBar is a native desktop indicator for your Claude.ai Max-plan session and weekly usage — two color-coded bars right in your menu bar, system tray, or panel. It runs natively on every major desktop platform.

This wiki contains installation, build, and platform-specific reference documentation. For the project overview, license, and contribution guide, see the main repository.

Pages

• Installation — per-platform install instructions.
• Building from Source — how to build each front-end locally.
• Monorepo Layout — where to find each platform's code.

Supported platforms

OS	Surface	Stack
macOS 13+	Menu bar (NSStatusItem)	Swift + AppKit + SwiftUI
Windows 10+	Tray icon + floating desktop meter	.NET 8 + WPF
Linux / GNOME 45–48	Top bar extension	TypeScript + GJS + esbuild
Linux / KDE Plasma 6	Plasmoid in the panel	QML + JavaScript
Linux / Cinnamon 5+	Panel applet	GJS (libsecret + Soup)
Linux / XFCE 4.14+	Panel plugin	C + GTK3 + libxfce4panel
Linux / MATE 1.20+	Panel applet	Python + PyGObject + GTK3
Linux / Budgie 10.6+	Panel applet	Vala + GTK3 + libpeas
Linux / LXQt 1.2+	Panel plugin	C++ + Qt5

All Linux front-ends except the GNOME Shell extension share a small Rust helper binary (claudebar-helper) that handles OAuth and Secret Service token storage. The helper also has a tray subcommand that runs as a cross-DE StatusNotifierItem fallback for desktop environments not listed above.

Features

• OAuth sign-in with Claude (PKCE + loopback redirect). Tokens stored in your OS-native secret store: macOS Keychain, Windows DPAPI, or the FreeDesktop Secret Service (GNOME Keyring, KWallet, KeePassXC…).
• Two bars for current 5-hour session and 7-day weekly (all models).
• Green → orange → red as usage climbs; thresholds are configurable (defaults 60% / 85%).
• Menu exposes exact percentages, reset times, "Refresh now", and a link to claude.ai/settings/usage.
• Configurable poll interval (60 s – 1 h, default 5 min).
• Windows only: optional "floating desktop meter" — an always-on-top transparent widget you can drag near the taskbar, in case the tray icon is too small.
• Auto-start at login on macOS (via SMAppService) and Windows (via the MSI's Run registry entry) — so the indicator appears every time you sign in without needing to launch it manually.
• Zero telemetry; the app only talks to api.anthropic.com and console.anthropic.com on your behalf.