Claude Usage Widget  —  START HERE
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A tiny always-on-top panel that shows your Claude Code usage for TODAY —
what it would cost on the API, tokens, turns, and a per-model breakdown, all
in one little window you can park anywhere. It also lists your recent chats
with a bar for how full each one's context window is (named just like in the
Claude app). There's also a beautiful history calendar (click the calendar
icon in the corner).

Windows only. Nothing to download — it uses PowerShell that's already built
into Windows. No internet connection, no background service, no account.


SET IT UP  (about 30 seconds)
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1. Extract this whole folder somewhere you'll keep it
   (right-click the .zip  ->  "Extract All...").

2. Double-click   Install.cmd

   Windows may show a blue "Windows protected your PC" box, or a
   security warning, because the file came from the internet:
       ->  click "More info"  ->  "Run anyway"     (blue box)
       ->  or just click "Run"                     (security warning)
   It's a small, readable script — it only copies the widget into your
   user folder and makes shortcuts. It changes nothing else.

   It will ASK whether to add a Desktop shortcut and a Start Menu
   shortcut (just press Enter to accept both).

3. That's it. The widget appears at the bottom-left of your screen, and you
   can launch it anytime from the shortcut(s) you chose.

Prefer not to "install"?  Just double-click  "Start Widget.vbs"  to run it
right from this folder instead.


USING IT
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* Drag the panel anywhere — it remembers where you put it.
* Recent Cloud Chats  = the list at the bottom shows how full each chat's
  context is, as a percent AND a token count (e.g. 67% | 670k). Right-click a
  chat to ARCHIVE it: it leaves the list (and the calendar's chat lists) but
  its tokens still count in every total. Right-click -> "Unarchive" brings
  them back. Nothing is ever deleted. Click the "Recent Cloud Chats" header
  (or the arrow to its right) to collapse the list.
* All-time ticker = the very bottom line shows your all-time total tokens and
  cost estimates (this is the number that grows into the millions/billions).
* Calendar icon  = open your usage history (a lovely per-day calendar, with an
  "All Chats" catalog you can sort, collapse, and expand for each chat's tokens).
* Refresh icon   = re-scan right now.
* The  x  (or right-click -> Exit) closes it.
* Want it to start automatically with Windows? Double-click
  "Add to Startup.cmd"  (and "Remove from Startup.cmd" undoes it).


GOOD TO KNOW
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* It reads the local files Claude Code writes on THIS PC, so it shows *your*
  Claude Code usage. If you don't use Claude Code, it'll just say
  "no Claude usage yet today."
* The dollar amounts are estimates at API list prices — a sense of weight,
  not a bill. On a Max/Pro plan you don't pay per token.
* The calendar has "rolling usage" cards (last 5 hours / 7 days / Fable) — YOUR
  usage in that window, not your plan's remaining %, which Claude keeps online
  and never saves to a file.
* It only ever reads local files. No network, nothing leaves your computer.
* What it CAN'T track (nothing to read, on this PC or anywhere): Claude Design
  (Anthropic doesn't release token counts for it), claude.ai chat/co-work in
  the web app (runs entirely on Anthropic's servers), and reasoning-effort /
  fast-mode (not recorded in the local transcript format). Only Claude Code /
  Claude CLI usage is tracked — including a local model like Ollama, shown as
  "Local" and always $0. See the "Known limitations" note at the bottom of
  the history calendar for the always-current list.

Full guide: open  admin-instructions.html  in your browser.
Enjoy!  💚
