Episode 1: What is Claude HUD

⏱ Est. reading time: 3 min Updated on 5/7/2026

Key Takeaway: Claude HUD is a terminal dashboard plugin for Claude Code that keeps you informed of your session status at all times while coding.

1.1 One-Line Explanation

Claude HUD uses Claude Code's native statusline API to display real-time session status below the terminal input. No tmux required, no extra windows needed β€” works in any terminal.

1.2 Why You Need It

Without HUD, you don't know:

  • How much context window remains (it gets truncated when full, losing early conversations)
  • What files Claude is reading or what tools it's calling
  • What tasks subagents are running and for how long
  • How many todos are completed
  • How many tokens have been used and the cost
  • When the cache expires

With HUD, all this information is visible in a single line.

1.3 How It Works

Claude Code β†’ stdin JSON β†’ claude-hud script β†’ stdout β†’ Displayed in terminal
              β†˜ transcript JSONL (tools/agent/todo data)
  • Updates every ~300ms
  • Token data comes from Claude Code's native API (not estimated)
  • Automatically adapts to context window size (including 1M context sessions)

Next Episode: Episode 2 will walk you through the three-step installation of Claude HUD, covering notes for macOS, Linux, and Windows.