Episode 4: Configuration & Presets

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

Key Takeaway: HUD's flexibility lies in deep customization. Three presets cover 90% of use cases.

4.1 Interactive Configuration

/claude-hud:configure

Guided flow:

  1. Choose preset (Full / Essential / Minimal)
  2. Choose language (English / δΈ­ζ–‡)
  3. Toggle individual elements
  4. Preview the result
  5. Save

4.2 Three Presets

Preset Content
Full Everything on β€” tools, Agent, Todo, Git, usage, duration
Essential Activity line + Git status, streamlined
Minimal Model name + context bar only

4.3 Manual Configuration

Edit ~/.claude/plugins/claude-hud/config.json:

{
  "language": "en",
  "lineLayout": "expanded",
  "pathLevels": 2,
  "elementOrder": ["project", "tools", "context", "usage", "environment", "agents", "todos"],
  "gitStatus": {
    "enabled": true,
    "showDirty": true,
    "showAheadBehind": true,
    "showFileStats": true
  },
  "display": {
    "showTools": true,
    "showAgents": true,
    "showTodos": true,
    "showDuration": true,
    "showSpeed": true
  },
  "colors": {
    "context": "cyan",
    "usage": "cyan",
    "warning": "yellow",
    "critical": "red"
  }
}

4.4 Core Config Options

Option Type Default Description
lineLayout expanded / compact expanded Multi-line or single-line
pathLevels 1-3 1 Directory display depth
language en / zh en Label language
elementOrder string[] See docs Line order; omit to hide

4.5 setup vs configure β€” Two Different Commands

/claude-hud:setup /claude-hud:configure
Purpose One-time installation registration Day-to-day customization
What it does Detect platform β†’ find plugin path β†’ generate statusline command β†’ write to settings.json Modify config.json
File modified ~/.claude/settings.json (global) ~/.claude/plugins/claude-hud/config.json (plugin)
When to run Once after first install Anytime you want to change HUD display
Requires restart Yes No (takes effect immediately)
Interaction Auto-detection, no interaction Interactive guided setup

Typical flow:

First install:
  /plugin install claude-hud    ← Install plugin files
  /claude-hud:setup             ← Register statusline (writes settings.json)
  Restart Claude Code           ← Activate statusline
  /claude-hud:configure         ← Customize HUD display (optional)

Daily use:
  /claude-hud:configure         ← Adjust HUD display anytime (instant)

Next Episode: Episode 5 dives deep into the context window β€” what's inside 200K tokens and what operations cause it to explode.