Element guide
Claude Code statusline with cost display
Add a live running cost estimate to your Claude Code statusline so long sessions stay budget-aware.
Why show session cost?
Claude Code reports the accumulated session spend on cost.total_cost_usd every time it renders the statusline. Putting that number in your terminal turns it into a quiet ambient signal — useful for long autonomous runs where you want to notice if a loop has burned through ten dollars without you noticing.
The cost element is a computed expression in the IR (cost_fmt) — it formats the raw float to a configurable precision and adds a leading $. Pair it with a Static element prefix like spent if you want extra context.
How it looks
The preview below combines model, current branch, and the running cost styled in bold yellow. The element accepts any ANSI style — switch to dim gray for a quieter presentation, or to a red 256-color above a threshold using a conditional wrapper.
How to add it
Drag the Cost element from the palette, set precision (typically 2 or 4 decimals), and pick a foreground color. The same IR powers the bash, PowerShell, and browser interpreter backends, so what you see in the preview is byte-for-byte what your terminal will render after install.