claude-usage-taskbar

A TrafficMonitor plugin that displays your Claude AI usage (5-hour session and 7-day weekly) directly in the Windows taskbar.

Taskbar	Hover

Prerequisites

• Windows 10/11 (x64 or x86)
• TrafficMonitor v1.85+ (download)
• Claude Code installed and authenticated (claude login)

Installation

1. Download the latest release zip for your architecture from Releases
2. Extract claude-usage-taskbar.dll into TrafficMonitor's plugins/ folder
   • To find this folder: General Settings → Plug-in manage → Open plugin directory
3. Restart TrafficMonitor
4. Right-click the taskbar window → Taskbar Window Settings → Display settings... → check 5h Usage and/or 7d Usage

Configuration

Open settings via either:

• Right-click the taskbar window → Plugin Options → Claude Usage Settings
• General Settings → Plug-in manage → select the plugin → Options

Setting	Default	Description
Credentials Path	(auto-detect)	Path to .claude/.credentials.json. Leave empty to use %USERPROFILE%\.claude\.credentials.json
Item Width	160	Display width in DPI-96 pixels (80–400)
Poll Interval	60	API poll interval in seconds (10–3600)

Settings are stored in claude-usage-taskbar.ini next to the DLL.

Usage

• Data refreshes automatically at the configured poll interval (default: 60s)
• Click the plugin item to force an immediate refresh — the display shows ... while fetching
• Hover over the item for a tooltip with reset times and error details

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
"Credentials not found"	Install Claude Code and run claude login
"Authentication failed"	Run claude login to re-authenticate
No data shown	Click the plugin item to force refresh, or check TrafficMonitor logs
Plugin not visible	Ensure DLL architecture matches TrafficMonitor (x64 vs x86)

Building from Source

Requirements: Visual Studio 2022 Build Tools (MSVC v143), C++17

# x64
MSBuild claude-usage-taskbar.vcxproj -p:Configuration=Release -p:Platform=x64

# x86
MSBuild claude-usage-taskbar.vcxproj -p:Configuration=Release -p:Platform=Win32

Output: build/Release-x64/ or build/Release-x86/

License

MIT