Monitor Your AI Code Assistant Usage from Your Menu Bar

Ever wondered how much you're actually using those AI coding assistants? We all know they're helpful, but tracking your usage across different tools can be a hassle. You might be curious about your monthly consumption, your daily patterns, or just want a quick glance at your stats without logging into another dashboard.

Enter CodexBar, a clever little macOS menu bar app that solves exactly that. It gives you a live, at-a-glance view of your usage statistics for AI coding tools like GitHub Copilot (Codex) and Anthropic's Claude, right from your desktop.

What It Does

CodexBar is a native macOS status bar application. It sits quietly in your menu bar, periodically fetching your usage data from GitHub Copilot and Anthropic Claude. With a single click, it displays a clean, concise breakdown of your consumption, showing you metrics like the number of requests made, tokens used, and your remaining quota or credits for the current period. The key point? It does this without requiring you to create a separate account or log in to the tool itself—it uses your existing local authentication.

Why It's Cool

The beauty of CodexBar is in its simplicity and utility. It's a classic example of a single-purpose tool done well.

• Zero-Account Monitoring: This is the standout feature. You don't need to sign up for yet another service. The app works with the credentials and tokens already on your system, pulling data directly from the source APIs.
• Passive Awareness: Having your usage stats literally in your peripheral vision helps you build an intuitive sense of your AI assistant habits. It can prevent surprise quota exhaustion and help you understand your real-world usage patterns.
• Clean, Native Implementation: It's a proper macOS app, not an Electron wrapper. It feels fast, lightweight, and right at home on your system. The UI is minimal and gets straight to the point—just the numbers you need.
• Open Source & Hackable: Being on GitHub means you can see exactly how it works, audit the data handling, or even fork it to add support for other AI services you use.

How to Try It

Getting started is straightforward if you're on a Mac:

1. Head over to the CodexBar GitHub repository.
2. Check the Releases section for the latest version.
3. Download the .zip file, extract it, and drag the CodexBar.app to your Applications folder.
4. Run the app. It will appear as an icon in your menu bar. You'll likely need to grant it permission to access your keychain or relevant data (so it can read your local tokens for Copilot/Claude).

The first time you click the icon, it will fetch and display your current usage. That's it—no configuration, no sign-up forms.

Final Thoughts

As developers, we integrate these powerful AI tools deeper into our workflows, but it's easy to treat them like a black box. CodexBar peels back a layer, offering a bit of transparency and control. It's the kind of utility you might not know you wanted until you try it. For anyone regularly using Copilot or Claude who's even slightly curious about their consumption patterns, this is a no-brainer install. It's a lightweight, informative tool that respects your time and your privacy.

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