redline

Too many Claudes going at once? Feeling overwhelmed? redline puts a gauge above your Claude Code prompt that counts how many of your sessions are working, so you can plan your time better.

<img width="638" height="98" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c7d1ae26-46c2-4222-be22-d6f85e3db13f" /> <img width="302" height="731" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/4e546a80-f59e-4ba1-a81e-f5f83e7b584f" />

stop starting new Claudes and finish the ones already running.

Install

Add the marketplace:

/plugin marketplace add jamubc/toolbox

Install the plugin:

/plugin install redline@toolbox

Usage

| Command | What it does | | --- | --- | | UI Mod | gauge & labels. | | /redline | Toggles detailed view. | | /redline <0-25> | demo: enable. | | /redline live | demo: disable | | /config → Show the count at the bottom of the terminal | toggle labels | | /config → Show the fuel gauges | toggle the 5H / 7D / CTX dials |

Fuel gauges

<details> <summary>The three dials, off until switched on</summary> <br>

With Show the fuel gauges on, three more dials ride along: beside the tachometer above your prompt, and under it in the pane.

| Dial | What it reads | | --- | --- | | 5H | Your plan's five-hour rate-limit window. | | 7D | Your plan's seven-day rate-limit window. | | CTX | This session's context, filling as the conversation grows. |

On every dial the needle swings right, into the red, as its tank is used. The plan windows drain, so 5H and 7D read F (full) to E (empty); the context fills, so CTX reads E to F. The plan dials need a subscription; CTX works for everyone. A dial the engine has no reading for stays dim.

</details>

Stages

<details> <summary>Stages by sessions working</summary> <br>

| Working | Stage | | --- | --- | | 0 | Napping | | 1–2 | Idling | | 3–5 | Cruising | | 6–8 | Busy | | 9–12 | Very Busy | | 13–17 | Under Pressure | | 18–20 | Redline | | 21–24 | Overboost | | 25+ | Blown |

</details>

What it runs, reads and sends

redline runs two read-only programs on your machine and sends nothing anywhere. It makes no network requests.

| Program | Exactly what it runs | Why | | --- | --- | --- | | ps | ps -x -o pid=,ppid=,tty=,args=, every two seconds | Lists your own processes, to find the claude sessions in your terminals and which are mid-turn. | | ps | ps -x -o pid=,ppid=,tty=,command=, once a session until it succeeds | The same table in a second format, so redline can tell which session is this one and mark it (this one) in the pane. | | lsof | lsof -a -d cwd -Fn -p <pids>, every two seconds, where <pids> are the claude sessions ps just found | Reads each session's working directory, shown beside it in the pane. |

• A session is a claude process attached to a terminal. It counts as working while Claude Code holds a caffeinate child process, which happens on macOS during a turn. On Linux every session reads as idle.
• With the fuel gauges on, it reads this session's usage (session.usage, and the session.measure event after each turn): the context fill and your plan's rate-limit percentages, the same figures the status line has. They are drawn on the dials and kept in this session's plugin state; they are never written to disk by redline or sent anywhere.
• It never starts, stops or changes another process. The process tables are read, parsed in memory and dropped.
• It hooks command.run only for its own /redline command, which opens and closes the pane and sets the demo count. It does not see or change any other command.
• It hooks ui.close to notice when you close its pane, and session.start, session.end and session.measure to keep the gauge right across /clear.