[BUG] Desktop: the usage ring shows the account's session limit, not the window's context, and the per-session context line is gone from the usage popup

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

In the desktop app's Code tab, the usage ring inside every chat window shows the same number in all windows, no matter how full each conversation is. With four windows open it reads 10% in all of them, which is my account's five-hour session limit, not that window's context.

The popup behind the ring used to list the five-hour limit, the weekly limit, the weekly Fable limit AND that window's own context usage. The context line is gone. /context still works and still reports the right figure, but nothing connects it to the ring any more.

Three readings of the SAME window, taken within a few minutes:

| Source | Reading |
|---|---|
| /context in that window | 663.4k / 1M (66%) |
| My own menu-bar app, computed from the session transcript | 68% |
| The usage ring in that window | 10% |
| /usage session limit, for comparison with the ring | 5% |

So the ring is tracking the account meter rather than the conversation.

The consequence is not cosmetic. There is now no at-a-glance warning that a window is nearly full. A conversation I was working in compacted without warning while the ring sat at a normal-looking figure, because the ring was never watching that conversation.

I also checked the window size rather than assuming it: across 27 auto-compactions in my own transcripts, the largest prompt immediately before a compaction was 966,987 tokens on Fable 5.1, 966,012 on Opus 5, 965,956 on Opus 4.8 and 892,154 on Opus 5.5. So the window is 1M and compaction fires at about 96 to 97 percent, and summing input_tokens + cache_read_input_tokens + cache_creation_input_tokens from the newest assistant record agrees with /context to within a couple of points.

What Should Happen?

The documentation at https://code.claude.com/docs/en/desktop (Check usage) says: "Click the usage ring next to the model picker to see your current context window usage and your plan usage for the period. Context usage is per session; plan usage is shared across all your Claude Code surfaces."

So the ring should reflect the session's own context window, and the popup should show the per-session context line alongside the plan meters. Failing that, a setting to choose which metric the ring reports.

Error Messages/Logs

No error is shown in the interface. Two things from the app's own logs are relevant.

The build changed under me without my quitting the app. From `~/Library/Logs/Claude/main.log`:


2026-10-10 02:57:22 [info] [stealth-relaunch] Version changed since the last launch: loading the saved page instead of restoring history
2026-10-14 14:03:58 [info] [stealth-relaunch] Version changed since the last launch: loading the saved page instead of restoring history
2026-10-14 14:48:30 [info] [updater] Update downloaded and ready to install { releaseName: 'Claude 2.37337.1' }
2026-10-14 15:03:48 [info] [stealth-relaunch] Saved navigation history (5 entries, active=4)


The bundled engine carries strings suggesting the gauge is fed by a worker over a control channel, which may be where the figure is being lost:


Context usage isn't available over this remote connection
Couldn't show context usage: the remote sent a reply this version can't display
/context remote fetch failed:

Steps to Reproduce

1. In the desktop app, open four Code windows and work in them until they hold genuinely different amounts of context (mine were at 81%, 68%, 62%, 56% and 23% by /context and by transcript maths).
2. Look at the usage ring in each window. All of them show the same figure.
3. Compare that figure with /usage. It matches the five-hour session limit.
4. Run /context in any of those windows. It reports that window's real context, which the ring does not show.
5. Click the ring. The popup lists the plan meters only; the per-session context line that used to be there is absent.

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

Desktop build prior to 10 October 2026

Claude Code Version

Desktop 2.37337.1 (bundled engines 2.1.293 and 2.1.295)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

<img width="818" height="701" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c33255ff-e1c0-4937-b04c-3ec306686b25" />

This is not the September occurrence of this bug. These were all closed as completed on 15 September 2026 with no staff comment and no fix version named, and a commenter asking whether it was really fixed got no answer:

• #90678 "Context usage pie chart shows identical value across all sessions, >50% on a fresh session (macOS desktop app)"
• #91075 "Desktop app: compact context indicator silently changed meaning, now tracks plan usage, not context window"
• #91712 "Let the Code tab's usage ring report session context, not only the 5-hour window"

Still open and related:

• #90756 "Desktop: Expose the auto-compact window in the usage ring"
• #102230 "[BUG] Session Rail context progress bar does not update", filed 15 October by a user on this same 2.37337.1 build: a different symptom in the same part of the interface.

Why this matters more than a cosmetic bug: everything else about a long conversation is recoverable, but hitting the context limit is not. The conversation compacts and whatever mattered in it becomes a summary. The ring is the only warning the interface offers, and at the moment it is answering a question nobody asked while the number that would prevent the loss sits one slash-command away.

Screenshots attached: four windows showing clearly different real percentages, and /context with /usage side by side in one window.

<img width="389" height="298" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/8e295e82-0809-46b2-b498-9d92bce79d64" />