Feature Request: Statusline should show total context usage (matching /context)
Resolved 💬 9 comments Opened Dec 26, 2025 by Rica-VibeCoding Closed Apr 29, 2026
Problem
The statusline shows token usage that differs from what /context displays, causing confusion about actual context consumption.
Example:
/contextshows:43k/200k tokens (21%)- Statusline shows:
0/200k
The discrepancy occurs because the statusline only tracks conversation messages, while /context shows total context including:
- System prompt (~4.6k tokens)
- System tools (~16.7k tokens)
- MCP tools (~18.2k tokens)
- Custom agents (~1.6k tokens)
- Memory files (~1.4k tokens)
- Messages
Why this matters
- Trust: Users can't rely on the statusline to know their real context usage
- Context management: The "fixed cost" of system prompt + tools is significant (~40k tokens) and invisible in the statusline
- Workflow: Having to run
/contextfrequently interrupts the flow
Proposed solution
Add an option to the statusline to display total context usage (matching /context), not just message tokens.
This could be:
- A new statusline variable like
context_window.total_usagethat includes system prompt, tools, MCP, agents, and memory - Or a configuration option to toggle between "messages only" vs "total context" display
Current workaround
Run /context manually whenever accurate context usage is needed.
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