Statusline token counter doesn't reset on /clear — misleading after first clear
Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened Apr 6, 2026 by camacho Closed Apr 10, 2026
Problem
The statusline token counter tracks cumulative session usage (across the entire CLI process). When a user runs /clear, the conversation context resets but the token counter does not. After the first /clear, the counter no longer reflects the current conversation's token usage.
Why it matters
Users rely on the token count to:
- Judge context pressure — deciding when to compact, delegate to subagents, or clear
- Evaluate cost/benefit — understanding whether a subagent call or exploration was worth the tokens
- Decide when to
/clear— but after the first clear, the counter is a running total with no way to separate current vs previous conversation usage
After /clear, a counter showing 200K when actual context is 15K is actively misleading for these decisions.
Suggested fix
Either:
- Reset the counter on
/clear(simplest, matches user mental model) - Show both: session total and since-last-clear (e.g.,
15K / 200K tokens) - Show context size instead of or alongside cumulative tokens (what the user actually needs for decision-making)
Environment
- Claude Code CLI (macOS)
- Observed with statusline enabled
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