Feature request: show absolute timestamps in inline status lines (not just elapsed duration)

Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened May 19, 2026 by SoftSolid Closed May 19, 2026

Problem

When working with multiple Claude Code sessions in parallel across many
terminals, the inline status indicators show only elapsed duration:

✻ Brewed for 50s
Worked for 8m 14s
● Mark task #6 complete.

This makes it hard to orient in time after switching between consoles.
"Worked for 8m 14s" tells me how long something took, but not WHEN it
happened. After switching back to a terminal that's been idle for a
while, I can't tell at a glance whether the last action was 2 minutes
or 2 hours ago — and "8 minutes from when?" is impossible to answer
without context. Worse, sessions often span multiple days (left
running overnight, picked up next morning), so a pure clock time like
14:22 is also ambiguous.

Proposed solution

Add a setting (e.g. "timestampFormat": "absolute" | "duration" in
settings.json, or a CLI flag) that switches inline indicators to
absolute wall-clock timestamps with full date:

✻ Brewed at 2026-05-19 14:22
Worked at 2026-05-19 14:22 (took 8m 14s)
● Mark task #6 complete at 2026-05-19 14:30

Format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM is preferred over just HH:MM:SS because
sessions frequently span multiple days. Either replacing the elapsed
duration entirely, or appending the wall-clock timestamp alongside
it, would work.

Why this matters

Real workflow: developers running 10+ Claude Code instances across
projects often lose track of which session was last active and when.
Sessions can also span days (left idle overnight, resumed next
morning). A full wall-clock timestamp solves orientation instantly
without needing to glance at the system clock or compute "8 minutes
ago from when?" — and without ambiguity about which day an event
happened.

Workarounds tried

  • Custom status line with date — shows current time, but not the

time of each past action.

  • showTurnDuration: false — hides the duration but doesn't replace

it with anything useful.

Neither addresses the actual need: knowing when each step happened.

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