[FEATURE] Context in Visual Code Extension's Usage Panel

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
• [x] This is a single feature request (not multiple features)

Problem Statement

Show context-window usage in the VS Code extension's usage panel

Summary

The VS Code extension's sidebar usage panel shows two progress bars — Session (5hr) and Weekly (7 day) — both rate-limit consumption. Please add a third bar for current context-window usage.

Proposed Solution

Motivation

Context usage is the number that changes what I do next: whether to start a new session, compact, or keep going. Rate-limit bars tell me about my quota over hours and days; context tells me about the conversation in front of me right now.

The CLI already surfaces all three. A custom statusLine script receives rate_limits.five_hour.used_percentage, rate_limits.seven_day.used_percentage, and context_window.used_percentage in the same payload, and renders them as three bars side by side. The extension's panel draws the first two and drops the third — even though the data is already flowing through the same channel.

So this isn't new plumbing. It's surfacing a field the status-line payload already carries, in a panel that already renders two of its three siblings.

Current behaviour

Sidebar panel:

Session (5hr)     99%
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
Resets in 2h

Weekly (7 day)    88%
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░
Resets in 2h

Requested behaviour

Session (5hr)     99%
Weekly (7 day)    88%
Context           78%          ← added
315k / 400k

Colour thresholds matching the CLI convention would be a bonus (green → amber ~70% → red ~80%), since that's what users of custom status lines are already reading.

Alternative Solutions

_No response_

Priority

Critical - Blocking my work

Feature Category

CLI commands and flags

Use Case Example

_No response_

Additional Context

Motivation

Context usage is the number that changes what I do next: whether to start a new session, compact, or keep going. Rate-limit bars tell me about my quota over hours and days; context tells me about the conversation in front of me right now.

The CLI already surfaces all three. A custom statusLine script receives rate_limits.five_hour.used_percentage, rate_limits.seven_day.used_percentage, and context_window.used_percentage in the same payload, and renders them as three bars side by side. The extension's panel draws the first two and drops the third — even though the data is already flowing through the same channel.

So this isn't new plumbing. It's surfacing a field the status-line payload already carries, in a panel that already renders two of its three siblings.

Current behaviour

Sidebar panel:

Session (5hr)     99%
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
Resets in 2h

Weekly (7 day)    88%
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░
Resets in 2h

Requested behaviour

Session (5hr)     99%
Weekly (7 day)    88%
Context           78%          ← added
315k / 400k

Colour thresholds matching the CLI convention would be a bonus (green → amber ~70% → red ~80%), since that's what users of custom status lines are already reading.

What I checked before filing

There is currently no supported way to do this myself:

• Claude Code settings.json: the schema exposes statusLine and subagentStatusLine. Neither reaches the extension's panel, and there is no key for the sidebar.
• Extension settings (anthropic.claude-code-2.1.251): 16 contributed properties under claudeCode.*. None relate to the usage panel, context, or tokens.
• Extension commands: no registered command matching usage, context, status, or token.
• Extension views: claudeVSCodeSidebar, claudeVSCodeSidebarSecondary, claudeVSCodeSessionsList — opaque containers with no contribution point for additional rows.

Workarounds, and why they fall short

• claudeCode.useTerminal: true launches Claude in the terminal, where a custom statusLine renders with all three bars. But it's all-or-nothing: it replaces the native chat UI entirely — session list, tool cards, clickable file links. Trading the whole editor experience for one number isn't a real option.
• A Stop hook emitting systemMessage can print context usage into the native UI after each turn. It works, but it's after-the-fact rather than live, and it puts a line of chrome in the conversation instead of a bar in the panel.

Neither gets a live indicator into the place users already look.

Environment

• Extension: anthropic.claude-code 2.1.251 (win32-x64)
• VS Code on Windows 11
• Using the native panel UI (not the integrated terminal)