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Claude Code VS Code Status Bar Indicator

A VS Code status bar indicator that shows the aggregate state of all your Claude Code conversations at a glance. Never miss a waiting prompt again.

What It Does

When you run multiple Claude Code conversations in VS Code, the only way to check which ones need attention is opening the sidebar dropdown. This extension adds a persistent status bar indicator that shows:

State Status Bar Notification
Waiting for input [bell] 1 waiting, 2 working (yellow) Toast + bell sound
Working [spin] 3 working --
All idle [check] Claude: Idle Toast + complete sound
No sessions Hidden --

Priority: If any session is waiting, the indicator shows waiting (yellow). This ensures you always unblock Claude first.

How It Works

Two components:

  1. Claude Code hooks (update-state.sh) -- Write per-session state to /tmp/claude-code-sessions/{session_id}.json whenever Claude changes state
  2. VS Code extension (extension.js) -- Watches the state directory and updates the status bar with aggregated counts

Hook-to-State Mapping

Hook Event Matcher State
UserPromptSubmit * working
PreToolUse AskUserQuestion|Bash|Write|Edit waiting
PostToolUse Bash|Write|Edit working
Notification * waiting
Stop * idle
SessionEnd * delete

The PreToolUse/PostToolUse pairing catches permission prompts: PreToolUse sets "waiting" before the permission dialog, PostToolUse sets "working" after approval. For auto-approved tools, both fire within milliseconds and the 300ms debounce prevents flickering.

Requirements

  • VS Code with Claude Code extension
  • Linux (uses notify-send and paplay for notifications)
  • jq for JSON parsing in hooks

Installation

git clone https://github.com/ericchen59/vs-code-status-bar-indicator.git
cd vs-code-status-bar-indicator
bash install.sh

Then merge the hooks config into your ~/.claude/settings.json. See hooks/claude-hooks-example.json for the full hooks configuration to add.

After installation:

  1. Reload VS Code (Ctrl+Shift+P -> "Developer: Reload Window")
  2. Restart Claude Code sessions (hooks load at session start)

File Structure

vs-code-status-bar-indicator/
  extension/
    package.json      # VS Code extension manifest
    extension.js      # Extension logic (~160 lines)
  hooks/
    update-state.sh               # Hook script called by Claude Code
    claude-hooks-example.json     # Example hooks config for settings.json
  install.sh          # Installation script
  README.md

Configuration

Notifications

The extension fires desktop notifications via notify-send and audio via paplay using freedesktop sounds:

  • Waiting transition: bell.oga
  • All idle transition: complete.oga

Staleness

Sessions with no update in 5 minutes are treated as idle. Session files older than 30 minutes are automatically cleaned up.

Known Limitations

  • Linux only (notifications use notify-send + paplay)
  • Hook-based state tracking may have slight delay compared to the extension's native session dots
  • If Claude crashes without firing Stop/SessionEnd, the session is treated as idle after 5 minutes

License

MIT