Make Claude Code your own with a custom status line that displays at the bottom of the Claude Code interface, similar to how terminal prompts (PS1) work in shells like Oh-my-zsh.

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Create a custom status line

You can either:

  • Run /statusline to ask Claude Code to help you set up a custom status line. By default, it will try to reproduce your terminal’s prompt, but you can provide additional instructions about the behavior you want to Claude Code, such as /statusline show the model name in orange

  • Directly add a statusLine command to your .claude/settings.json:

{
  "statusLine": {
    "type": "command",
    "command": "~/.claude/statusline.sh",
    "padding": 0 // Optional: set to 0 to let status line go to edge
  }
}

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How it Works

  • The status line is updated when the conversation messages update
  • Updates run at most every 300ms
  • The first line of stdout from your command becomes the status line text
  • ANSI color codes are supported for styling your status line
  • Claude Code passes contextual information about the current session (model, directories, etc.) as JSON to your script via stdin

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JSON Input Structure

Your status line command receives structured data via stdin in JSON format:

{
  "hook_event_name": "Status",
  "session_id": "abc123...",
  "transcript_path": "/path/to/transcript.json",
  "cwd": "/current/working/directory",
  "model": {
    "id": "claude-opus-4-1",
    "display_name": "Opus"
  },
  "workspace": {
    "current_dir": "/current/working/directory",
    "project_dir": "/original/project/directory"
  },
  "version": "1.0.80",
  "output_style": {
    "name": "default"
  },
  "cost": {
    "total_cost_usd": 0.01234,
    "total_duration_ms": 45000,
    "total_api_duration_ms": 2300,
    "total_lines_added": 156,
    "total_lines_removed": 23
  }
}

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Example Scripts

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Simple Status Line

#!/bin/bash
# Read JSON input from stdin
input=$(cat)

# Extract values using jq
MODEL_DISPLAY=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.model.display_name')
CURRENT_DIR=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.workspace.current_dir')

echo "[$MODEL_DISPLAY] 📁 ${CURRENT_DIR##*/}"

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Git-Aware Status Line

#!/bin/bash
# Read JSON input from stdin
input=$(cat)

# Extract values using jq
MODEL_DISPLAY=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.model.display_name')
CURRENT_DIR=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.workspace.current_dir')

# Show git branch if in a git repo
GIT_BRANCH=""
if git rev-parse --git-dir > /dev/null 2>&1; then
    BRANCH=$(git branch --show-current 2>/dev/null)
    if [ -n "$BRANCH" ]; then
        GIT_BRANCH=" | 🌿 $BRANCH"
    fi
fi

echo "[$MODEL_DISPLAY] 📁 ${CURRENT_DIR##*/}$GIT_BRANCH"

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Python Example

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import json
import sys
import os

# Read JSON from stdin
data = json.load(sys.stdin)

# Extract values
model = data['model']['display_name']
current_dir = os.path.basename(data['workspace']['current_dir'])

# Check for git branch
git_branch = ""
if os.path.exists('.git'):
    try:
        with open('.git/HEAD', 'r') as f:
            ref = f.read().strip()
            if ref.startswith('ref: refs/heads/'):
                git_branch = f" | 🌿 {ref.replace('ref: refs/heads/', '')}"
    except:
        pass

print(f"[{model}] 📁 {current_dir}{git_branch}")

​
Node.js Example

#!/usr/bin/env node

const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');

// Read JSON from stdin
let input = '';
process.stdin.on('data', chunk => input += chunk);
process.stdin.on('end', () => {
    const data = JSON.parse(input);
    
    // Extract values
    const model = data.model.display_name;
    const currentDir = path.basename(data.workspace.current_dir);
    
    // Check for git branch
    let gitBranch = '';
    try {
        const headContent = fs.readFileSync('.git/HEAD', 'utf8').trim();
        if (headContent.startsWith('ref: refs/heads/')) {
            gitBranch = ` | 🌿 ${headContent.replace('ref: refs/heads/', '')}`;
        }
    } catch (e) {
        // Not a git repo or can't read HEAD
    }
    
    console.log(`[${model}] 📁 ${currentDir}${gitBranch}`);
});

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Helper Function Approach

For more complex bash scripts, you can create helper functions:

#!/bin/bash
# Read JSON input once
input=$(cat)

# Helper functions for common extractions
get_model_name() { echo "$input" | jq -r '.model.display_name'; }
get_current_dir() { echo "$input" | jq -r '.workspace.current_dir'; }
get_project_dir() { echo "$input" | jq -r '.workspace.project_dir'; }
get_version() { echo "$input" | jq -r '.version'; }
get_cost() { echo "$input" | jq -r '.cost.total_cost_usd'; }
get_duration() { echo "$input" | jq -r '.cost.total_duration_ms'; }
get_lines_added() { echo "$input" | jq -r '.cost.total_lines_added'; }
get_lines_removed() { echo "$input" | jq -r '.cost.total_lines_removed'; }

# Use the helpers
MODEL=$(get_model_name)
DIR=$(get_current_dir)
echo "[$MODEL] 📁 ${DIR##*/}"

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Tips

  • Keep your status line concise - it should fit on one line
  • Use emojis (if your terminal supports them) and colors to make information scannable
  • Use jq for JSON parsing in Bash (see examples above)
  • Test your script by running it manually with mock JSON input: echo '{"model":{"display_name":"Test"},"workspace":{"current_dir":"/test"}}' | ./statusline.sh
  • Consider caching expensive operations (like git status) if needed

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Troubleshooting

  • If your status line doesn’t appear, check that your script is executable (chmod +x)
  • Ensure your script outputs to stdout (not stderr)