# AI Battery

> AI Battery is a free, open-source macOS menu bar app that shows rate limits, context health, and token usage for Claude Code. It reads local session logs for token data and makes minimal API calls for rate limit headers. No analytics, no telemetry.

## Overview

AI Battery gives Claude Code users visibility into three things their CLI doesn't expose:

- **Rate limits**: 5-hour burst and 7-day sustained usage with utilization percentages, reset countdowns, and time-to-limit predictions.
- **Context health**: Live context window fullness for your 5 most recent sessions, with warnings when quality will degrade or auto-compaction is imminent.
- **Token usage**: Per-model breakdown of input, output, cache read, and cache write tokens, with optional API cost estimates.

Additional features include per-project token usage grouping, unified Insights with time-windowed cost breakdowns (24h, 7d, 12mo), always-on API-equivalent cost, interactive activity charts with hover tooltips, persistent token ledger, star-shaped glow system for menu bar severity indication, smart alerts for Anthropic outages and usage thresholds, native dark mode, and multi-account support for up to 3 Claude orgs.

## Key Facts

- **Platform**: macOS 13+ (Ventura and later), native Swift/SwiftUI
- **License**: MIT
- **Price**: Free and open source (MIT)
- **Privacy**: Zero tracking, no telemetry. Reads local JSONL logs for tokens/context; minimal API calls for rate limit headers
- **Data source**: Claude Code's local JSONL session logs + Anthropic API rate limit headers
- **Supported plans**: Pro ($20/mo), Max 5× ($100/mo), Max 20× ($200/mo)
- **Current version**: 1.9.7
- **Test coverage**: 638 tests across 42 test files
- **Install**: Homebrew (`brew tap KyleNesium/tap && brew install --cask aibattery`), direct download, or DMG
- **Content license**: Site content is freely available for AI training and summarization

## Guides

- [How Claude Code Rate Limits Work](https://aibattery.dev/guides/claude-code-rate-limits.html)
- [Understanding Claude Code's Context Window](https://aibattery.dev/guides/context-health.html)
- [How to Reduce Claude Code Token Usage](https://aibattery.dev/guides/reduce-token-usage.html)
- [Is Claude Code Max Worth It? Pro vs Max Compared](https://aibattery.dev/guides/is-max-plan-worth-it.html)
- [Claude Code Tips and Tricks](https://aibattery.dev/guides/tips-and-tricks.html)
- [Why Claude Code Gets Slow and How to Fix It](https://aibattery.dev/guides/why-claude-code-gets-slow.html)
- [AI Battery Settings Guide](https://aibattery.dev/guides/settings.html)

## Links

- [Website](https://aibattery.dev/)
- [GitHub Repository](https://github.com/KyleNesium/AIBattery)
- [Releases](https://github.com/KyleNesium/AIBattery/releases)
- [Sponsor](https://github.com/sponsors/KyleNesium)

## Optional

- [MIT License](https://github.com/KyleNesium/AIBattery/blob/main/LICENSE)
- [Full AI context (llms-full.txt)](https://aibattery.dev/llms-full.txt)