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How Crustat works
Crustat lives in your menu bar and gives you a glance-able view of your Claude Code usage. Here’s what it shows, what each part needs, and how to fix the occasional hiccup.
First launch: the first time you open Crustat, macOS asks for your Mac login password so it can read your existing Claude Code login from the keychain. Enter it and click Always Allow — it’s expected and safe, and lets Crustat show your live rate limits. (More on why, below.)
System requirements
- macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later
- Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) — the current build is Apple-Silicon only
- Claude Code installed and signed in — required for the live rate-limit display (see below)
- Signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens without security warnings
What Crustat shows — and what each part needs
Crustat has two independent halves. The local stats always work; the live limits need a Claude subscription login.
| What you see | Where it comes from | Needs Claude login? |
|---|---|---|
| Token usage — today / this week, by model, by project, and the 7-day trend | Read locally from your Claude Code session logs | No — always works |
| Service status — Anthropic uptime | status.anthropic.com | No |
| Rate limits — your usage-% toward your plan limits, and the menu-bar badge | Anthropic's account API, using your Claude Code login | Yes |
So even without signing in, Crustat is a useful local usage dashboard — the limits section is the part that needs your Claude login.
Signing in & the keychain prompt
The live rate-limit % uses the login token that Claude Code already stores in your Mac’s keychain. The first time Crustat reads it, macOS shows this prompt:
Enter your Mac’s login password and click Always Allow so you’re not asked again. This is expected and safe: the password goes to macOS (not to Crustat) to unlock the keychain item, and Crustat only reads your existing Claude Code login locally to call Anthropic’s own API. The token never leaves your machine except in requests to Anthropic.
Live limits require a Claude subscription login (Pro/Max) in Claude Code. If you use Claude Code with an API key, Amazon Bedrock, or Google Vertex, there’s no subscription login to read, so the limits section stays empty — but token usage and status still work.
Troubleshooting
- “Sign in to Claude Code to see limits.”
- You’re not signed into Claude Code with a Claude subscription. Open Claude Code and log in. (If you use an API key, Amazon Bedrock, or Google Vertex, the limits feature isn’t available — but the rest of Crustat still works.)
- “Token expired — open Claude Code to refresh.”
- Your Claude Code login has expired. Just open Claude Code; it refreshes the login automatically, and Crustat picks it up on the next refresh (or click Refresh in the gear menu).
- The menu-bar percentage is blank.
- The percentage is part of the rate-limits feature — it appears once you’re signed into Claude Code. Token-usage stats inside the popover work regardless.
- I clicked “Deny” on the keychain prompt by mistake.
- Open Keychain Access, search “Claude Code-credentials”, double-click it → Access Control tab, and either add Crustat to the allowed apps or choose “Allow all applications.” Then reopen Crustat.
- “Couldn’t load limits (…).”
- A temporary network or API issue. Crustat keeps showing your last-known limits and retries automatically.
Privacy
Crustat runs entirely on your Mac. It reads your local Claude Code session logs and your existing Claude Code login, and talks only to Anthropic’s own services (for limits and status). No analytics, no telemetry, no servers of ours — none of your data is sent anywhere else. See the Privacy Policy for details.
Updates
Crustat keeps itself up to date automatically. You can also check any time with Check for Updates… — right-click the menu-bar icon, or use the gear in the popover. Updates are cryptographically signed.