Context light
reads as
◐ context 396k ▇▇▇▇▁▁▁▁▁▁ 40% · ≈$.08/call
- What it means
- How much of the window this session's every call re-reads, and whether Claude Code is about to compact it. The light is not a fixed percentage: a deliberate 1M-window session sits at ◐ for most of its life, ● only when the next request lands in the autocompact band or when a clean stop would let you reset cheaply.
- What to do
- At ◐, keep going and let the nudge pick the moment. At ●, take the clean stop the nudge names:
/compact <focus> if the task continues, a hand-off note and /clear if it is done.
- Advisor
- A23 Cost of continuing · A42 Natural boundary · A46 Instruction drift · A06 Compaction churn
- Measured
- percent · from the session list · the status line (after cctop install) · ≈ when the window is the model default · how
Cache light
reads as
○ cache warm 50m (1h) ≈
- What it means
- How long the cache entry that holds your context stays warm. While it is warm, every request re-reads the context at a tenth of the input price; once it expires, the next request re-writes it all. ◐ means the countdown is inside its last minutes while something waits on you; ● means one reply now saves a re-write of 50k tokens or more.
- What to do
- Answer the pending question, or end the task, before the countdown reaches zero. If the entry is already cold, the next call re-writes the context whatever you do — that is the cheap moment to switch models or effort.
- Advisor
- A19 Cache countdown · A02 Cache expiry · A21 Warm model switch · A30 Cold resume · A41 Waiting on you
- Measured
- minutes or tokens · from the session list · the status line (after cctop install) · ≈ without the status-line shim · how
Limits light
reads as
○ limits — no status line
- What it means
- Your account's 5-hour usage window — account-wide, shared by every session and subagent. ◐ means the exhaustion fit lands before the reset, or the window is past 80 %; ● means a rate-limit or spend-limit error already stopped a turn.
- What to do
- At ◐ with a long time to the reset, move exploration to cheaper subagents or a cheaper model. At ●, the reset time is the number that matters; re-sending into the same error costs the wait again. A
— means cctop install has not added the status line yet.
- Advisor
- A13 Rate-limit pacing · A47 Turn died
- Measured
- percent · from the status line (after cctop install) · the session list · exact · how
Rework light
reads as
● rework 4 blocked · edits 3 ✓ none 18m
- What it means
- The open issues in the way the work is going: calls failing in a row, corrections you had to make, calls Claude Code blocked — or, when none of those, how many source edits have piled up since the last test run. It is the outcome axis of the coach: not what the session costs, but whether it is converging.
- What to do
- ● is the coach's strongest signal and the nudge beside it says what to do: interrupt a cascade with the missing fact, restore to a checkpoint after a correction streak, add the allow rule for a denial streak, run the check before the commit. ◐ is the ordinary reminder to verify before the edits pile up.
- Advisor
- A32 Verification gap · A33 Commit without a check · A36 Correction streak · A38 Failure cascade · A45 Denial streak · A43 Destructive git · A44 Stale collision · A40 Review before merge
- Measured
- state · from the session list · git · exact · how