Open Source Dashboard Reveals Actual Claude Code Compute Costs

What This Tool Does

A developer built an open source dashboard that calculates your actual compute costs when using Claude Code. This addresses a visibility gap: Anthropic's /limits command only shows a percentage without context, and there's no built-in way to see real compute costs.

How It Works

The developer reverse-engineered the rate limit formula from API response headers. Claude Code uses a weighted token cost model where input, output, cache creation, and cache read are all priced differently. Once you know the weights, you can calculate exact dollar burn per session.

Dashboard Features

• Real-time usage percentage (matches Anthropic's internal number exactly)
• Actual dollar cost
• Burn rate
• Peak hours tracking
• Shows which skills/hooks are firing

Key Finding

The developer discovered their $100/month maximum plan burned $13,286 in equivalent API compute in one month. This reveals the current level of subsidization, suggesting many users will face cost shocks when subsidies end.

Compatibility and Setup

The dashboard works for TUI, VS Code, and T3 Code users. It's particularly useful for IDE users who currently have zero visibility into their limits. The tool runs locally and takes approximately 60 seconds to set up.