tiennm99
77325b1e00
User report on v0.1.14: text appears semi-transparent, desktop wallpaper
bleeds through glyph pixels.
Root cause: GDI's DrawTextW writes only RGB into 32bpp BI_RGB DIBs — the
"reserved" alpha byte (byte 3) is not preserved per the BITMAPINFOHEADER
contract. When UpdateLayeredWindow later composites with AC_SRC_ALPHA, it
reads alpha=0 at every glyph pixel and shows them as fully transparent.
The pre-v0.1.13 pipeline worked around this with an apply_alpha_mask
post-pass that OR'd 0xFF000000 into every pixel inside the rounded rect.
The stadium-shape rewrite (526786b) removed it on the false assumption
that tiny-skia's per-pixel alpha would "stick" through subsequent GDI
writes — but GDI runs *after* tiny-skia in the pipeline, so any pixel
GDI text writes to loses the alpha that tiny-skia set.
Fix: re-stamp the alpha channel from the original Pixmap after the GDI
text overlay. This restores tiny-skia's exact alpha values (255 in the
stadium interior, partial on the AA curved perimeter, 0 outside),
including the AA fade at the stadium's rounded ends.
Implementation:
- new helper `restore_alpha_from_pixmap(pixmap, dst)` next to the
existing `copy_pixmap_to_dib`
- hoist `pixmap` out of the if-let arm in render() so it survives until
after `paint_bubble_text`
- call `restore_alpha_from_pixmap` post-text
Two parallel reviewers (debugger + code-reviewer) converged on the same
diagnosis; the debugger preferred this approach for its simplicity and
because it's robust to any GDI behavior (whether alpha is zeroed,
untouched, or scribbled on, we overwrite with the known-good value).
Build clean.
Claude Code Usage Bubble
A floating, draggable circular bubble that shows your Claude Code and/or Codex usage on Windows — inspired by the floating "memory boost ball" UX of 360 Security and IObit Advanced SystemCare.
Drop it anywhere on screen, drag it around, snap it to a monitor edge, left-click for a panel with both your 5-hour and 7-day windows, right-click for the menu.
Acknowledgements
Inspired by CodeZeno/Claude-Code-Usage-Monitor, which solves the same "how close am I to the Claude Code limit?" problem with a horizontal taskbar widget. This project takes the UX in a different direction — a floating, draggable circular bubble that the user can place anywhere on screen — and is a clean-room implementation: the HTTP client, provider polling, credential discovery, localisation, tray rendering, and self-updater are all written from scratch against the same public APIs (Anthropic, ChatGPT, GitHub Releases).
What you get
- A circular floating bubble showing your current 5-hour Claude Code or Codex usage as a percentage and a colored progress ring
- Drag anywhere — the bubble snaps to monitor work-area edges when released
- Resize with
Ctrl + MouseWheelon the bubble (32–128 pixels) - Left-click the bubble for an expanded panel with both 5h and 7d bars plus reset countdowns
- Right-click for refresh, displayed models, update frequency, language, startup, updates, exit
- Optional system tray icons (one per enabled model)
- Auto-hide when a fullscreen app is in the foreground (games, video, presentations) — reappears when you leave fullscreen
Who this is for
Windows 10/11 users who already have Claude Code (CLI or App) installed and signed in. Codex support is optional — install and sign in to the Codex CLI, then enable Codex from the right-click Models menu.
If you use Claude Code through WSL, that is supported too. The monitor can read your Claude Code credentials from Windows or from your WSL environment.
Requirements
- Windows 10 or Windows 11
- Claude Code (CLI or App) installed and authenticated
- Optional: Codex CLI installed and authenticated, if you want Codex usage
Install
Download the latest release
Grab claude-code-usage-bubble.exe from the
Releases page.
Put it anywhere on disk (e.g. %LOCALAPPDATA%\ClaudeCodeUsageBubble\) and
run it. The app self-updates from the same Releases feed.
First-run note: the binary is unsigned, so SmartScreen will show "Windows protected your PC". Click More info → Run anyway. Code signing is on the roadmap.
Build from source
git clone https://github.com/tiennm99/claude-code-usage-bubble
cd claude-code-usage-bubble
cargo build --release
The binary lands at target/release/claude-code-usage-bubble.exe.
Use
Run claude-code-usage-bubble.exe. The bubble appears near the bottom-right
corner of your primary monitor on first launch. Drag it where you want it,
release to snap to the nearest edge if you let go close to one.
- Left-click the bubble to open the expanded panel (5h + 7d + countdowns)
- Right-click for refresh, models, refresh frequency, language, "Start with Windows", auto-update check (Disabled / Hourly / Daily / Weekly), manual "Check for updates", exit
- Drag anywhere — it floats on top of all other windows
- Ctrl + MouseWheel on the bubble to resize it
- Tray icon (if enabled): left-click toggles the bubble visibility, right-click opens the same menu
Models
Use the right-click Models menu to choose what is shown:
- Claude Code is enabled by default
- Codex can be enabled alongside Claude Code or shown by itself
When both models are shown, each gets its own bubble that you can position independently.
Diagnostics
claude-code-usage-bubble.exe --diagnose
This writes a log file to:
%TEMP%\claude-code-usage-bubble.log
Settings are saved to:
%APPDATA%\ClaudeCodeUsageBubble\settings.json
Privacy and security
What the app reads:
- Your local Claude Code OAuth credentials from
~/.claude/.credentials.json - If needed, the same credentials file inside an installed WSL distro
- If Codex is enabled, your local Codex credentials from
$CODEX_HOME/auth.jsonor~/.codex/auth.json
What the app sends over the network:
- Requests to Anthropic's Claude endpoints to read your usage
- Requests to ChatGPT's Codex usage endpoint, if Codex is enabled
- Requests to GitHub only if you use the app's update-check feature
What the app stores locally:
- Bubble position(s) per model
- Bubble size
- Polling frequency
- Language preference
- Last update check time
- Displayed model preferences
What it does not do: send credentials to any third-party server, run a
backend service, collect analytics, upload your project files, or write to
your Codex auth.json directly.
License
Apache License 2.0 — see LICENSE.