🪨 why use many token when few token do trick — Claude Code skill that cuts 65% of tokens by talking like caveman
Terminal monitor for Claude Code and Codex CLI
abtop is a read-only terminal dashboard for AI coding agent sessions. It discovers local Claude Code and Codex CLI state, then shows usage, limits, ports, and process info in one screen. It also provides a JSON snapshot mode for scripts and a library API for tools that want the same collected state without rerunning the scans.

Builders who run Claude Code or Codex CLI and want to watch several sessions at once.
You can see session health, limits, and orphaned ports without switching between terminals.
What it does
Live session dashboard
Shows active Claude Code, Codex CLI, and OpenCode sessions in a TUI.
Token and context tracking
Displays token usage and context window percentage, with warnings as sessions fill up.
Rate limit monitoring
Shows quota and rate-limit state in real time for supported agents.
Process and port visibility
Lists child processes and open ports so you can spot orphaned servers.
Terminal jump
Lets you press Enter to jump to the terminal running the selected session in tmux, cmux, or iTerm2.
Theme and panel settings
Includes built-in themes, panel toggles, mouse support, and config file options in `~/.config/abtop/config.toml`.
JSON snapshot and library API
Provides `abtop --json` and a Rust `App` API for scripts or local tools that want the same collected state.
How to get it
- 1[!IMPORTANT] On Linux, ensure sqlite3 is installed to enable monitoring for OpenCode…
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/graykode/abtop/releases/latest/download/abtop-installer.sh | sh
- 2Run
cargo install abtop
- 3Native support — no WSL required. Uses sysinfo for process info and host CPU/MEM…
powershell -c "irm https://github.com/graykode/abtop/releases/latest/download/abtop-installer.ps1 | iex"
- 4Run
abtop # Launch TUI abtop --once # Print snapshot and exit abtop --json # Print one JSON snapshot and exit (for scripts/tools) abtop --setup # Install rate limit collection hook abtop --theme dracula # Launch with a specific theme abtop --mouse # Enable mouse click/scroll navigation
- 5Press Enter to focus the terminal running the selected agent. abtop supports cmux, tmux,…
tmux new -s work # pane 0: abtop # pane 1: claude (project A) # pane 2: claude (project B) # → Enter on a session in abtop jumps to its pane
README
abtop
Like btop, but for your AI coding agents.
See every Claude Code, Codex CLI, and OpenCode session at a glance — token usage, context window %, rate limits, child processes, open ports, and more. Claude Code, Codex CLI, and OpenCode sessions are discovered from local process/file state, so multiple active profiles are supported across macOS, Linux, and Windows.

Why
- Running 3+ agents across projects? See them all in one screen.
- Hitting rate limits? Watch your quota in real-time.
- Agent spawned a server and forgot to kill it? Orphan port detection.
- Context window filling up? Per-session % bars with warnings.
All read-only. No API keys. No auth.
Install
macOS / Linux
[!IMPORTANT] On Linux, ensure
sqlite3is installed to enable monitoring for OpenCode sessions.
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/graykode/abtop/releases/latest/download/abtop-installer.sh | sh
Cargo
cargo install abtop
Windows
Native support — no WSL required. Uses sysinfo for process info and host CPU/MEM metrics, and netstat -ano for listening ports. Windows has no load average, so LOAD is reported as 0. OpenCode session discovery additionally requires the sqlite3 CLI (winget install SQLite.SQLite); without it abtop prints a one-time warning to stderr.
powershell -c "irm https://github.com/graykode/abtop/releases/latest/download/abtop-installer.ps1 | iex"
Or cargo install abtop from any terminal with Git in PATH. Claude Code config is resolved automatically from %USERPROFILE%\.claude.
Other
Pre-built binaries for all platforms are available on the GitHub Releases page.
Usage
abtop # Launch TUI
abtop --once # Print snapshot and exit
abtop --json # Print one JSON snapshot and exit (for scripts/tools)
abtop --setup # Install rate limit collection hook
abtop --theme dracula # Launch with a specific theme
abtop --mouse # Enable mouse click/scroll navigation
Recommended terminal size: 120x40 or larger. Minimum 80x24 — panels hide gracefully when small.
Mouse capture is off by default so terminal drag selection and copy keep working. Launch with --mouse if you prefer click targets and wheel navigation.
Terminal Jump
Press Enter to focus the terminal running the selected agent. abtop supports cmux, tmux, and iTerm2 on macOS.
tmux new -s work
# pane 0: abtop
# pane 1: claude (project A)
# pane 2: claude (project B)
# → Enter on a session in abtop jumps to its pane
Supported Agents
| Feature | Claude Code | Codex CLI | OpenCode |
|---|---|---|---|
| Session Discovery | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Token Tracking | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Context Window % | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Status Detection | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Current Task | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Rate Limit | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Git Status | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Children / Ports | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Subagents | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Memory Status | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
OpenCode support reads the local SQLite database at ~/.local/share/opencode/opencode.db (also the default location on Windows; %LOCALAPPDATA%\opencode and %APPDATA%\opencode are probed as fallbacks) and requires sqlite3 in PATH (on Windows: winget install SQLite.SQLite).
Themes
12 built-in themes, including 4 colorblind-friendly options (high-contrast, protanopia, deuteranopia, tritanopia). Press t to cycle at runtime, or launch with --theme <name>. Your choice is saved to ~/.config/abtop/config.toml.
| btop (default) | dracula | catppuccin |
|---|---|---|
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
| tokyo-night | gruvbox | nord |
|---|---|---|
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Colorblind-friendly themes:
| high-contrast | protanopia |
|---|---|
![]() | ![]() |
| deuteranopia | tritanopia |
|---|---|
![]() | ![]() |
Light themes (light — Solarized cream, white — GitHub-style pure white) for bright terminals:
| light | white |
|---|---|
![]() | ![]() |
Configuration
~/.config/abtop/config.toml supports:
theme = "btop"
# Hide specific agent CLIs from the TUI (case-insensitive).
# Useful if you only use one agent and want a cleaner view.
hidden_agents = ["codex"]
# Additional Claude Code profile roots to scan.
# abtop also auto-discovers ~/.claude and ~/.claude-* roots that contain
# both sessions/ and projects/.
claude_config_dirs = ["~/.claude-personal", "~/.claude-work-team"]
# UI language. Omit or leave empty to auto-detect from LANG.
language = "zh"
Supported Languages
| Code | Language |
|---|---|
en | English (default) |
zh | Simplified Chinese |
When language is unset, abtop auto-detects from LANG — any value starting with zh switches to Simplified Chinese, otherwise English.
Key Bindings
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
↑/↓ or k/j | Select session |
Enter | Jump to session terminal |
x | Kill selected session |
X | Kill all orphan ports |
t | Cycle theme |
1–5 | Toggle panel visibility |
Esc | Open/close config page |
q | Quit |
r | Force refresh |
Library / JSON snapshot
abtop is also a library crate, so local tools can reuse its data-collection layer in-process — no re-scanning, no subprocesses — and serialize the same state the TUI renders.
abtop --json # one-shot JSON snapshot for scripts
For long-running consumers, build an App, refresh it with
App::tick_no_summaries() (which never spawns claude --print, so it doesn't
touch your Claude quota), and call App::to_snapshot(interval_ms) to get a
JSON-serializable [Snapshot]:
use abtop::app::App;
use abtop::{config, theme::Theme};
let cfg = config::load_config();
let mut app = App::new_with_config_and_claude_dirs(
Theme::default(), &cfg.hidden_agents, cfg.panels, &cfg.claude_config_dirs,
);
app.tick_no_summaries();
let json = serde_json::to_string(&app.to_snapshot(2_000)).unwrap();
App is not Send (it owns the collectors), so keep it on one thread and pass
the serialized JSON elsewhere. abtop-web-ui
is a reference consumer: a local-first web dashboard built on exactly this API.
Privacy
abtop reads local files and local process/open-file metadata only. No API keys, no auth. In the TUI and --once output, tool names and file paths are shown, but file contents and prompt text are never displayed. Session summaries are generated via claude --print, which makes its own API call — this is the only indirect network usage.
The JSON snapshot includes richer local dashboard data, including summary, chat_messages, working directories, config roots, tool-call previews, child process commands, token counts, and port metadata. Chat text is bounded and redacted by the collectors, but it is still derived from local transcripts and may contain sensitive project context. Treat JSON snapshots as local/private data and avoid writing them to shared logs or exposing them on a network without your own access controls.
Acknowledgements
Huge thanks to @tbouquet for driving much of abtop's recent shape — themes, config overlay and panel toggles, session filtering, subagent tree view, the context window gauge with compaction detection, plus a steady stream of fixes and security hardening along the way.
License
MIT
Files in the repo
- .github
- assets
- scripts
- src
- .gitignore
- AGENTS.md
- Cargo.lock
- Cargo.toml
- CLAUDE.md
- dist-workspace.toml
- LICENSE
- README.md
Discussion (0)
Ask about usage, or say what you built with itSign in to join the discussion.
No comments yet. Be the first to say what this is good for.
More tools
The best-benchmarked open-source AI memory system. And it's free.
Orca is the ADE for working with a fleet of parallel agents. Run any coding agent with your own subscription. Available on desktop, mobile and remote runtime.

A cross-platform desktop All-in-One assistant for Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, OpenClaw, Grok Build & Hermes Agent. Only official website: ccswitch.io
Never stop coding. Free MIT AI gateway: one endpoint, 352 providers (150+ free), 1200+ models Kimi, Claude, GPT, Gemini, GLM, DeepSeek, MiniMax. Works with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, Cline & Copilot. Quota-aware auto-fallback, RTK+Caveman compression saves 15-95% tokens, MCP/A2A, Desktop/PWA. Built by 550+ contributors
Compress tool outputs, logs, files, and RAG chunks before they reach the LLM. 20% fewer tokens for coding agents, 60-95% fewer tokens for JSON, same answers. Library, proxy, MCP server.











