ai-token-monitor vs claude-code-karma
Menu-bar/tray app for macOS and Windows that reads Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode session logs and shows live token spend — per-model pricing with cache reads, plan-limit bars, webhook alerts. — versus — Local-first dashboard over ~/.claude — sessions, timelines, per-session costs, tool/agent/skill/plugin analytics, live activity via hooks, and ticket linking. No cloud, no telemetry.
Both read the session logs your coding CLI already writes, at opposite depths: ai-token-monitor is the glanceable menu-bar spend counter with plan-limit alerts; Karma is the full forensic dashboard — timelines, subagents, tools, tickets.
| ai-token-monitor | claude-code-karma | |
|---|---|---|
| Stars | 280 | 242 |
| Forks | 46 | 29 |
| Language | TypeScript | Python |
| License | — | Apache-2.0 |
| Last activity | 3 days ago | 6 days ago |
| Topics | coding | coding |
| Curated connections | 3 | 3 |
ai-token-monitor — the curator's take
Zero-setup observability for the coding-agent bill: no API keys, no proxy — it prices the session logs your CLIs already write (cache reads included) and puts today's spend next to the clock, with live 5-hour-session and weekly plan bars that ping Discord/Slack/Telegram before you hit the wall. Offline by default; the leaderboard and chat are strictly opt-in. NOT enforcement or routing — it measures, it doesn't reduce; pair it with a gateway or harness caching fixes when the number scares you. macOS/Windows only, and note the repo currently ships no license file.
claude-code-karma — the curator's take
Your ~/.claude directory is a goldmine Claude Code never shows you — Karma turns the JSONL into browsable sessions with full chronological timelines, cost and cache-hit breakdowns, subagent trees, and a surprisingly complete inventory of every plugin, skill, and hook you've installed with usage stats. Read-only ticket linking (Linear/Jira/GitHub) is the team-ready touch. Know the limits: Claude Code prunes session data after ~30 days, so history evaporates unless you keep Karma indexing; it's a two-process dev setup (FastAPI + SvelteKit), not a single binary; and it's Claude-only — no Codex/OpenCode. Pair with ai-token-monitor when all you want is the spend number next to your clock.