CodexBarWindows

A small Windows tray app for checking AI coding assistant usage limits without opening a terminal.

CodexBarWindows stays in the system tray. Left-click the tray icon to open a compact popup near the taskbar with tabs for Codex and Claude usage limits, including percentage used, remaining allowance, reset time, and Codex history charts.

Features

• Native Windows tray app.
• Opens instantly and refreshes usage in the background.
• Shows loading state while usage limits are fetched.
• Displays 5 hour and weekly usage windows for one or more Codex CLI accounts.
• Shows Codex local history charts for estimated 30 day spend and model usage breakdowns from session logs.
• Displays 5 hour and weekly usage windows for Claude Code when local Claude credentials are available.
• Follows the Windows light/dark system theme.
• Draggable popup.
• Tray context menu for settings, manual update checks, and exit.
• Settings screen for adding extra Codex CLI binary paths.
• Uses the official OpenAI symbol as the tray icon.
• Per-user install script with Windows startup registration.

Requirements

• Windows 10/11.
• .NET SDK for development and publishing.
• Codex CLI installed and authenticated for Codex limits.
• Optional additional Codex CLI binaries or wrapper scripts for other authenticated accounts.
• Claude Code installed and authenticated for Claude limits.

The installer publishes a self-contained Windows build, so the installed app does not require a separate .NET runtime.

Install

From PowerShell:

.\Scripts\install.ps1

This publishes the app, installs it to:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\CodexBarWindows

It also creates a Start Menu shortcut so CodexBarWindows appears in Windows search, and registers the app to start automatically at Windows login using:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

MSI Installer

Build the MSI locally:

.\Scripts\build-installer.ps1

The MSI is written to:

Installer\bin\Release\CodexBarWindows-<version>-win-x64.msi

Install it silently:

msiexec /i .\Installer\bin\Release\CodexBarWindows-0.3.4-win-x64.msi /qn

Uninstall

.\Scripts\uninstall.ps1

This stops the app, removes the startup entry, and deletes the per-user install folder.

Development

Run a local debug build:

.\Scripts\run.ps1

Build manually:

dotnet build -c Release -r win-x64

Publish manually:

dotnet publish .\CodexBarWindows.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained:true

Project Layout

Assets/                    App icon and tray logo assets
Installer/                 WiX MSI package definition
Scripts/                   Local run, install, uninstall, and MSI build scripts
Source/App/                Program entry point and tray application context
Source/Claude/             Claude Code OAuth usage reading
Source/Codex/              Codex CLI/RPC usage reading
Source/Usage/              Shared provider usage models
Source/UI/                 Popup form, meter control, and tray icon rendering
Source/Updates/            GitHub Releases update checker
.github/workflows/         Release workflow for building and publishing MSI files

The PowerShell scripts are grouped under Scripts/ because they are the primary local commands for development, install, uninstall, and MSI packaging.

Versioning

The app version is defined in Directory.Build.props:

<VersionPrefix>0.3.4</VersionPrefix>

Use semantic versions in the form major.minor.patch. MSI upgrades use this version, and the updater compares it against GitHub release tags.

To publish a new version:

git tag v0.3.4
git push origin v0.3.4

The GitHub Actions release workflow builds an MSI and attaches it to a GitHub Release.

Auto Updates

Installed builds check GitHub Releases on startup and then every 6 hours. If a newer release exists and includes a .msi asset, the app downloads it, exits, installs the update silently, and restarts.

You can also right-click the tray icon and choose Check for updates.

Release requirements:

• Tags must look like v0.3.4.
• The release must include an MSI asset, for example CodexBarWindows-0.3.4-win-x64.msi.
• The new version must be greater than the installed assembly version.

For private repositories, GitHub release checks require authentication. The app checks these sources in order:

• CODEXBAR_GITHUB_TOKEN
• GITHUB_TOKEN
• gh auth token

If the repository is made public later, no token is required.

How Usage Is Read

For Codex, the app first asks the local Codex CLI for rate limits using the CLI app-server RPC endpoint. If live RPC data is unavailable, it falls back to local Codex session data where possible.

Codex history charts are local estimates from %USERPROFILE%\.codex\sessions and %USERPROFILE%\.codex\archived_sessions, or from %CODEX_HOME% when set. They also include pi agent sessions from %USERPROFILE%\.pi\agent\sessions, or %PI_HOME%\agent\sessions when set, for openai-codex usage. They summarize recent token rows into a 30 day spend chart and model usage breakdown. Cost values use built-in API-rate estimates and may differ from billing.

The built-in Codex tab uses CODEX_BINARY or PATH, matching the existing behavior. Extra Codex accounts can be added from the tray icon's Settings window by choosing another codex.exe, codex.cmd, .bat, or wrapper script path. Each configured binary is queried separately and appears as its own Codex tab in the tray popup.

No Codex account token is stored by this app. Authentication remains managed by the Codex CLI.

For Claude, the app reads the local Claude Code OAuth credential file at %USERPROFILE%\.claude\.credentials.json and calls Anthropic's OAuth usage endpoint. Tokens are read from Claude Code's existing local auth state and refreshed in memory only; this app does not write credentials back to disk.

Assets

The tray icon is generated from the OpenAI symbol SVG and includes light/dark variants for Windows tray visibility.