Byte Pulse
AI token usage for the macOS menu bar
Pulse lives in your menu bar and shows you live rate limits, reset times, token usage and costs for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot and Gemini CLI.
Free & open source · macOS 26+ · Apple Silicon
Live from your menu bar
- Claude Code
- Codex
- Cursor
- GitHub Copilot
- Gemini CLI
Limits, resets, tokens, costs — all scattered across five dashboards. With Pulse, your token limits are always in view.
Christian MusankeCreator of Pulse · Byte.dePulse features: all the data that matters, at a glance
Limits & resets
Hourly and weekly limits, live
Byte Pulse shows you in real time how many tokens you have left before you hit each limit.
Menu bar native
Icon view or live data
Show the limits right in your menu bar, or tuck them away behind the Pulse icon.
Trends & costs
Token usage, visualized
Different timeframes break down your token usage by model — and the associated costs — in detail.
Private by design
No accounts, no data sent
Pulse works without accounts or tracking. It reads your local data and never sends anything to third-party servers.
Nothing leaves your Mac.
Pulse is a native Swift app. AppKit and SwiftUI instead of Electron with third-party dependencies. It reads locally which tools are installed and connects over HTTPS to each provider's API. Data is never sent to a third-party server.
Everything read-only. No analytics, no accounts, no cost.
How Pulse reads your usage
OAuth token from the macOS Keychain; history from your local ~/.claude logs
ChatGPT-login tokens from ~/.codex/auth.json, against the Codex usage endpoint
Session token from Cursor's local state database, opened strictly read-only
Copilot's own GitHub token, against the same usage endpoint the IDE uses
OAuth credentials from ~/.gemini, against the quota API the CLI itself uses
Never be surprised by usage limits again.
Pulse is free and open source. If you like it, we'd love a GitHub star!
App Store release coming soon
Questions & answers about Byte Pulse
Is Byte Pulse free?
Yes. Byte Pulse is completely free and open source under the MIT license. You can download the code from GitHub and use it, or build on it yourself — with no accounts, subscriptions or the like.
Which tools and providers can Pulse track?
Byte Pulse tracks Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot and Gemini CLI. It shows remaining rate limits, reset times, token usage and cost equivalents for each tool in one native macOS menu bar panel.
Does Byte Pulse send my data anywhere?
No. All data stays on your Mac. Pulse talks only to each provider's own API, encrypted over HTTPS. There are no third-party servers, accounts or tracking. Nothing about your usage leaves your device.
How does Pulse read my usage?
Pulse accesses — strictly read-only — the credentials your own tools have already created on your Mac, such as the Claude Code token in your Keychain or Cursor's local session. With those credentials it queries the same usage APIs the tools themselves use. Your data is never overwritten, sent or refreshed.
Do I have to enter API keys or passwords?
No. Pulse reuses the logins your existing tools have already created. Manually entering API keys or passwords is not required. If a provider isn't installed or signed in, Pulse indicates that accordingly.
What are the system requirements?
Byte Pulse works best on macOS 26 or later on Apple Silicon. Pulse is a native Swift app built with AppKit and SwiftUI and no third-party dependencies, so it stays lightweight, fast and focused on doing one thing.
Does it track ChatGPT usage too?
Not yet. ChatGPT currently offers no public usage API, so its usage can't be read reliably. Pulse focuses on the coding tools that do expose their usage: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot and Gemini CLI.
How do I install Byte Pulse?
Right now you can download the full Byte Pulse source code from GitHub. Clone the repository and extend the app however you like so it fits your needs. A Mac App Store release is coming soon.