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wtf is clawdmeter?

hermannbjorgvin/clawdmeter — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

★ 1,120CAudience · developerComplexity · 4/5Setup · hard

TL;DR

A physical desk gadget with a touchscreen that displays your Claude Code usage limits in real time.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Clawdmeter))
    What it does
      Usage display
      Bluetooth shortcuts
    Tech stack
      C
      PlatformIO
      ESP32-S3
    Use cases
      Glanceable usage tracking
      Physical shortcut buttons
    Audience
      Claude Code power users
      Hardware tinkerers

Code map

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filefunction / class

Why would anyone build with this?

REASON 1

See your Claude Code session and weekly usage at a glance on a desk display

REASON 2

Use a physical Bluetooth button as a shortcut for Claude Code's voice mode

REASON 3

Toggle Claude Code's mode with a physical button

REASON 4

Sync usage data to the device automatically every 60 seconds

What's in the stack?

CPlatformIOESP32-S3

How it stacks up

hermannbjorgvin/clawdmeterespressif/esp-clawjwasham/practice-c
Stars1,1201,243920
LanguageCCC
Setup difficultyhardmoderateeasy
Complexity4/54/51/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you spin it up?

Difficulty · hard Time to first run · 1day+

Requires buying and assembling a Waveshare ESP32-S3 board with an AMOLED touchscreen and flashing custom firmware.

Wtf does this do

Clawdmeter is a physical desk gadget built on the ESP32-S3 microcontroller that displays your Claude Code usage in real time on a small touchscreen. Claude Code is an AI coding assistant, and like most AI services it has usage limits, Clawdmeter makes those limits visible on your desk so you always know how much of your session and weekly allowance you have left, without needing to check an app or website. The hardware is a Waveshare ESP32-S3 board with a 2.16-inch AMOLED touchscreen. It connects to your laptop over Bluetooth. A background daemon (a small program that runs quietly in the background) runs on your computer, reads your Claude usage data from API response headers every 60 seconds, and pushes those numbers to the device wirelessly. The display shows session and weekly utilization, and a pixel-art animated character on the splash screen becomes more animated the busier your usage rate is. The two side buttons serve as Bluetooth keyboard shortcuts: one sends the keypress for Claude Code's voice mode, and the other toggles Claude Code's mode, both sent as standard keyboard input over Bluetooth, so they work in whichever window is focused. You would use this if you work heavily with Claude Code and want a glanceable physical indicator of your usage, or want convenient physical shortcut buttons for Claude Code features. The firmware is written in C and built with PlatformIO. The full README is longer than what was provided.

Yoink these prompts

Prompt 1
What hardware do I need to build a Clawdmeter?
Prompt 2
How do I flash the Clawdmeter firmware onto a Waveshare ESP32-S3 board with PlatformIO?
Prompt 3
How does the background daemon read my Claude Code usage data?

Frequently asked questions

wtf is clawdmeter?

A physical desk gadget with a touchscreen that displays your Claude Code usage limits in real time.

What language is clawdmeter written in?

Mainly C. The stack also includes C, PlatformIO, ESP32-S3.

How hard is clawdmeter to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated hard, with roughly 1day+ to a first successful run.

Who is clawdmeter for?

Mainly developer.

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