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Status Line

Display custom information beneath the footer using a shell command.

The status line lets you run a shell command whose output is displayed as a persistent line below the footer bar. The command receives structured JSON context via stdin, so it can show session-aware information like the current model, token usage, git branch, or anything else you can script.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  ? for shortcuts                  🔒 docker | Debug | ◼◼◼◻ 67% │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  user@host ~/project (main) qwen-3-235b  ctx:34%               │  ← status line
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Prerequisites

  • jq is recommended for parsing the JSON input (install via brew install jq, apt install jq, etc.)
  • Simple commands that don't need JSON data (e.g. git branch --show-current) work without jq

Quick setup

The easiest way to configure a status line is the /statusline command. It launches a setup agent that reads your shell PS1 configuration and generates a matching status line:

/statusline

You can also give it specific instructions:

/statusline show model name and context usage percentage

Manual configuration

Add a statusLine object under the ui key in ~/.qwen/settings.json:

{
  "ui": {
    "statusLine": {
      "type": "command",
      "command": "input=$(cat); model=$(echo \"$input\" | jq -r '.model.id'); tokens=$(echo \"$input\" | jq -r '.context_window.last_prompt_token_count'); echo \"$model  ctx:$tokens\"",
      "padding": 0
    }
  }
}
Field Type Required Description
type "command" Yes Must be "command"
command string Yes Shell command to execute. Receives JSON via stdin, first line of stdout is displayed.
padding number No Horizontal padding (default: 0)

JSON input

The command receives a JSON object via stdin with the following fields:

{
  "session_id": "abc-123",
  "cwd": "/home/user/project",
  "model": {
    "id": "qwen-3-235b"
  },
  "context_window": {
    "context_window_size": 131072,
    "last_prompt_token_count": 45000
  },
  "vim": {
    "mode": "INSERT"
  }
}
Field Type Description
session_id string Unique session identifier
cwd string Current working directory
model.id string Current model identifier
context_window.context_window_size number Total context window size
context_window.last_prompt_token_count number Tokens used in the last prompt
vim object | absent Present only when vim mode is enabled. Contains mode ("INSERT" or "NORMAL").

Important: stdin can only be read once. Always store it in a variable first: input=$(cat).

Examples

Model and token usage

{
  "ui": {
    "statusLine": {
      "type": "command",
      "command": "input=$(cat); model=$(echo \"$input\" | jq -r '.model.id'); tokens=$(echo \"$input\" | jq -r '.context_window.last_prompt_token_count'); size=$(echo \"$input\" | jq -r '.context_window.context_window_size'); pct=$((tokens * 100 / (size > 0 ? size : 1))); echo \"$model  ctx:${pct}%\""
    }
  }
}

Output: qwen-3-235b ctx:34%

Git branch + directory

{
  "ui": {
    "statusLine": {
      "type": "command",
      "command": "branch=$(git branch --show-current 2>/dev/null); dir=$(basename \"$PWD\"); echo \"$dir${branch:+ ($branch)}\""
    }
  }
}

Output: my-project (main)

Note: git and pwd run in the workspace directory automatically.

Script file for complex commands

For longer commands, save a script file at ~/.qwen/statusline-command.sh:

#!/bin/bash
input=$(cat)
model=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.model.id')
tokens=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.context_window.last_prompt_token_count')
size=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.context_window.context_window_size')
branch=$(git branch --show-current 2>/dev/null)

parts=()
[ -n "$model" ] && parts+=("$model")
[ -n "$branch" ] && parts+=("($branch)")
if [ "$tokens" -gt 0 ] && [ "$size" -gt 0 ] 2>/dev/null; then
  pct=$((tokens * 100 / size))
  parts+=("ctx:${pct}%")
fi

echo "${parts[*]}"

Then reference it in settings:

{
  "ui": {
    "statusLine": {
      "type": "command",
      "command": "bash ~/.qwen/statusline-command.sh"
    }
  }
}

Behavior

  • Update triggers: The status line updates when the model changes, a new message is sent (token count changes), or vim mode is toggled. Updates are debounced (300ms).
  • Timeout: Commands that take longer than 5 seconds are killed. The status line clears on failure.
  • Output: Only the first line of stdout is used. The text is rendered with dimmed colors and truncated to terminal width.
  • Hot reload: Changes to ui.statusLine in settings take effect immediately — no restart required.
  • Shell: Commands run via /bin/sh on macOS/Linux. On Windows, cmd.exe is used by default — wrap POSIX commands with bash -c "..." or point to a bash script (e.g. bash ~/.qwen/statusline-command.sh).
  • Removal: Delete the ui.statusLine key from settings to disable. The status line disappears and the "? for shortcuts" hint returns.

Troubleshooting

Problem Cause Fix
Status line not showing Config at wrong path Must be under ui.statusLine, not root-level statusLine
Empty output Command fails silently Test manually: echo '{"model":{"id":"test"},"cwd":"/tmp","context_window":{"context_window_size":1,"last_prompt_token_count":0}}' | sh -c 'your_command'
Stale data No trigger fired Send a message or switch models to trigger an update
Command too slow Complex script Optimize the script or move heavy work to a background cache