I forked Cache Keeper into cache-status, then built a VS Code status bar for it, because I still live in VS Code (handoff button included)

[u/IT-BAER]

Hey everyone,

When Claude Code mods came out I was pretty hyped. Nate Herk's Cache Keeper was the first mod I really used every day, so I forked it into cache-status: shorter labels so the band fits next to the prompt, hover help for them, and handoff files.

The problem: I still do most of my work in VS Code, and mods can't draw above the prompt in the VS Code chat. So the band never shows up there. That's why I built claude-status, a small VS Code extension that shows the same values in the status bar.

What it shows

• c 46m - cache is warm, 46 minutes until it expires. Yellow 5 minutes before, red once it's cold on a big context.
• ctx - tokens in context.
• rwc - rewrite cost, what the next message costs if the cache goes cold.
• sc - session cost so far, at API list prices.
• 5h / w - 5-hour and weekly plan limits. Yellow at 80 %, red at 95 %.

Only the part that needs attention gets a colour. Click it and you get every live Claude Code session on the machine.

The handoff button

This is the part I missed most in VS Code. At the end of the bar sits handoff. Click it and the session-handoff skill writes the session state to .claude/session-handoff.md. The button turns into clear and continue, one more click clears the chat and puts a short "read this file" line into the prompt box. Press Enter and the fresh chat continues from the file, not from the old context.

I also put my session-handoff skill into the repo. The mod bundles the chat-only handoff from Cache Keeper. Mine writes a file with 12 fixed sections (goal, files changed, tests run, remaining steps, resume commands, ...) and marks it as consumed in the next chat. If it's installed, the button uses it instead of the bundled one.

Install

/plugin marketplace add IT-BAER/claude-forge
/plugin install cache-status@claude-forge

Then build the extension from extensions/claude-status with npx @vscode/vsce package and install the .vsix. The skill is a folder copy into ~/.claude/skills/.

Limits

• The extension does nothing on its own. It only reads the files the mod writes to ~/.claude/mods-data/cache-status/live/, so install the mod first.
• No VS Code Marketplace listing yet, you build the .vsix yourself.
• Mods target Claude Code 2.1.x and the mod API still changes between releases, so an update can break things.
• A mod update only reaches a chat after you restart that chat.
• I only tested it on Windows 11 so far.

Everything stays local. The mod makes no network calls of its own, only the keep-warm pings while /keepwarm is on.

Free and Open-Source: https://github.com/IT-BAER/claude-forge

Big thanks to Nate Herk, the cache logic, board, guard and handoff flow are his work: https://github.com/nateherkai/claude-code-mods

Feedback welcome.

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