The device runs on a small lithium-ion battery-powered Waveshare ESP32-S3-Touch-AMOLED-2.16 display and acts as a dedicated monitoring dashboard for Claude Code sessions. When idle, the screen shows animated versions of Anthropic’s Clawd mascot, with the animations becoming more active as Claude usage increases. Pressing the middle button switches the screen from the animation view to utilization charts showing session and weekly token usage data.
“I’m not an embedded developer or anything like that,” Haraldsson told TechCrunch. But Claude was able to guide him through much of the process. “It’s really democratized access to programming, so that anyone can now do what developers used to do. I think that’s really positive, actually.”
The project also reflects the rise of what developers have jokingly started calling “tokenmaxxing,” a growing trend among engineers who aggressively maximize AI token usage as a signal of how deeply AI has become integrated into their workflow. The Clawdmeter effectively turns that behavior into something visible and ambient on a developer’s desk.
One Reddit user joked that “Anthropic should just mail these to us for free,” while another suggested adding a button that could automatically purchase additional Claude capacity directly from the device itself.
Haraldsson said much of the project’s development time was spent refining the visual experience rather than the hardware integration itself. “I like it when I’m working, and I see it going crazy — it’s like a little dopamine loop,” he said.
Beyond the animation and token charts, the device also includes shortcut buttons tied to Claude Code controls. Two side buttons can send Bluetooth keyboard commands for Claude’s voice mode and interface mode switching. Users can cycle between modes including Normal mode, “Accept Edits” mode, Plan Mode, and Auto Mode directly from the hardware.
According to Haraldsson, the Clawdmeter keeps track of Claude usage by reading a Claude Code OAuth token and making API calls that retrieve utilization data from response headers. Because the project is fully open source, developers can modify the device with their own screens, animations, or functionality.
Haraldsson said part of the appeal may come from the device’s nostalgic feel as a standalone gadget dedicated to a single purpose. “There’s a kind of nostalgia for when you used to have a hardware device for everything — like a Walkman to play music, or an iPod,” he said.
“I know it’s not replacing anything — like, you could have this on your computer — but it’s just fun,” Haraldsson added.
This analysis is based on reporting from TechCrunch.
Image courtesy of Clawdmeter via GitHub.
This article was generated with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy and quality.
