TokenUse for Mac – Free Menu Bar App for AI Usage
TokenUse for Mac is a free, read-only menu bar app for macOS 14 or later that shows the tokens and cost your tokenuse tracker records, with plan usage, opt-in alerts, and automatic updates.
TokenUse provides per-model, per-project, and per-session visibility with alerts, reporting, and budget controls for developers and teams using AI coding agents.
Quick Answer
TokenUse for Mac is a free, read-only menu bar app for macOS 14 or later. It shows the tokens and cost your tokenuse tracker records, your top models and projects, and your plan's usage. It works with every TokenUse plan, including the free Hobby plan.
What You Can Do With TokenUse
- Download: https://tokenuse.ai/download/mac (free). Requires macOS 14 or later · Apple silicon & Intel · Free with any TokenUse account.
- Shows tokens and cost (API value) for Today, 7 Days, and 30 Days, top models and projects, an hourly activity heatmap, your plan's usage meter, and Codex quota where available.
- The menu bar gem is rainbow while a tokenuse tracker is live and white otherwise. Opt-in macOS notifications cover plan limits, an offline tracker, and billing problems.
- Read-only: it only displays data from your TokenUse account, contains no analytics or tracking SDKs, and keeps your session in its private, sandboxed storage on your Mac.
- Signed updates install automatically. Release notes: https://github.com/TokenUse/tokenuse-mac-releases/releases
Implementation Checklist
- Drag TokenUse into Applications: Open TokenUse.dmg and drag TokenUse into your Applications folder.
- Open it from Applications: macOS says it can't verify the app. Click Done (Cancel on macOS 14 Sonoma), not Move to Trash.
- Choose Open Anyway: Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down to “TokenUse was blocked…”, click Open Anyway, and confirm with your password. On macOS 14 Sonoma you can instead Control-click TokenUse in Applications, choose Open, then Open again.
- Sign in: Click the gem in the menu bar, choose Sign in, and approve the code in your browser.
- Updates install automatically after that. Always run TokenUse from Applications: a copy run from Downloads or the disk image can't update itself.
How It Works
- Run the tokenuse tracker (npx tokenuse@latest) on each machine where you use Claude Code or Codex.
- Download TokenUse for Mac and drag it into Applications.
- Approve the first launch once in System Settings, Privacy & Security, Open Anyway.
- Click the gem in the menu bar, sign in, and approve the code in your browser.
Who It's For
- Developers on a Mac — Check Claude Code and Codex usage and cost without opening a browser.
- Anyone near a plan limit — Watch the plan meter and get an alert before tracking is limited.
- IT admins — Enforce alerts, refresh interval, sharing settings, and support diagnostics with a configuration profile.
Implementation Context
Operational Snapshot
TokenUse for Mac is a native menu bar app. It shows the usage your tokenuse tracker uploads to your TokenUse account; it does not track usage itself, so live data needs the tracker running.
The app isn't notarized by Apple yet, so macOS asks you to approve the first launch once in System Settings, Privacy & Security. Signed updates install automatically after that.
Common Workflows
- Glance at today's tokens and cost from the menu bar, or press the default shortcut Control-Option-Command-T from any app.
- Switch between Today, 7 Days, and 30 Days to compare models and projects.
- Turn on usage alerts for plan limits, an offline tracker, and billing problems.
- Enforce settings across a fleet of Macs with a configuration profile (MDM).
Common Questions
- Is TokenUse for Mac free?
- Yes. TokenUse for Mac is a free download. You sign in with your TokenUse account and the app itself costs nothing.
- Which plans does it work with?
- Every plan, including the free Hobby plan. Views longer than your plan's dashboard history are turned off, so the 30 Days view needs a paid plan. The app also shows your plan's usage meter, so you can see how close you are to your monthly limit.
- Does the Mac app collect my prompts?
- No. TokenUse for Mac is read-only: it only displays data from your TokenUse account, never reads your prompts or files, and contains no analytics or tracking SDKs. Your session stays on your Mac, in the app's private, sandboxed storage. Prompt capture is a setting of the tokenuse CLI tracker, not the app. It is on by default, and you can turn it off in Settings → Data or with tokenuse config set prompts.enabled=false.
- Why does macOS warn me the first time I open it?
- TokenUse for Mac isn't notarized by Apple yet, so macOS can't verify it automatically and asks you to approve the first launch. Click Open Anyway in System Settings → Privacy & Security once, and it opens normally from then on.
- How do updates work?
- Updates are signed and install automatically, so you only approve the first launch. Keep TokenUse in your Applications folder: a copy run from Downloads or the disk image can't update itself. Release notes for every version are on GitHub.
- Do I need the tokenuse CLI?
- Yes, to see live data. The app displays the usage your tokenuse tracker uploads, so run npx tokenuse@latest on each machine where you use Claude Code or Codex. The gem in the menu bar turns rainbow while a tracker is live.
Related Pages
- Get Started: Install the tokenuse tracker with one command and sign in.
- Docs: Quickstart: Install and start tracking token usage in minutes.
- Pricing: Plan limits, billing options, and upgrade paths.
- Trust and Security: Security, privacy, and data handling practices.