For some developers, that's exactly right. They want to see their token burn rate at a glance. They want to know they're at 73% context capacity before they hit the wall.
For others, it's noise. They know what model they're using. They don't need to see $0.042 tick up with every response. The context percentage creates a low-grade anxiety that doesn't help them code better. They just want a clean terminal.
v0.5.13 adds /footer to toggle between the two.
/footer
That's it. One command, no arguments. It toggles between full and minimal. Type it again to switch back.
Full footer (the default, unchanged):
~/Code/myapp (main) • auth-refactor
↑42.1k ↓8.9k R38.1k W4.2k $0.184 73.2%/200k (auto) claude-sonnet-4-20250514 • medium
Minimal footer after /footer:
~/Code/myapp (main) • auth-refactor
claude-sonnet-4-20250514
The minimal footer keeps the working directory, git branch, session name, and model. Everything else is gone.
Presentations and demos. If you're showing Elyra to someone, the token stats are distracting. They don't need to see your API costs scrolling by. Minimal footer keeps the focus on what the agent is doing.
Small terminal windows. On a laptop screen with a split terminal, the full footer competes for space. Two clean lines instead of two dense ones makes a difference.
Long coding sessions. After three hours, you know you're spending tokens. You don't need a constant reminder. If you want to check cost, /cost is always there.
Personal preference. Some developers just prefer a cleaner interface. The information in the full footer is available through other commands (/cost, /session) whenever you need it. It doesn't have to be permanent.
Budget-conscious work. If you're tracking spend carefully, the live cost display is useful. Seeing $0.80 and knowing your session budget is $1 matters.
Context management. When you're in a long session editing many files, watching the context percentage climb from 60% to 75% to 85% tells you when to compact. Without it, you might hit the wall unexpectedly.
Debugging token usage. If cache read numbers look low, that's a signal something is wrong with your prompt structure. The footer makes this visible without running a separate command.
Your choice sticks across sessions. Toggle once, and every future session starts with the same footer mode. No configuration file to edit. If you change your mind, /footer toggles it back.
The setting is stored globally (not per-project), so it follows you everywhere.
Everything the full footer shows is still accessible. /cost gives you a detailed breakdown of tokens and cost. /session shows session stats. The model name is always visible even in minimal mode.
/footer is about choosing what deserves permanent screen real estate versus what you check on demand. For some developers, token stats are background noise. For others, they're critical context. Now you pick.