usage-guard

/usage-guard — work until the 5-hour usage window is nearly spent

Run a task as a continuous autonomous work session, self-checking how much of the current 5-hour usage window has been consumed, and stop cleanly at a threshold (default 99%) — leaving 1% headroom so the stop/report (or queue) actions don't trip a real rate limit mid-action.

/usage-guard [--queue] [--at <pct>] <task>

Parse the invocation

• --queue — at the threshold, don't just stop: queue the remaining work to auto-resume in the next 5-hour block (see "At the threshold" below).
• --at <pct> — override the threshold (e.g. --at 95). Default 99.
• Everything else is the TASK. If no task is given, treat the current in-progress work / the conversation's active objective as the task; if that's unclear, ask what to grind on before starting.

How usage is read

./skills/usage-guard/scripts/check-usage.sh [--window 5h|7d] [threshold] (invoke directly — executable, no bash prefix) reads ~/.claude/queue/state.json, kept fresh by the queue skill's statusline wrapper. It prints WINDOW=, USED_PCT=, VERDICT= (UNDER/OVER), CAPTURED_AGE_SEC=, STALE= (yes/no), RESETS_AT_HUMAN=, RESETS_IN_MIN= and exits 0 = under, 10 = at/over, 1/2 = data unavailable.

• --window selects the rolling window (default 5h). Pass --window 7d to guard the weekly cap instead — e.g. "stop when I'm near my 7-day limit". The work loop is otherwise identical; just thread the same --window value through every check this run so cadence and the threshold branch track one window.
• This depends on the queue skill's statusline wrapper being wired in. If check-usage exits 1/2, relay its stderr and stop — usage can't be read. One exception: exit 2 with a past resets_at stderr is a transient cross-session glitch (a stale blob from another session, overwritten within ~10s). Re-run once after ~5s before stopping; only stop if it repeats.
• STALE=yes (the same >90s cutoff compute-fire.sh uses) means the statusline hasn't rendered recently — terminal idle/unfocused — so USED_PCT lags reality. Note it; the number may be behind.

The work loop

1. Set up a ledger. Use the task list (TaskCreate/TaskUpdate) to break the TASK into trackable sub-tasks and keep it current. This ledger IS your "what's done / what's still open" for the stop report and the queue payload. In --queue mode, also write the rate-limit backstop marker once now (see "Rate-limit backstop"), and — at the very start of any run — check for a leftover breadcrumb from a previously interrupted run.
2. Do a chunk of the work (a sub-task, or a small batch of steps).
3. Update the ledger (mark finished items done) — do this before the usage check so the check/branch always sees a current ledger.
4. Check usage by running check-usage.sh:
   • Exit 0 (UNDER) → continue to the next chunk.
   • Exit 10 (OVER) → go to "At the threshold".
   • Exit 1/2 → relay and stop.
5. Cadence AND chunk size — the overshoot guard. Checking often isn't enough if a single chunk between checks can itself burn several percent:
   • Check after each sub-task while usage is low; past ~90% USED_PCT, check after every step.
   • Past ~90%, also keep chunks small — do NOT start a single long-running action (big build, wide subagent fan-out, large batch) that could plausibly consume more than the remaining headroom. If the next step might, check/stop before it, not after.
   • If STALE=yes near the ceiling, the reading lags reality — treat USED_PCT as a floor and stop early rather than trusting a sub-threshold number.
6. If the task completes before the threshold → stop and report it done; do NOT queue, and clear the backstop marker. (A finished task ends the chain.)

Work continuously without pausing to ask between chunks — that's the point of the guard. Only stop for the threshold, task completion, a hard error, or a genuine decision that's the user's to make.

At the threshold (VERDICT=OVER)

First, make the ledger accurate (mark what's done; the open items are what remains). Then:

Default (no --queue): stop now and report:

• USED_PCT reached and that the window resets at RESETS_AT_HUMAN,
• what got done this run,
• what's still open (the remaining ledger items),
• how to resume (a one-line "say continue / re-run with --queue" pointer).

With --queue: queue the remainder to resume in the next block.

• First, the termination guard: if no open ledger items remain, the task is effectively done — report it done and do NOT queue. Only queue when real work remains.

1. Compose a CONTINUATION PAYLOAD — a self-contained resume prompt, because the resumed session is cold (no task list, no file context, no memory of this run except this string). It MUST include all of:
   • (i) the original task statement, verbatim — so block N hasn't drifted;
   • (ii) done so far (the completed ledger items);
   • (iii) still open (the remaining ledger items, in order);
   • (iv) environment — working directory, git branch/worktree, and key file paths / IDs / URLs needed to resume;
   • (v) decisions & constraints already settled this run.
2. Get the fire time: ./skills/queue/scripts/compute-fire.sh (reset mode — fires ~90s after the window resets). Relay stderr and stop if it errors; if it prints STALE=yes, refresh the statusline first.
3. CronCreate with: cron = its CRON value, recurring: false, durable: true (a multi-block chain almost always outlives this terminal, so persist it — unlike a plain /queue, which defaults session-only), and prompt:

   Your queued usage-guarded work is due — the 5-hour window has reset. First cd to the working directory named below. Then resume by invoking /usage-guard --queue on the following remaining work, so it keeps guarding usage and re-queues anything still open at the next threshold:

4. Clear the backstop marker — the work is durably queued now, so the StopFailure hook must not double-queue it: ./skills/usage-guard/scripts/guard-marker.sh clear
5. Report: what got done, that the rest is queued for FIRE_HUMAN (job ID), and the caveats below. Because the continuation re-invokes /usage-guard --queue, a task bigger than one block chains block-to-block until the open list is empty (the termination guard above is what ends it).

(Default-mode stop also clears the marker — there's no queued continuation to protect.)

Rate-limit backstop (--queue, opt-in hook)

usage-guard's job is to stop before the limit; this is just a light safety net for the overshoot case (one oversized action trips a real rate limit before the next check). An opt-in StopFailure hook (matcher rate_limit) records — it does NOT auto-resume — so an interrupted --queue run isn't silently lost.

• At --queue run start, write the marker once with the original task + the environment needed to resume (working dir, branch/worktree, key paths/IDs): printf '%s' "<task + env>" | ./skills/usage-guard/scripts/guard-marker.sh set
• Clear it the moment the run ends — task completion, a clean stop, or right after the CronCreate above (steps 4/6): guard-marker.sh clear.

If a rate limit hits while the marker is live, the hook copies it to ~/.claude/queue/pending-resume.json (a breadcrumb). At the start of any /usage-guard run, check for that file; if present, fold its task/env into this run and delete it so it isn't picked up twice. The hook is opt-in (a plugin can't edit settings.json) — wiring + caveats in the README.

Caveats (state these when stopping)

• Checkpoint-granular, not a hard interrupt — the stop lands at the first check at/after the threshold, so actual usage may be a hair above it. That's what the 1% headroom is for.
• --queue chains are durable: true — they persist to disk and survive a restart (a 5h+ chain won't keep one terminal open). But a durable job still only fires while some Claude session is running and idle — if nothing is running at reset time it fires late, when you next open Claude. It is not a headless/background runner. CronList / CronDelete <id> to inspect or cancel.
• The continuation resumes cold in whatever session fires it — its quality is only as good as the CONTINUATION PAYLOAD (hence the required fields above).