---
title: Claude Code
description: How ClawMetry observes Claude Code — where its data lives, the environment variables that move it, what cost data is real, and the traps in its store.
eyebrow: Runtime reference
---

# Claude Code

Claude Code writes a JSONL transcript per session under its projects tree. ClawMetry maps each turn to OpenTelemetry-shaped spans, so an assistant turn becomes an `llm.call` span, each tool use becomes a child span, and a `Task` becomes an `agent.spawn` — which is what makes the Agent Graph and the turn-anatomy views work.

| | |
|---|---|
| **Runtime id** | `claude_code` |
| **Category** | Terminal coding agent |
| **Vendor** | Anthropic |
| **Tier** | Paid tier (Starter and up) |
| **Upstream** | [claude.com/claude-code](https://claude.com/claude-code) |

## Where the data comes from

ClawMetry reads these locations, in order, and never writes to any of them.

- `~/.claude/projects/<project-slug>/<session-id>.jsonl` — transcripts
- `$CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR` — when the CLI has been relocated
- `~/Library/Application Support/Claude` — Claude Desktop sidecar records (macOS; %APPDATA%\Claude on Windows, $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/Claude on Linux)

**Format.** One JSONL file per session; each line is a conversation turn with content blocks (text, thinking, tool_use, tool_result).

## Environment variables

| Variable | Effect |
|---|---|
| `CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR` | Claude Code's own config-dir override |
| `CLAWMETRY_CLAUDE_DESKTOP_DIR` | Desktop state dir override |
| `CLAWMETRY_FAMILY_SESSION_LIMIT` | how many recent sessions to ingest (default 50) |
| `CLAWMETRY_DISABLE_CLAUDE_SESSION_INGEST` | turn the adapter off entirely |

See [Environment variables](/docs/config/environment/) for the variables that apply to every runtime.

## Tokens and cost

**Tokens.** Full split per turn, including cache reads and writes.

**Cost.** Derived from the token split and model. Claude Code's native OpenTelemetry export also reports cost on both a log and a metric — ClawMetry counts it once.

:::note Why this section exists
Runtimes differ enormously in what they persist. Rather than showing a plausible number everywhere, ClawMetry reports what the store actually contains and marks the rest unknown. A cost of `$0.00` and a cost of *unknown* mean different things, and the dashboard keeps them different.
:::

## Sub-agents and delegation

`tool_use` with name `Task` becomes an `agent.spawn` span and a child session, so sub-agent spend is attributed to the child rather than smeared across the parent.

## Things worth knowing

- The CLI, the Desktop app and the VS Code extension all write into the same `~/.claude/projects` tree. ClawMetry labels the surface each session came from so a Desktop conversation is not reported as a terminal run.
- Sessions that OpenClaw spawned are ingested under the OpenClaw session id and skipped here — otherwise the same work appears twice.

## Verify it is being read

```bash
# Is this runtime detected, and would this install unlock it?
clawmetry runtimes --json | jq '.runtimes[] | select(.id=="claude_code")'

# Why is it locked, if it is?
clawmetry runtimes --why claude_code

# Any sessions ingested yet?
curl -s 'http://localhost:8900/api/local/sessions?limit=5' \
  | jq '.rows[] | {session_id, agent_id, events, cost_usd}'
```

If detection succeeds but no sessions appear, work through [Troubleshooting](/docs/ops/troubleshooting/) — the usual causes are a relocated data directory (set the override above), a session limit that is hiding older runs, or a runtime that simply has not written anything yet.