Configuring the inline status line

The inline UI can display a single-line status bar beneath the prompt. By default VT Code shows the current git branch (with an asterisk when the working tree is dirty) on the left and the active model with its reasoning effort on the right, with the current clock time (24-hour HH:MM:SS) rightmost. The [ui.status_line] table in vtcode.toml lets you override this behaviour or turn the status line off entirely.

If you want VT Code to scaffold the command setup for you, run /statusline in an interactive session. VT Code asks whether to persist the script in the user config layer (~/.config/vtcode/statusline.sh) or the current workspace (.vtcode/statusline.sh), then lets you configure mode, command, script scaffolding, and timing directly in the inline modal.

Available modes

The mode key accepts three values:

• auto (default) keeps the built-in git and model summary, with the clock time appended on the right.
• command runs a user-provided command and renders the first line of stdout.
• hidden disables the status line.

When mode = "command" the command must be provided via the optional command key. The runtime executes it with sh -c, piping a JSON payload to stdin and rendering the first line from stdout if it is not empty.

[ui.status_line]
mode = "command"
command = "~/.config/vtcode/statusline.sh"
refresh_interval_ms = 1000
command_timeout_ms = 200

• refresh_interval_ms throttles how often the command runs. A value of 0 refreshes on every render tick.
• command_timeout_ms aborts the command if it takes too long. The default is 200 ms.
• If command is omitted or resolves to an empty string, VT Code falls back to auto mode.
• show_clock (default true) controls whether the current time (HH:MM:SS, 24-hour clock) is appended to the right edge of the status line in auto mode. Set it to false to hide the clock.

Command payload structure

The JSON payload written to stdin contains the following fields:

Field	Description
hook_event_name	Always set to "Status"; VT Code reserves this value for status line updates.
cwd	Absolute path to the active workspace.
workspace.current_dir	Same as cwd.
workspace.project_dir	Same as cwd.
model.id	Raw model identifier from configuration.
model.display_name	Human-readable name when recognised.
runtime.reasoning_effort	Current reasoning effort level.
git.branch	Current branch name when inside a git repository.
git.dirty	Boolean indicating whether uncommitted changes exist.
version	VT Code package version.

Scripts can parse this payload with any JSON-capable tool. Only the first line of stdout is rendered, so keep the output concise and apply colour escape sequences if desired.

Example script

#!/bin/bash
input=$(cat)
branch=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.git.branch // ""')
model=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.model.display_name // .model.id // ""')
reasoning=$(echo "$input" | jq -r '.runtime.reasoning_effort // ""')
status="$model"
if [ -n "$reasoning" ]; then
  status="$status ($reasoning)"
fi
if [ -n "$branch" ]; then
  echo "$branch | $status"
else
  echo "$status"
fi

Mark the script as executable and point command to its path. VT Code caches the last successful output and reuses it until the command is refreshed.