Welcome to brink — the friendly desktop companion that watches your AI coding tool usage for you. If you use Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor, you know the frustration of hitting a limit right in the middle of your work. Brink sits quietly on the edge of your screen and tells you exactly when you're getting close, and which project is using up your credits.
This guide will help you download, run, and understand brink in just a few minutes. No technical knowledge needed — we'll walk you through everything.
Brink is a small program that runs on your computer and constantly checks your usage limits for three popular AI coding tools:
- Claude Code — Anthropic's coding assistant
- Codex — OpenAI's coding tool
- Cursor — The AI-powered code editor
Instead of opening each tool separately to check your limits, brink shows you a live indicator right at the edge of your screen — like a small glowing bar that fills up as you get closer to your limit. You always know where you stand.
Imagine you're deep into a coding session, making great progress, and suddenly — the tool stops working because you hit your usage cap. That's frustrating, right?
Brink prevents that. It gives you a visual heads-up so you can finish your current task, save your work, or plan your next steps before you're cut off.
It also tells you which project used the most time or credits. If you're juggling multiple projects, you can see at a glance where your resources are going.
Visit this link to download the application.
When you're on the download page, look for the newest release file. The download should start automatically. Once it's finished:
- Find the downloaded file — Check your "Downloads" folder or wherever your browser saves files.
- Run the installer — Double-click the file you downloaded to begin the setup process.
- Follow the on‑screen instructions — The installer will guide you through a few simple steps. Just click "Next" or "Install" when prompted.
- Launch brink — After installation, you'll find brink in your Start Menu (Windows) or Applications folder (Mac). Click to open it.
That's it! You don't need to configure anything to start — brink works right out of the box.
Step 1: Start brink — When you launch the app, you'll see a small floating indicator appear at the edge of your screen. This is your usage meter.
Step 2: Watch the meter — The meter fills up as your usage increases. Colors change to help you understand your status:
- 🟢 Green — You have plenty of usage left.
- 🟡 Yellow — You're approaching 70% of your limit.
- 🟠 Orange — You're at about 85%. Time to start wrapping up.
- 🔴 Red — You're at 95% or more. You'll be cut off very soon.
Step 3: Hover or click — Hover your mouse over the indicator to see detailed info: current usage percentage, which tool you're using, and which project is active.
Step 4: See project usage — Click the indicator to open a small window that shows which projects have used the most time or credits this month.
Brink is designed to be flexible. Here's what you can adjust:
- Screen position — Choose which edge of your screen the indicator appears on (top, bottom, left, or right).
- Opacity — Make the indicator more or less transparent.
- Auto‑hide — Set brink to disappear when you're not using it, so it stays out of the way.
- Color scheme — Switch between light and dark themes, or pick your own colors.
To access these settings, right-click the brink indicator and choose "Settings" from the menu.
These options are easy to find and change anytime — no coding required.
Q: Do I need to sign in or create an account? No. Brink reads usage information directly from your installed tools. There's no cloud service or account needed.
Q: Will brink slow down my computer? No. Brink is very lightweight. It runs quietly in the background and uses an extremely small amount of memory and processing power.
Q: Does brink interfere with my coding tools? No. Brink only reads usage data — it never modifies anything or interferes with your coding sessions.
Q: Which operating systems are supported? Brink works on both macOS and Windows. It was designed to blend in smoothly on either system.
Q: Is my usage data sent anywhere? No. All data stays on your local machine. Brink never sends your usage information to any server.
Brink doesn't show any usage data: Make sure you've used one of the supported tools (Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor) at least once recently. If you haven't, there's no data to display yet. Also, check that the tool is installed on the same computer where you're running brink.
The indicator is in the way: Right-click it and choose "Settings" to change its position or opacity. You can also enable auto‑hide to keep it invisible until you need it.
The colors look wrong on my screen: Check your display settings — brink uses system‑aware colors by default. If you're using a custom theme, try switching to the "System" theme in settings.
Brink won't start: Try restarting your computer and launching brink again. If the problem continues, download the newest version from the link above.
- Keep brink updated — New versions add support for the latest changes in Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor.
- Use auto‑hide if you're easily distracted — The indicator will vanish until you hover over the edge of the screen.
- Check your project usage weekly — It's a great way to manage your resources across multiple projects.
You can find the full documentation on the brink GitHub page. The page includes technical details, changelogs, and community discussion if you want to dive deeper.
If you run into any issue, don't hesitate to look at the "Issues" section on the GitHub page — other users may have found solutions already. Friendly community help is just a few clicks away.
Now you're ready to download brink and start working with confidence, knowing your usage is always under control. Say goodbye to surprise interruptions — and hello to smooth, uninterrupted coding sessions.
Remember: The key to a stress‑free workflow is knowing your limits before you hit them. Brink gives you that power in a simple, visual way.
Keywords: claude-code, codex, cursor, dotnet, liquid-glass, macos, menubar, swift, swiftui, usage, windows, wpf