Peras

About Peras

Peras is a command-line utility and macOS menu bar app that enforces usage limits on Claude Code and Codex sessions. It reads the native usage percentage from each agent's status line and can refuse the next tool call when a configured threshold is crossed. The CLI and hooks are open-source under the MIT license, while the native Mac app costs €4.99 as a one-time purchase.

Review

Running out of your weekly allocation mid-task isn't just annoying-it can leave work in an awkward state. Peras addresses this by stepping in before the limit is reached, rather than relying on you to monitor /usage manually. The tool's approach is narrow and single-purpose, which means it slots into existing workflows without adding much overhead.

Key Features

• Weekly percentage threshold that refuses the agent's next tool call with a plain-text reason when crossed
• Per-prompt cap, so a single prompt can't consume more than a set percentage of your weekly allowance
• Pace-based pausing that stops the agent when usage is on track to run out before the quota resets
• Per-project lines set with peras set --here, overriding the global threshold for a specific folder and its contents
• Profile switching via peras profile save and peras profile use for toggling between different limit configurations

Pricing and Value

The CLI and hook system are free and MIT-licensed. The native macOS menu bar app is sold for €4.99 as a one-time payment, and the developer offers a 10% launch discount. Users can also compile the menu bar app themselves from the public repository. There is no subscription component to the pricing.

Pros

• Prevents a single runaway task from exhausting the rest of the week's usage
• Reads actual usage percentages from the agent's status line, not estimates from token counts
• Agents receive the pause reason directly, so they can acknowledge the stop without user intervention
• Open-source core means the limiting logic can be inspected and modified
• Per-project and time-window rules allow different thresholds for different contexts

Cons

• macOS only; Linux compatibility is unverified and Windows isn't mentioned
• Codex hooks fail open if the hook itself breaks, meaning the limit won't block a tool call in that scenario
• Not well suited for teams or users who need centralized, organization-wide usage controls rather than per-machine limits

Peras fits developers who use Claude Code or Codex heavily on macOS and want a mechanical stop before their subscription quota disappears. It's less relevant if you primarily use the non-interactive claude -p mode, since that path can't be intercepted. The tool does one thing-enforcing a self-imposed budget line-and leaves loop detection and deeper analytics to other layers of the stack.