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claudish/docs/usage/monitor-mode.md

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Monitor Mode

See exactly what Claude Code is doing under the hood.

Monitor mode is different. Instead of routing to OpenRouter, it proxies to the real Anthropic API and logs everything.

Why would you want this? Learning. Debugging. Curiosity.

What It Does

claudish --monitor --debug "analyze the project structure"

This:

  1. Starts a proxy to the real Anthropic API (not OpenRouter)
  2. Logs all requests and responses to a file
  3. Runs Claude Code normally
  4. You see everything that was sent and received

Requirements

Monitor mode uses your actual Anthropic credentials.

You need to be logged in:

claude auth login

Claudish extracts the token from Claude Code's requests. No extra config needed.

Debug Logs

Enable debug mode to save logs:

claudish --monitor --debug "your prompt"

Logs are saved to logs/claudish_*.log.

What you'll see:

  • Full request bodies (prompts, system messages, tools)
  • Response content (streaming chunks)
  • Token counts
  • Timing information

Use Cases

Learning Claude Code's protocol: Ever wondered how Claude Code structures its requests? Tool definitions? System prompts? Monitor mode shows you.

Debugging weird behavior: Something broken? See exactly what's being sent and what's coming back.

Building integrations: Understanding the protocol helps if you're building tools that work with Claude Code.

Comparing models: Run the same task in monitor mode (Claude) and regular mode (OpenRouter model). Compare the outputs.

Example Session

$ claudish --monitor --debug "list files in the current directory"

[claudish] Monitor mode enabled - proxying to real Anthropic API
[claudish] API key will be extracted from Claude Code's requests
[claudish] Debug logs: logs/claudish_2024-01-15_103042.log

# ... Claude Code runs normally ...

[claudish] Session complete. Check logs for full request/response data.

Then check the log file:

cat logs/claudish_2024-01-15_103042.log

Log Levels

Control how much gets logged:

# Full detail (default with --debug)
claudish --monitor --log-level debug "prompt"

# Truncated content (easier to read)
claudish --monitor --log-level info "prompt"

# Just labels, no content
claudish --monitor --log-level minimal "prompt"

Privacy Note

Monitor mode logs can contain sensitive data:

  • Your prompts
  • Your code
  • File contents Claude Code reads

Don't commit log files. They're gitignored by default.

Cost Tracking (Experimental)

Want to see how much your sessions cost?

claudish --monitor --cost-tracker "do some work"

This tracks token usage and estimates costs.

View the report:

claudish --audit-costs

Reset tracking:

claudish --reset-costs

Note: Cost tracking is experimental. Estimates may not be exact.

When NOT to Use Monitor Mode

  • For production work - Use regular mode or interactive mode
  • For OpenRouter models - Monitor mode only works with Anthropic's API
  • For private/sensitive projects - Logs persist on disk

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