Introduction

Orstrum is a Claude Code plugin that protects your usage limit. It measures what each session really costs, catches fix-and-break loops and context bloat while they are happening, keeps automatic checkpoints without touching your git, and carries a validated handoff from one session to the next.

The principle: agent first, human second

Orstrum doesn't give you a panel to watch. It pushes the budget and a short policy into the agent's own context, so the agent changes how it works: it conserves when the week is half gone, stops and asks when its fixes keep failing, checkpoints when a test passes, and writes a handoff before the limit runs out. You see outcomes in plain English, in the session, and a one-line status under the prompt.

What it does

Free and Pro

The hooks run identically on every tier, so measuring, the budget modes, loop and bloat detection, and the nudges are all free. Pro adds the tools that keep you from losing work: checkpoints and rollback, handoff and recall, project rules pushed at every session start, and the hard block after an ignored nudge. See pricing.

What never happens

• Your code never leaves your machine. The only network calls are Claude Code's own usage endpoint (with the token Claude Code already stores) and, on Pro, a license check that sends the key and nothing else.
• Your .git is never touched. Checkpoints live in .orstrum/shadow/.
• A hook never breaks Claude Code. Every hook is fail-open and errors go to ~/.orstrum/hook.log.
• No telemetry.