The latest articles on DEV Community by Symon Baikov (@symonbaikov). https://dev.to/symonbaikov https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3978956%2F8de89c17-364c-4707-a7ff-0812da294889.jpeg https://dev.to/symonbaikov en Symon Baikov Thu, 11 Jun 2026 07:35:51 +0000 https://dev.to/symonbaikov/how-i-forked-openusage-and-built-a-linux-first-community-edition-2j9c https://dev.to/symonbaikov/how-i-forked-openusage-and-built-a-linux-first-community-edition-2j9c <h1> How I Forked OpenUsage and Built a Linux-First Community Edition </h1> <p>Over the last few months, AI coding tools have become a major part of my daily workflow.</p> <p>Like many developers, I found myself using multiple services at the same time:</p> <ul> <li>Claude Code</li> <li>Codex</li> <li>Cursor</li> <li>Copilot</li> <li>Gemini</li> </ul> <p>The problem wasn't the tools themselves.</p> <p>The problem was keeping track of usage limits.</p> <p>I constantly found myself opening different dashboards just to answer one simple question:</p> <blockquote> <p>How much usage do I actually have left?</p> </blockquote> <h2> Looking for a Solution </h2> <p>I started looking for a lightweight desktop application that could live in the system tray and show usage information for all my AI coding subscriptions in one place.</p> <p>I eventually found OpenUsage.</p> <p>The project was open source, well designed, and already supported many providers.</p> <p>There was only one problem.</p> <p>I use Linux.</p> <p>At the time, Linux support was either missing or incomplete.</p> <h2> Why I Created OpenUsage Community </h2> <p>While exploring the project, I learned that the original OpenUsage project was moving toward a Swift and macOS-first architecture.</p> <p>That made me realize there was room for a community-maintained continuation focused on Linux and cross-platform support.</p> <p>So I created:</p> <p><strong>OpenUsage Community</strong></p> <p>GitHub:</p> <p><a href="https://github.com/openusage-community/openusage" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://github.com/openusage-community/openusage</a></p> <h2> Goals </h2> <p>The project has a few simple goals:</p> <ul> <li>First-class Linux support</li> <li>Keep the Tauri-based cross-platform architecture</li> <li>Support multiple AI coding providers</li> <li>Remain open source and community-driven</li> <li>Make installation easy with AppImage, .deb and .rpm packages</li> </ul> <h2> What Works Today </h2> <p>Current features include:</p> <ul> <li>Linux system tray integration</li> <li>AppImage builds</li> <li>Debian / Ubuntu packages</li> <li>RPM packages for Fedora and related distributions</li> <li>Multiple AI provider integrations</li> <li>Local-first architecture</li> <li>Automatic updates</li> </ul> <p>The application allows me to monitor usage across providers without opening multiple websites and dashboards throughout the day.</p> <h2> What I Learned </h2> <p>One thing I learned very quickly is that Linux users care deeply about quality.</p> <p>It isn't enough for an application to compile.</p> <p>It needs to:</p> <ul> <li>install cleanly</li> <li>integrate with the desktop</li> <li>work on GNOME</li> <li>work on KDE</li> <li>behave correctly on Wayland</li> </ul> <p>This pushed me to start building a more serious testing and CI/CD strategy around the project.</p> <h2> What's Next </h2> <p>The next areas I'm focusing on are:</p> <ul> <li>stronger Linux desktop integration</li> <li>automated GUI testing</li> <li>screenshot regression testing</li> <li>improved packaging</li> <li>community contributions</li> </ul> <p>I'm also interested in hearing how other developers keep track of AI coding subscription usage.</p> <p>Do you monitor usage limits manually?</p> <p>Do you use dashboards?</p> <p>Or do you simply wait until the limit is reached?</p> <h2> Feedback Welcome </h2> <p>If you're a Linux user, I'd love to hear your thoughts.</p> <p>If you want to try the project or contribute:</p> <p><a href="https://github.com/openusage-community/openusage" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://github.com/openusage-community/openusage</a></p> <p>Feedback, bug reports, and pull requests are always welcome.</p> ai programming linux