Why I built Cycle Counter — monthly quota headroom without doing math
I want to use my dev-tool subscription fully each month, but I could not tell at a glance whether my current pace would last until month-end. Cycle Counter started from that small friction.
If you use subscription-based developer tools, you have probably felt this:
Using the full monthly quota is the best value.
In practice, though, it is hard to tell at a glance whether your current pace will last until month-end—or whether you should slow down soon. Dashboards show usage, but how much headroom you have left still lives in your head.
Cycle Counter came from that small annoyance.
The trigger
I use a monthly plan for an AI coding assistant and prefer to use the quota fully—close to a “use it or lose it” mindset.
Daily pace is not constant. Some weeks are light; others catch up near month-end. Browser extensions already showed usage in the toolbar, but they answered what percentage is used now, not:
- If I keep today’s pace, will I make it to month-end?
- How much room do I still have?
What I wanted
Something simpler:
- A value that grows by a daily increment
- A fixed cycle (for example, one month)
- The current value visible on the toolbar at a glance
Spreadsheets for “remaining days × daily allowance…” get old fast. Gut feel alone leads to overuse—or leaving quota on the table.
So I put a day-by-day counter in the toolbar.
How I use it
I keep Cycle Counter next to the extension that shows my dev-tool usage.
One shows current usage; the other shows how far you are through the cycle at this pace. Comparing the two is enough for a rough forecast—without doing the math yourself.
Setup stays minimal:
- Daily increment
- Cycle length in days
- Start date
That is enough for the badge and popup. When the cycle ends, it resets automatically.
Why a general-purpose tool
The origin was monthly quota management, but the mechanism is not tied to one product.
Savings goals, study points, game stamina recovery—anything that ticks up daily and resets on a cycle fits. That is why the Chrome Web Store listing stays general-purpose.
My setup is beside a dev-tool extension. Yours might be somewhere else—and that is fine.
Summary
Cycle Counter was not built to pack in flashy features. It exists because I wanted to feel how much headroom is left without calculating.
If you watch monthly quotas the same way, try parking it next to your usage extension. Feedback is welcome via contact.
Related: Cycle Counter product page · Add to Chrome