Timers
Reply counts while the assistant works. Idle counts from the end of a reply; at its limit (55 minutes by default) the chat wraps itself up. Cache counts down an hour from each reply, how long Claude keeps the chat cached, with the tokens at stake. When it goes cold, the next message pays for the whole chat again. A yellow triangle marks anything near a limit.
Chat size and what chats cost
Every message re-sends the whole chat, so size is money. The panel shows what a chat carried when it started and what it carries now. Past five sixths of the roll limit you get a heads-up line, and in Auto mode the chat rolls to a fresh one with a handover note before it gets expensive. While a reply runs, a cyan fill guesses the size live.
Token badge
Under every reply sits a gold oval like (26k): exactly what the chat carried on its last step. Click it for the colored parts: the baseline, personality, rules, short-term memory, what it knows about you, open items, recent summaries, lessons, attic finds, handover, the chat itself, tool output and the reply. Click any part to read the exact text Claude got.
Models
The Model button lists every Claude model and version, with a thinking level from low to max. A chat keeps one model; change it mid-chat and it carries on in a fresh chat, because switching midway would re-read everything at full price. New models show up without a new build.
Command window
The side panel's Command window shows the current step, the assistant's latest thought and a warning count. Click it open for thoughts, command output and the warnings log, or let Auto open it only while work is running. A little heart beats at the bottom of the chat while it works. On the phone, one slim bar shows the newest warning and thought.
Watchdog
While a reply runs, the working sign shows how long the current step has taken. If there's no sign of life for 3 minutes you get Stalled?; ten minutes of reading with no file changed is Digging; the same call failing three times is Looping. Each alerts once. After a 2-minute flatline the hung step is stopped and the work carries on. Long replies get a spoken check-in every 10 minutes.
Activity log
Log shows everything Interlink did by itself, newest first: service starts and updates, new chats, wrap-ups, reply times and sizes, files, settings changes, cleanups and errors. On the newest page it updates live every 5 seconds, so a tablet beside the PC makes a nice second screen.
Shell
The >_ Shell tile opens a command prompt right in the chat area. Output streams in, Up/Down recalls past commands, Ctrl+C stops it and everything it started, and folder changes carry over. Admin opens an elevated window after Windows asks. The panel itself never runs as admin.