diff --git a/.claude/settings.json b/.claude/settings.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..25fb727e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.claude/settings.json
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+{
+  "statusLine": {
+    "type": "command",
+    "command": "bash .claude/statusline-plugin.sh",
+    "padding": 0
+  }
+}
diff --git a/.claude/statusline-plugin.sh b/.claude/statusline-plugin.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..892e36c0a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.claude/statusline-plugin.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# statusline-plugin.sh — "which plugin is this agent working on?", in one terminal line.
+#
+# WHY: several builder agents run at once against this repo, each in its own worktree, and from the
+# outside every one of them looks like a Claude terminal printing tool calls. Asking "which plugin
+# are you on?" cost a round trip every time. This answers it continuously, without being asked.
+#
+# Renders:  doxa-maps · bundler-2/work · ▶ research-map-plus-grid (cap-4)
+#
+# ★ THE TIER COMES FROM THE MANIFEST, NOT FROM A TABLE RETYPED HERE.
+#   plugin-studio.vue derives every badge with PT/capFor off the manifest's profile `type`, so
+#   retyping a profile there moves its badge with zero edits. A second hardcoded copy of that
+#   mapping in this script would be a fact stored twice with nothing forcing agreement — the exact
+#   shape check:capability-citations exists to catch (the README once captioned a bundle as cap-1
+#   while the manifest said cap-2). So this reads manifest.json and applies 5 - PT[type], the one
+#   formula, to the one source.
+#
+# ★ FAIL-SOFT EVERYWHERE, ON PURPOSE. A status line runs on every render. If it errors, is slow, or
+#   prints a stack trace, it makes the terminal worse than having none — so every step degrades to a
+#   quieter line instead of failing: no git → no branch, no manifest → no tier, nothing edited → "idle".
+#   It never exits non-zero.
+#
+# Wired up by .claude/settings.json (statusLine). No absolute paths: check:no-abs-paths requires a
+# clone to work on any machine, and a status line is exactly the sort of dotfile that quietly
+# hardcodes someone's home directory.
+set -uo pipefail
+
+IN=$(cat 2>/dev/null || true)
+# Claude Code hands the hook a JSON blob; workspace.current_dir is the directory the session is in.
+# Parsed with sed rather than a JSON tool because this runs on every render and must stay cheap.
+DIR=$(printf '%s' "$IN" | sed -n 's/.*"current_dir"[[:space:]]*:[[:space:]]*"\([^"]*\)".*/\1/p' | head -1)
+[ -z "$DIR" ] && DIR=$(printf '%s' "$IN" | sed -n 's/.*"cwd"[[:space:]]*:[[:space:]]*"\([^"]*\)".*/\1/p' | head -1)
+[ -z "$DIR" ] && DIR="$PWD"
+cd "$DIR" 2>/dev/null || true
+
+ROOT=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null) || ROOT=""
+if [ -n "$ROOT" ]; then cd "$ROOT" 2>/dev/null || true; fi
+# The repo NAME, not the checkout's directory name: every builder works in its own worktree
+# (wt-bundler-2, wt-bundler-1, ...), and printing the folder would label each agent with a name
+# nobody recognises instead of the project they are all in. The remote is the stable identity.
+REPO=$(basename -s .git "$(git config --get remote.origin.url 2>/dev/null)" 2>/dev/null)
+[ -z "$REPO" ] && REPO=$(basename "${ROOT:-$PWD}")
+BRANCH=$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD 2>/dev/null || echo "")
+
+# WHAT IS BEING WORKED ON — uncommitted work first, because that is what "working on" means.
+# Ordered by mtime, not by git's alphabetical listing: with several bundles dirty, the one touched
+# most recently is the honest answer and the alphabetical first is an arbitrary one.
+DIRTY=$(git status --porcelain 2>/dev/null | sed 's/^...//' | sed 's/^.* -> //')
+BUNDLE=$(printf '%s\n' "$DIRTY" | grep '^plugin-designs/' 2>/dev/null | xargs -r ls -td 2>/dev/null | head -1 | cut -d/ -f2)
+
+SCOPE=""
+if [ -z "$BUNDLE" ]; then
+  # A library/ edit is not one plugin's business — it compiles into every bundle that imports it,
+  # which is the blast radius AGENT-BRIEF makes you name before changing anything in there. Say so
+  # rather than naming whichever bundle happens to be dirty for an unrelated reason.
+  if printf '%s\n' "$DIRTY" | grep -q '^library/'; then
+    SCOPE="library (reaches every bundle)"
+  elif printf '%s\n' "$DIRTY" | grep -q '^internal/'; then
+    SCOPE="internal (build + gates)"
+  else
+    # Nothing uncommitted: fall back to the last commit that touched a plugin, so a line still says
+    # something true right after a commit instead of going blank at the moment work lands.
+    # -m makes a MERGE commit list its files: without it a merge reports nothing changed, so the
+    # line read "idle" immediately after landing work — the least accurate moment to say so. Look
+    # back a few commits too, since the tip is often a merge or a build-output commit.
+    BUNDLE=$(git log -6 --name-only --format= -m 2>/dev/null | grep -m1 '^plugin-designs/' | cut -d/ -f2)
+    [ -n "$BUNDLE" ] && SCOPE="" || SCOPE="idle"
+  fi
+fi
+
+TIER=""
+if [ -n "$BUNDLE" ] && [ -f public/doxa-maps/manifest.json ]; then
+  TIER=$(python3 - "$BUNDLE" <<'PY' 2>/dev/null || true
+import json, sys
+# The studio's own table (plugin-studio.vue:293) — tier = 5 - PT[type]; unknown types are cap-1.
+PT = {'nested-mfe-spa': 0, 'nested-elements-mfe': 1, 'monolithic': 2, 'parameterized': 3, 'single': 4}
+try:
+    m = json.load(open('public/doxa-maps/manifest.json'))
+    want = sys.argv[1]
+    caps = [5 - PT[p.get('type')] if p.get('type') in PT else 1
+            for b in m.get('bundles', []) if b.get('bundle') == want
+            for p in b.get('profiles', [])]
+    # A bundle may ship several profiles at different tiers; the HEADLINE capability is the highest
+    # one it demonstrates, which is how the studio's left rail groups it.
+    if caps: print(max(caps))
+except Exception:
+    pass
+PY
+)
+fi
+
+OUT="$REPO"
+[ -n "$BRANCH" ] && OUT="$OUT · $BRANCH"
+if [ -n "$BUNDLE" ]; then
+  if [ -n "$TIER" ]; then OUT="$OUT · ▶ $BUNDLE (cap-$TIER)"; else OUT="$OUT · ▶ $BUNDLE"; fi
+elif [ -n "$SCOPE" ]; then
+  OUT="$OUT · ▶ $SCOPE"
+fi
+printf '%s\n' "$OUT"
+exit 0