Using Claude Code with your Pro or Max plan | Claude Help Center

This article applies to individual consumers using Pro or Max plan subscriptions to access Claude Code. If you’re a member of a Claude for Work organization, see Using Claude Code with your Team or Enterprise plan.

What is Claude Code?

Claude Code is a command line tool that gives you access to Claude models directly in your terminal, allowing you to delegate complex coding tasks while maintaining transparency and control. With Pro and Max plans, you now have access to both Claude on the web, desktop, and mobile apps and Claude Code in your terminal with one unified subscription.

Why use Claude and Claude Code?

Use two powerful AI products in one simple subscription.

How to connect Claude Code with your plan

To start using Claude Code with your Pro or Max plan:

Having trouble using your Pro or Max plan to access Claude Code?

If you're not seeing the option to authenticate with your preferred account, follow these steps to update Claude Code:

How do usage limits work?

Both Pro and Max plans offer usage limits that are shared across Claude and Claude Code, meaning all activity in both tools counts against the same usage limits. The number of messages you can send varies based on message length, conversation length, and file attachments, while Claude Code usage varies based on project complexity, codebase size, and auto-accept settings. Using more compute-intensive models will cause you to hit your usage limits sooner.

Pro Plan

Usage Limits for Older Models

Max Plan

In addition, to manage capacity and ensure fair access to all users, we may limit your usage in other ways, such as weekly and monthly caps or model and feature usage, at our discretion.

Usage Limits for Older Models

What happens when you hit usage limits

To help you monitor your usage, you will see warning messages about remaining capacity. When you reach your usage limits, you can select from a few options based on your needs:

Pro Plan Users

Max Plan Users

Claude Code Usage Limits and Billing

Understanding two distinct systems

It's important to recognize these are separate systems:

Choosing to use API credits

If you want to use API credits through Claude Code:

Staying within your plan

To maintain usage strictly within your Pro or Max Plan allocation:

Opting out of API credits for Claude Code

If you prefer to prevent the API credit option from appearing entirely:

This ensures Claude Code will only use your plan allocation and you won't be prompted to use API credits when you reach your limits.

Managing auto-reload settings

Auto-reload functionality is managed within your Claude Console account, not through Claude Code:

Summary