Dev finds Claude subscription prompts get billed as extra usage unless prompt starts with official header
lucasmeijer · x · 2026-10-21
Developer lucasmeijer found inconsistent billing on Claude subscriptions: prompts starting with "You are Claude Code.." draw from his sub, but if the Pi CLI system prompt is detected, the request is accepted yet billed from extra usage instead. He questions Anthropic's Oct 7 statement that subscription limits still cover Claude Agent SDK, claude -p and third-party apps — any sub-powered prompt missing the official CLI header gets rejected — and publicly asks Anthropic staff whether to trust the docs or the API.
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