The short version: When Claude Code's Cloud Sessions became generally available in September 2026, Anthropic gave existing Pro users a one-time $100 promotional credit and Max users a one-time $250 credit. Eligible cloud sessions use up this credit first, and only after it runs out or expires do they go back to your normal plan usage. So even after hours of heavy Opus work, your Max usage bar can look oddly untouched, like "wait, I still have that much left?" [1][2][3]
1. I sent an AI to patrol the factory, and it just wouldn't come back
It started with a pretty heavy round of automated maintenance.
Check that the scheduled jobs are running. See whether publishing is jammed. Hunt down duplicate routes. If the cause is how old data is stored, fix it. Run the tests. Confirm the fix actually reached production. If ads aren't showing, read through the browser conditions, the CSP (the browser's content security rules) and the rendering logic. Fix it. Test again. When the deploy stalls, dig into the other failure that's blocking the deploy.
Normally, a job like this would bounce back to a human after the first fix: "Okay, can you check this next?"
But Claude Code on Cloud Sessions just keeps running, for quite a long time.
You think "publishing is fixed," and then "final verification found duplicate routes," so it digs in and finds "the cause was a stale bundle file being reused," then "two duplicates are still there," and it goes on to fix stale data on yet another path.
Meanwhile it's chasing an ad display bug, untangling a condition that had wrongly tied analytics opt-out to hiding ads, adding tests, and waiting on the deploy.
This no longer feels like "asking an AI a question."
It's more like summoning an infrastructure engineer in the middle of the night and watching them start chasing the secondary fallout of the outage all on their own.
2. So I opened the usage page. "...Wait, it didn't go down?"
After all that work, of course you'd expect something.
"My Max usage must have taken a beating."
But on the usage page, both the regular session limit and the weekly limit have strangely plenty left.
It felt like this:
I've had Opus run logs, code, tests, GitHub, builds and deploys round after round. And the meter just sits there looking cheerful, like "I'm doing great!"
That's when you start wondering whether the display is broken.
But look further down the same screen and a different number is dropping.
Cloud session credit.
The dedicated $250 allotment granted to Max was clearly being consumed.
That's when it finally adds up.
The meter wasn't broken.
There were two gas tanks.
3. The culprit: a one-time promo just for Cloud Sessions
Claude Code's Cloud Sessions moved from what used to be called "Claude Code on the web" to general availability. It lets you keep coding in a cloud environment managed by Anthropic. You can start a session from the browser, mobile, desktop or the CLI, and the work continues in the cloud even after you close your laptop. [1]
At the general availability launch, a one-time promotion was announced for existing Pro and Max subscribers.
- Pro: $100
- Max: $250
- Where it applies: Cloud Sessions
- Cloud sessions use the promo credit first
- Once it's used up or expires, usage goes back to your normal plan allowance
Anthropic's official Claude developer account also clarified this after the confusion. Cloud Sessions themselves run on your Pro/Max plan, and this promo credit is a one-time extra allowance that cloud sessions draw down first. [2]
So the structure looks like this:
A Cloud Session starts → it first burns through the limited-time, cloud-only credit → when that's gone, it burns your regular Pro/Max usage
That doesn't mean Cloud Sessions became a service that doesn't use your Max allowance.
It's just that, for now, there's another tank plugged in ahead of it.
4. What makes it confusing: there's yet another wallet called "usage credits"
There's one more confusing thing in the settings screen.
The regular "usage credits."
According to Anthropic's official help page, usage credits for Pro, Max 5x and Max 20x are a pay-as-you-go option, billed at standard API rates, that lets you keep working after you hit the usage limits included in your plan. [4]
Its order of use and its role are different from the Cloud Sessions promo.
It's easiest to split them into three.
Wallet A: your regular plan allowance
The normal allowance included in the Pro or Max plan you pay for every month. It's the basic quota used by everyday Claude and Claude Code.
Wallet B: Cloud Sessions promo credit
A separate allowance for cloud sessions, granted by this limited-time campaign. For eligible sessions, this is the one that goes down first.
Wallet C: extra usage credits
The pay-as-you-go side, for people who want to keep going after hitting their regular plan limit. This is not the same thing as the "$250 promo" you were given. [4]
If you read all three as just "credit," you'll get confused.
In practice, they're as different as:
an all-you-can-eat monthly pass, plus a gift card you got for a limited time and that's billed separately, plus the credit card you pull out once you've gone past the all-you-can-eat.
5. Which makes it a perfect match for long, self-driving tasks
Cloud Sessions shine less on quick questions and more when you hand over a repository and let it work for a while.
For example:
- Investigating the cause of a bug
- Editing several files
- Regression tests (re-running tests to make sure old bugs haven't come back)
- Digging through logs
- Checking builds
- Verifying after release
- If it finds another failure, following that up right away
- Running several tasks in parallel
These are the jobs where, until now, a human had to keep saying "go on" to restart it.
And during this promo period, that long work eats the dedicated credit first.
So from the user's side, this sort of scene comes together:
"I ran Opus a lot." "The amount of work is obviously huge." "And yet my weekly Max limit has barely moved."
It looks a bit like a bug.
It isn't one.
You're running a gas-guzzling engine, but the extra tank is draining instead of the fuel gauge you usually watch.
If you don't know how this works and only look at your main usage bar, there's a good chance you'll end up with a big "????"
6. That said, "unlimited Opus mode" has not begun
This part matters.
Having this promo doesn't mean any of the following:
- Claude as a whole became unlimited
- You can run Opus for free forever
- Cloud Sessions will never touch your regular allowance from now on
- Extra paid usage credits suddenly became free
This dedicated credit has deadlines.
According to the September 2026 announcement, the credit for existing Pro/Max users is one-time only, $100 for Pro and $250 for Max. The claim deadline was announced as October 7 US Pacific time, which is October 8 in Japan time. Unused credit expires on November 4 US Pacific time, which corresponds to November 5 in Japan time. [2][3]
And once the dedicated credit is gone, Cloud Sessions fall back to your regular plan usage.
So that "it just won't go down" feeling isn't a permanent new pricing scheme.
The easiest way to think about it is a limited-time state where one extra fuel tank has been bolted on.
7. What to look at so you don't get confused
Where to look is simple.
Open "Usage" in Settings and look separately at:
- Current session usage
- Weekly usage
- Remaining Cloud Session credit
- Extra usage credit spending
In particular, if you're running lots of Cloud Sessions and 1 and 2 still look oddly full, check 3.
If 3 is going down, there's a perfectly straightforward explanation.
On the other hand, if 3 is at zero or expired and your regular allowance still isn't moving, that's when you should suspect some other rule or a delay in the display refreshing.
"How many hours the AI ran" alone won't tell you which wallet was used.
8. The conclusion: not a monster-sized allowance, but a monster-sized spare tank plugged in
Watching a long Claude Code Remote session, it's obvious it's doing a huge amount of computing.
It investigates the cause, fixes it, tests it, picks up another failure, fixes that, and even checks things after release.
And yet the Max usage figure barely moves.
Of course you'd ask "why?"
The answer turned out to be pretty simple.
A dedicated $250 Cloud Sessions tank was sitting in front of the usual Max allowance.
So for this period only, the "it just won't go down" effect looks strange when you run heavy self-driving tasks on Cloud Sessions.
The meter isn't broken. And Opus hasn't stopped consuming fuel.
It's eating it. It's eating a ton. It's just eating from a different wallet right now.
References (4)
- Anthropic, “Claude Code on the web” — updated September 23, 2026 to note that Cloud Sessions are generally available claude.com
- ClaudeDevs official launch and clarification posts, September 23, 2026: and https://x.com/ClaudeDevs/status/2102940480736821610 x.com
- 窓の杜, “ノートPCを閉じてもOK、「Claude Code」の“クラウドセッション”の一般提供が開始”, September 24, 2026 forest.watch.impress.co.jp
- Anthropic Help Center, “Manage usage credits for paid Claude plans”, updated August 10, 2026 support.claude.com
