Claude Max plan: Rate limit reached immediately when Extra Usage is disabled (even with 38% weekly usage remaining)

Description

On a Claude Max plan, disabling the "Extra usage" toggle causes every request to fail with API Error: Rate limit reached — even a simple hi in a brand new conversation. Re-enabling Extra usage immediately resolves the issue.

This suggests that when Extra usage is OFF, the rate limit falls to zero (or near-zero) for Claude Code, regardless of remaining plan quota.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Subscribe to Claude Max plan
2. Open Claude Code CLI (v2.1.55, Opus 4.6 1M context)
3. Verify weekly usage is well below limits (mine: 38% All models, 2% Sonnet, 4% session)
4. Go to claude.ai → Settings → Extra usage → Toggle OFF
5. Open a new Claude Code session (claude command in a fresh terminal)
6. Type hi and press Enter
7. Immediately get: API Error: Rate limit reached

Expected Behavior

With 38% weekly usage and 4% session usage on a Max plan, a simple message should work without requiring Extra usage to be enabled.

Actual Behavior

Every request fails with Rate limit reached the moment Extra usage is turned off. Turning it back on instantly fixes the issue. This is 100% reproducible.

Environment

• Plan: Claude Max
• Claude Code version: v2.1.55
• Model: Opus 4.6 (1M context)
• OS: macOS (Darwin 25.3.0)

Usage at time of reproduction

| Metric | Value |
|--------|-------|
| Current session | 4% used (resets in ~2h 49min) |
| Weekly - All models | 38% used (resets Thu) |
| Weekly - Sonnet only | 2% used |
| Extra usage spent | $31.68 / $50 limit (63%) |

Screenshots

Extra usage OFF → rate limit error in new session

(User has screenshots showing the toggle in OFF position and the resulting error)

Usage dashboard showing plenty of remaining quota

(User has screenshots showing 38% weekly, 4% session usage)

Analysis

This appears to be a billing/rate-limiting system issue where:

• Disabling Extra usage incorrectly drops the effective rate limit to zero for Claude Code
• The plan's included quota (62% remaining) is not being used as a fallback
• The issue is instant and does not resolve by waiting

This effectively makes Extra usage mandatory for Claude Code on Max plans, even though the plan should include sufficient quota.