[BUG] Cowork immediately rate-limited on Max plan; likely account-level stuck state or forced [1m] regression

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

Cowork is effectively unusable on my Max plan (the issue reported by many other users too) because it immediately returns:

API Error: Rate limit reached

This happens even on trivial prompts like hello.

Important distinction:

• Claude Chat works
• Claude Code CLI works
• Cowork fails immediately

This does not behave like normal quota exhaustion. It looks more like either:

1. an account-level stuck/rate-limited state affecting Cowork only, or
2. a Cowork regression where sessions are being launched with a higher-limit-cost [1m] model/context path.

Why this seems important

This blocks the Cowork product entirely even though the rest of the Claude experience is still usable. From a user perspective, it looks like Cowork is "hard down" rather than simply rate-limited.

On my Max account, Cowork instantly fails with API Error: Rate limit reached on every request, including trivial prompts.

Observed behavior:

• Cowork fails immediately
• Chat works on the same account
• Claude Code CLI works on the same account
• If relevant: reproduces across multiple machines
• If relevant: a different account on the same machine works

This suggests the issue is likely Cowork-specific, not a general account exhaustion state.

What Should Happen?

Cowork should accept trivial prompts normally on Max when quota is still available.

If Cowork is using a special model/context mode, it should either:

• not default to that mode when it causes immediate rate limiting, or
• expose a fallback path so Cowork remains usable.

If this is an account-state problem, the Cowork-specific rate-limit / entitlement state likely needs to be reset server-side.

Scope checks already performed

• Reproduced with trivial prompt
• Verified Chat works on same account
• Verified Claude Code CLI works on same account
• Logged out / logged back in
• Reinstalled Claude Desktop
• If relevant: tested on second machine
• If relevant: tested with another account on same machine

Error messages / logs

User-facing error

API Error: Rate limit reached

Relevant logs

<!-- Paste exact lines here -->

If applicable, I also found Cowork spawning with a [1m] model flag, e.g.

[Spawn:create] --model claude-opus-4-6[1m]

### Error Messages/Logs

```shell
API Error: Rate limit reached

Steps to Reproduce

Steps to reproduce

1. Sign into a Max account
2. Open Claude Desktop
3. Open the Cowork tab
4. Enter a trivial prompt such as hello
5. Observe immediate API Error: Rate limit reached
6. Compare with Chat on the same account, which still works

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Claude Cowork

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

_No response_