[Bug] Anthropic API Error: Image processing failures causing conversation token waste

I was on auto mode and it went like this for about an hour I think

same here. actually filled my 5h bar to 100% over two consecutive periods, AND nuked my $100 free credit. lol.

I’ve having the same issue, we were having a slow day and I hit my session limit on 20x which I’ve never done before

facing the same issue here.

I am facing the same today with my max plan, never had the error before and there is no image in the context.
API Error: an image in the conversation could not be processed and was removed. Double press esc to edit your message, or re-read the file if you still need it.
API Error: Server is temporarily limiting requests (not your usage limit) · Rate limited

Same here. filled my 5h bar to 100% in minutes ....

Yesterday, something like that happened, the scale went down in minutes, and now I continued the session and lost 70% in minutes!!! I barely managed to close the session, I started a new one, and it seems to be working for now. It's a real big problem at the beginning of the workday...

Same here! Major problem!

Same here!

Same here, burned almost two session usage with max plan in 5 minutes

Same here. The app clearly gets into a broken state after hat error, and the agent has no idea what to do. It keeps trying to load an image, take screenshots in different ways, but there is no recovery. It just spins its wheels wasting time and tokens
/compact helps, but of course that might lose important context.

same here

Error: "API Error: an image in the conversation could not be processed and was removed. Re-read the file with a different approach if you still need it." It used up all the tokens very quickly..

API Error: an image in the conversation could not be processed and was removed. Re-read the file with a different approach if you still need it.

used up the whole session in seconds 🤯

getting this as well :( Dusted through my $100 credit lol

SOLUTION
Just type this in the same session:

"pls fix API error by clearing the message that is causing this (editing its on-disk JSONL)"

This will will redact Image from transcript to prevent recurring API rejection

Tell me if it works or share screenshot

@ubermedialabs solution does not work.

<img width="1341" height="378" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/634ea21a-1ed8-4102-9b50-dcfe73f68d2f" />

@claude can you re-open this issue. It is still an issue

@claude the issue is very persistent and consumes a lot of tokens

Same issue here. Burned through my 5-hour-session within minutes.

The same issue brought me here.

Session ID: bc1bd711-2bfc-4f66-8436-f669d9de5b2c

Request to reopen this issue — the same problem is still occurring.

Error:
API Error: an image in the conversation could not be processed and was removed. Please re-read the file with a different approach if it is still needed.

<img width="1932" height="100" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/cac7b55a-a72e-486b-a8f0-8adb8b027382" />

The issue is not resolved yet, and the error still appears consistently. Please investigate further and reopen the ticket.

I am also experiencing this issue today. Please reopen and fix!

The issue continues to persists as of today, passing an image through the extension in VSCode causes Claude to melt the max plan usage due to multiple attempts of reading the image unsuccessfully.

Same here, I use VS code + claude code extension. It's a very serious issue as it ~10x faster to use the tokens. Please @claude fix it.

Same here, also using VS code + claude code extension.
The "API Error: an image in the conversation could not be processed and was removed. Please re-read the file with a different approach if it is still needed." becomes a usual friends theses days :-/
Please @claude, as Leia says : "you're our only hope !"

Same issue here

+1

same issue

I wrote /clear and the error didn't appear anymore

Still appearing.

Same problem.
I also got this error
API Error: an image in the conversation could not be processed and was removed. Re-read the file with a different approach if you still need it.

I encountered the same issue. My 5-hour usage limit was exhausted twice unexpectedly, but using /compact resolved the problem.

Same issue still happening. I filed https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/64352#issue-4559334566.

Refund is requested because it costed me money due to Claude Code's behavior not visible to me. Worse off, Claude Code's error message and explanation mislead me about the impact of the issue and delayed my damage control until I ran out of extra usage credits.

Error message quote:
API Error: an image in the conversation could not be processed and was removed. Re-read the file with a different approach if you still need it.

Claude Code's unhelpful advice:

• That API error is from the screenshot you sent earlier that was too large — it's not related to the code. The system flagged it as unprocessable. Nothing to worry about.
• Nothing you can do about it — it's a system message from Claude Code when an image in our conversation couldn't be processed (the screenshot you sent). It'll go away on its own once those messages scroll out of context. No code change needed.

Same. Happened with me today.

Version: v2.1.159 | Opus 4.8 | MacOS 26.5

<img width="1232" height="1005" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/82cd7226-568f-493a-9a98-1e0012e47922" />

and just like that the window got exhausted. Anthropic should reset the window for the affected users.

This has happened to me in vscode and in cli, both times it ate my 5x usage and my extra credits. As per Anthropic policy they won't refund those credits either, which is complete garbage. Their bug ate my usage AND my credits. I think you can solve it by running /compact, but that's only helpful if you catch this in time.

<img width="1383" height="840" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c2863429-60ad-4f7c-990c-3ce3141abcd8" />
here too kept popping up in every prompt

A similar issue happened to me today. It consumed all my available tokens after a few retries by the auto-mode in the session.

A similar issue happened to me today. It consumed all my available tokens after a few retries by the auto-mode in the session.

Can we get a token refund since this seems to be a real issue?

Mismo problema, ademas se gasta los creditos super rapidos cuando sale ese error y eso que tengo la suscripción max.

Yes, the same issue. Any idea of how to fix that?

Same problem.

Yes, the same issue. Any idea of how to fix that?

/clear or /compact or rewind to a point in session before the error was triggered

Opus (1M) is included in the Max plan and won't easily trigger extra usage. If you have Max, make sure that's your default.

If you are in VS Code using Claude Code extension, make sure you use /context to confirm which model is used in your session. There's a bug that /model showed my session using Opus (1M) but it's actually Opus (200K) or Sonnet being used. Super frustrating.

me too..... : (

API Error: an image in the conversation could not be processed and was removed. Re-read the file with a different approach if you still need it.

API Error: Server is temporarily limiting requests (not your usage limit) · Rate limited

<img width="1214" height="788" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/a47944e6-3565-41c8-bdfd-609009a72229" />

same thing, I've hit the limits three times, 13 min within a session and the whole short window exhausted

Still happening frequently. Just cannot leave the agent unsupervised as it exhausts the Session Context limit in no time ! Antrhopic shall reset the limits for the impacted users cc @bcherny

For me also, both:

API Error: an image in the conversation could not be processed and was removed. Re-read the file with a different approach if you still need it.

API Error: Server is temporarily limiting requests (not your usage limit) · Rate limited

Out of curiosity, is anyone here having this issue AND has not forked/branched their conversation at least once? I just wanna test my hypothesis.

This is still happening. Jumped from 83% usage to 100% immediately on Max plan. This is why I pay for two subscriptions...

This is still an issue. Is Anthropic providing any answers? It is understandable to have bugs, we have all faced live bugs before, but acknowledgment and customer support are basic expectations. I believe a token pack refund is in order here.

No information. That why I cancelled my plan.

When a request contains an image whose dimensions exceed the API limit (2000px for many-image requests), the API returns a 400 invalid_request_error. Claude Code then silently removes the image and keeps retrying. Each retry mutates the conversation prefix, which invalidates the prompt cache. From that point on, cache reads collapse and the entire context is re-written to the cache on every turn, causing cache-write tokens (and cost) to explode.

@claude this hasn't been fixed by version 2.1.147.

It's actually pretty smart. I just upgraded to the SUPER MAX plan because I thought I had burned through all my tokens. Little did I know, it was actually a one-month-old bug in the source code that made me pay up.

How is this issue closed? "API Error: an image in the conversation could not be processed and was removed. Re-read the file with a different approach if you still need it." constantly

This problem keeps happening; it's used up my entire limit!

Same here. It happens from time to time. Quite annoying.

same here!

나도.... ㅠㅠ

same , happens very very often

This is still occurring

annoying...

"API Error: an image in the conversation could not be processed and was removed. Re-read the file with a different approach if you still need it."

The SOLUTION should work, "Run /compact (or start a fresh session). That collapses the history into a summary and drops the raw oversized screenshots that keep failing to re-process."

my limits spend very fast cause of this error
cant avoid even /compact

I am on the Max x5 plan and my 5 hours window disappeared within 5 minutes without getting any thing else than a handfull of these API error messages
API Error: an image in the conversation could not be processed and was removed. Re-read the file with a different approach if you still need it

I am on the Max x5 plan, i am also have same issue, please heeelp

API Error: an image in the conversation could not be processed and was removed. Double press esc to edit your message, or re-read the file if you still need it.
API Error: Server is temporarily limiting requests (not your usage limit) · Rate limited 

API Error: an image in the conversation could not be processed and was removed. Re-read the file with a different approach if you still need it. me acaba de ocurrir

Same issue here, max 5x plan.

Does anyone know how to fix this issue? It's been bothering me for a month.

It still occurs, July 2026. Compacting didn't help.

<img width="795" height="150" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/49a65e0c-7636-48cf-a616-37926f6f4944" />

Working in auto mode, VS Code extension, v2.1.207
Image format: png
Image size: 2303 x 543