[BUG] False "You've hit your limit for Claude messages" toast shown at 0% session usage (server errors misreported as usage limit)

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?

Environment: Claude Desktop app on Windows 11 Home (10.0.26200), Max (5x) plan, model Fable 5.

On July 6, 2026, after only a couple of short messages, the app repeatedly showed the toast:

"You've hit your limit for Claude messages. Please wait before trying again."

At the same moment, Settings → Usage ("Last updated: just now") showed:

• Current session: 0% used (resets in 4 hr 51 min)
• Weekly, all models: 6% used
• Weekly, Fable: 8% used
• Usage credits: off, $0.00 spent

So no limit pool was anywhere near exhausted, yet the app claimed a message limit was hit. Responses also stalled during the same period.

status.claude.com listed incidents that same day (claude.ai errors, elevated error rates on multiple models including Fable 5, and Claude Code marked "Degraded Performance"), so the underlying request failures were likely server-side — but the app surfaced them as a usage-limit toast, which is incorrect and misleading to paying users trying to understand their quota.

Related but distinct from #57420 (stale limit banner persisting after reset): here the banner appears with usage at 0%, apparently because server errors during an incident are misclassified as limit errors.

What Should Happen?

Server-side errors or incident-related failures should surface as a service error (e.g., "Something went wrong on our end — please try again"), not as "You've hit your limit for Claude messages." The limit toast should only appear when a usage or rate-limit pool is actually exhausted, consistent with what the Settings → Usage page reports.

Error Messages/Logs

Toast text: "You've hit your limit for Claude messages. Please wait before trying again."
Shown while Settings → Usage simultaneously reported: Current session 0% used, weekly all-models 6%, weekly Fable 8%, usage credits $0.00 spent.

Steps to Reproduce

Timing-dependent — reproduces during a server-side incident rather than from specific user input:

1. Use the Claude Desktop app on Windows (Max 5x plan) while status.claude.com is reporting elevated error rates (on July 6, 2026: claude.ai errors, elevated errors on multiple models including Fable 5, Claude Code "Degraded Performance").
2. Send a couple of short chat messages.
3. Responses stall, and the toast "You've hit your limit for Claude messages. Please wait before trying again." appears.
4. Open Settings → Usage and refresh ("Last updated: just now"): current session shows 0% used, weekly all-models 6%, weekly Fable 8% — no pool is exhausted.

Expected: a server/service error message. Actual: a usage-limit toast that contradicts the Usage page.

Claude Model

Other

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.117 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Windows Terminal

Additional Information

_No response_