Questions
QuotaLens, the claude.ai usage page, and claude /usage
Three surfaces for one account. The usage page shows where the limits stand now; claude /usage
adds what recent Claude Code sessions on this machine spent it on; QuotaLens keeps the history and forecasts the reset.
The claude /usage column is from
Anthropic's Claude Code documentation
on 8 September 2026; a cell it does not settle says "not documented".
| QuotaLens | The claude.ai usage page | claude /usage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it measures | Claude Pro and Max subscription quota: the five-hour session window and the weekly limits, as your account reports them | Session and weekly usage percentages for your account | Plan usage bars and activity stats, plus a breakdown of recent Claude Code usage by skill, subagent, plugin and MCP server, over the last 24 hours or 7 days |
| Where the data comes from | Your claude.ai session cookie, kept in the OS keychain, read from undocumented endpoints (the Terms row above) | Your signed-in session | Claude Code: the plan bars from a request to the usage endpoint, the breakdown from session history on this machine, so other devices and claude.ai are not included |
| History persists | Yes: every reading in a SQLite file you own, session windows kept for two years | No: the current reading only | The breakdown covers the last 24 hours or 7 days of this machine's sessions; a longer record is not documented |
| Burn-rate forecast | Yes: points per hour, and whether this session runs out before the reset | No | not documented |
| Weekly budget view | Yes: full five-hour sessions left, at your own measured cost per session | Yes: weekly percentages | Plan usage bars; which limits they show is not documented |
| Alerts | Webhook on a burn-rate threshold; desktop notifications, off by default | not documented | not documented |
| Export | CSV, JSON, and a Prometheus /metrics endpoint | not documented | not documented |
| Where it runs | Your machine, on 127.0.0.1: macOS, Linux, Windows; Python 3.11+ | claude.ai, in the browser | Inside a Claude Code session in the terminal, or the VS Code extension's Account and usage dialog |
| Licence | MIT | part of the Claude service | part of Claude Code |
Common questions
Is this allowed under Anthropic's terms?
Anthropic's Consumer Terms, section 3(7), prohibit automated access except through an API key, and a subscription cookie is not an API key. There is no carve-out for reading your own usage. QuotaLens only observes: it never sends a prompt and cannot raise, bypass, or extend a limit. Running it is your decision, and the risk is yours.
Does QuotaLens work with Claude Code?
Yes, in the sense that matters: Claude Code, Claude Desktop and claude.ai draw on one pooled quota, and QuotaLens reads that pool, so a Claude Code session moves the same numbers. It does not read Claude Code's own credentials, and it cannot attribute usage to a project or tool; Claude Code's /usage command does that.
What happens when the session cookie expires?
When claude.ai signs you out or the cookie expires, the dashboard shows an auth state instead of a stale number, because a page that cannot read your account must never look like a healthy one. Run quotalens auth again, paste the current cookie, and polling resumes. The cookie is checked with one request before it is stored.
How is this different from the usage page on claude.ai?
The usage page shows one number, right now, and forgets it when you close the tab. QuotaLens polls the same account every minute and keeps every reading in a SQLite file you own, so it can show the burn rate, project whether this session runs out before the reset, express the week in full sessions, and keep every past window.