The 5-hour rolling window
The short-term limit is a rolling 5-hour window. It does not empty all at once on a fixed schedule — usage from about five hours ago gradually frees up as time passes. So heavy use early in a session keeps weighing on you until that block ages out roughly five hours later.
The weekly cap (the one that surprises people)
On top of the 5-hour window there is a separate weekly limit. The weekly period generally starts when you first use Claude after a reset, not on a fixed calendar day — so your personal week is whatever day you happened to start. Under heavy use the weekly cap can fill before the 5-hour window is your problem, locking you out until the weekly reset.
How to check your exact reset time
Run the /usage command inside Claude Code to see remaining usage and reset status, or open claude.ai/settings/usage in a browser. These show where you stand against both the 5-hour and weekly limits rather than leaving you to guess.
Why limits feel sudden — and how to stay ahead
The cutoff feels abrupt because the runway is invisible while you work. Keeping the 5-hour window and weekly pressure visible lets you compact context, clear between tasks, or pause a runaway agent loop before a reset decides for you.
See the runway in your menu bar
Tokens 4 Breakfast keeps the Claude Code 5-hour window and weekly pressure in the macOS menu bar, so the reset timer is in view during the session instead of after you are already locked out. It is free for one provider and takes about two minutes to set up.