The 5-hour session allowance
The short-term subscription allowance resets every five hours. The amount of work it covers varies with conversation length, files, model choice, effort, and enabled tools, so it is not a fixed number of messages.
The weekly allowance (the one that surprises people)
Paid plans also have a weekly allowance that resets at a fixed day and time assigned to the account. The schedule does not move based on when you begin working. If the weekly allowance is exhausted, a 5-hour reset will not restore access.
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.