Hello! Long time user of Claude, recently started using Claude Code after joining the webinar where they gave every attendee $25 of free credits.

I use Claude in the UI whenever possible, but obviously the terminal access can be extremely helpful sometimes so my credits are slowly dwindling.

I'm a PhD candidate working on a side project in my free time, so I'm a bit cost-sensitive, so I was wondering if anyone knew of other ways to get free Claude Code credits?

No worries if not, I'm sure I'll be budgeting for Max sooner or later anyway :p

i freaking thought it was connected to the claude plus, BUT IT WAS PULLING FROM THE API AND IT WAS LIKE $5 FOR 2-3 QUERIES! DONT END UP LIKE ME OR WORSE, USE CLAUDE CODE THINKING IT WONT CHARGE YOU EXTRA!

Is there a way to use Claude AI for free? I primarily use it for writing code, and it performs better than all the other available options. However, after 3-4 chats, it prompts me to subscribe. I currently have six accounts that I use alternately, but the context from the initial prompts gets lost when switching between them. Is there any way to use it completely for free? I can’t really afford the subscription right now. yes, the classic Indian problem. Haha

Since launching Claude Code on the web, your feedback has been invaluable. We’re temporarily adding free usage so you can push the limits of parallel work and help make Claude even better.

Available for a limited time (until November 18):
• Max users: $1,000 in credits
• Pro users: $250 in credits

These credits are separate from your standard plan limits and expire November 18 at 11:59 PM PT. This is a limited time offer for all existing users and for new users while supplies last.

Learn more about Claude Code on the web:
• Blog post: https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-code-on-the-web
• Documentation: https://docs.claude.com/en/docs/claude-code/claude-code-on-the-web

Start using your credits at claude.ai/code. See here for more details.

I just received an email from Anthropic:

We're offering a limited-time promotion that gives Pro and Max users extra usage credits exclusively for Claude Code on the web and mobile. This is designed to help you explore the full power of parallel Claude Code sessions without worrying about your regular usage limits.

Pro users receive $250 in credits
Max users receive $1,000 in credits

These credits are separate from your standard usage limits and can only be used for Claude Code on the web and mobile. They expire on November 18 at 11:59 PM PT. Your regular Claude usage limits remain unchanged.

Promotion dates: Tuesday, November 4, 2025 at 9:00 AM PT through Tuesday, November 18, 2025 at 11:59 PM PT.

Source: Claude Code Promotion | Claude Help Center

Did anyone else got max 20 plan free? 🤔

Hey folks,
I’m not a developer - more of a researcher who codes occasionally, mostly as a hobby or to explore ideas. I’ve used Claude Code and really like what it can do, especially with complex coding prompts. But I just can’t justify $200/month for Claude Max (Opus) for something I might use 3–4 hours per week at most.

Right now I’m on Claude Pro (Sonnet), but for heavier coding tasks it starts to fall short.
Recently I discovered Zen MCP, which looks promising - especially the ability to plug in custom models like Gemini or O3 via API. I’m wondering:

• Is it smarter to just use Claude Code using API and pay per usage?

• Can I plug Claude Opus into Zen (or similar setups) and only fire it up when needed?

• Are there other MCP stacks that are worth exploring and I'm missing it?

I’m basically searching for a low-cost workflow to still access Claude Code at full power, but without being locked into a full Max subscription as I won’t fully use it.

If anyone has faced the same challenge — wanting Claude Code’s strengths without the full price - I’d love to hear how you solved it. Tips, setups, hacks, all welcome.

Is there a way to get unlimited, free access to Claude 3.5 Sonnet? I've seen some people mention workarounds or potential loopholes.

Any tips, tricks, or secret knowledge you can share? I'm eager to try this powerful AI without breaking the bank!

Let's see if we can crack this code together.

claude35sonnet #freeAI #lifetimefree #AI #languagemodel

I am using Cursor for months now, I am familiarize with it and more or less know its limitations, but see a lot of content about ClaudeCode and was willing to start experimenting it, can someone give me some orientations like:

1. Where is the best content on initial setup, tips and tricks on starting using Caulde Code?

2. For my daily coding activities would the $200 would be enough? Is this the lower tier model?

3. Would be straight forward to configure and use my own and external MCP's?

UPDATE: This page is helpful and sets some expectation on limits https://support.anthropic.com/en/articles/11145838-using-claude-code-with-your-pro-or-max-plan

Thanks for the replies.

It seems Pro is a good stepping stone, and more effective than throwing cash at the API with Free plan

I'm very disappointed the Max plan is simply 5x Pro messages at 5x the cost.... You'd think offering a higher plan would mean higher savings, but no. I guess model access is the main difference, but still sucks.

------

Am a slow starter on AI and was actually feeling very happy about Claude Code after some research, which is a first for me in this space.

Threw in $20 on Free plan just to see.

I asked it a dumb question: "What is a Claude Token?"

Total cost: $0.1427
Total duration (API): 49s
Total duration (wall): 53m 58.6s
Total code changes: 0 lines added, 0 lines removed
Token usage by model:
claude-3-5-haiku: 3.4k input, 181 output, 0 cache read, 0 cache write
claude-sonnet: 23 input, 357 output, 28.3k cache read, 33.4k cache write

14c to answer a simple question has me worried!

Won't I chew throw $20 credit very quickly once I ask actual code questions?

Even if Pro is "5 times Free", I'm still thinking it won't a solid week of coding?

I want to test Claude Code using the limited free credits I believe you get with a non Pro account. To do this which login method should I use:

1. Claude account with subscription Starting at $20/mo for Pro, $100/mo for Max - Best value, predictable pricing

2. Anthropic Console account API usage billing

Hey everyone,

Since Claude Code has been around for a while now and many of us are already familiar with Claude Sonnet 3.7, I wanted to share a quick step-by-step guide for those who haven’t had time to explore it yet.

This guide sums up everything you need to know about Claude Code, including:

• How to install and set it up

• The benefits and when to use it

• A demo of its capabilities in action

• Some Claude Code essential commands

I think Claude Code is a better alternative to coding assistants like Cursor and Bolt, especially for developers who want an AI that really understands the entire codebase instead of just suggesting lines.

https://medium.com/p/how-to-install-and-use-claude-code-the-new-agentic-coding-tool-d03fd7f677bc?source=social.tw

Hey everyone.

Anthropic asked us to pass on that they are offering one month of Claude Pro to new users completely free - today only.

When: Today only - ends Thursday, October 30 at 7:59 AM Pacific Time.

Who's Eligible:

• New users OR first-time subscribers - from any country where Claude is available

• Must use a company email (no Gmail, Yahoo, etc.)

How to Claim: Visit https://claude.com/offers/oct-2025-free-month and sign up with your work email

What You Get:

• Memory - Claude remembers your preferences across conversations

• Skills - Specialized capabilities for specific tasks and workflows

• Projects - Separate workspaces with custom knowledge

• 5x More Usage - Way more messages per session than free tier

Note: Subscription auto-renews after the free month (cancel anytime).

[UPDATE 2025-07-08]

Anthropic finally released this capability officially as part of claude code. You can uninstall everything previously installed via the installer with the new uninstaller:

# cd into your repo
bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/grll/claude-code-action/main/scripts/uninstaller.sh)

Then follow the official instructions to setup the github action from claude code:

claude
/install-github-app     Set up Claude GitHub Actions for a repository
use current repo
│ A Claude workflow file already exists at .github/workflows/claude.yml
│
│ What would you like to do?
│
│ ❯ 1. Update workflow file with latest version   👈

│ > Create a long-lived token with your Claude subscription 👈
│   Enter a new API key 

[ORIGINAL POST]

Hey there,

It's been more than a month that Anthropic released the integration of Claude Code with GitHub action using @claude on Github issues or PRs. Yet as of this time it is still not possible to use it with you Claude Pro / Max subscription unless you pay additionally per tokens for the use of that feature.

Few days after the release of @claude I made my own fork of the github action allowing anyone to use their subscription credentials with @claude. It's been quite successful but we also discovered a few issues with the setup.

Today I am releasing the biggest update of that fork so far. The key improvement that we worked on with the community was the handling of the authentication. We now properly support the full oauth flow from Anthropic independently from your local setup. This means we will refresh the tokens when they are expired (no more manual intervention every 8 hours) and we will not invalidate your local authentication flow.

Furthermore we also released and installer script that make it easier than ever to install @claude on your own repo. It's basically one command to run in your terminal:

# cd into your repo
bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/grll/claude-code-action/main/scripts/installer.sh)  

What are you waiting to start solving all your GitHub issues, opening and review PRs with Claude Code right from GitHub?

repo: https://github.com/grll/claude-code-action new release article: https://grll.bearblog.dev/major-update-for-pro-max-subscriber-using-claude-github-action/

EDIT: I want to highlight to everyone that this started as a fork of Claude Dev, which is why we’ve given full attribution and credit to original authors in the GitHub repo.

If anyone is curious why we made a fork, it’s so we could experiment with new ideas. We started to diverge enough from Claude-dev that we decided to stop making it temporary.

If you like it, great! We’re very collaborative and looking to integrate as many good ideas as possible. I think humans are only 1% down the path of building great coding agents and we hope to contribute.

Hey guys,

I’ve been working on Claude Coder, a semi-autonomous AI coder that helps you code on autopilot aimed towards no coders and coders alike. It’s open-source, and you can grab it right now on the VSCode marketplace or try it at Kodu.ai – no sign-up needed!

I've managed to partner with Anthropic to unlock a few things for the community:

• Zero Ratelimits using Claude and Sonnet (prompt caching included!!)

• $10 in free Anthropic credits (+ $10 for active users)

• One-click project deployment, web browsing capabilities, and a hosted web app to code on the go are coming soon!

• Zero Markups, our pricing is identical to Anthropic pricing, the cheapest provider out there.

• Free Trial no sign-up needed just download and start coding.

I wanted to personally note that I'm big about no data collection or sneaky cloud stuff, we don't read or store any type of prompt, message, or requests in our anthropic tunnel (links between your machine to anthropic through our unified API key), we only store the token usage to process user credits.

We are open source and welcome any types of contributions and feature requests at our Github (https://github.com/kodu-ai/kodu-coder)

🎬 Quick demo of Claude Coder in action (minor speedup)

Also, feel free to join our tiny but yet growing Discord and let me know what you think. Would love your feedback, I'm active most of the day (14ish hours T_T)

I've been inspired by Claude Dev, Aider, and Claude Engineer, and want to give a big shoutout to all of them for making this dream a reality!

I just noticed atlassian (the JIRA company) released a Claude Code compete (saw from https://x.com/CodeByPoonam/status/1933402572129443914).

It actually gives me 20M tokens for free every single day! Judging from the output it's definitely running claude 4 - pretty much does everything Claude Code does. Can't believe this is real! Like.. what?? No way they can sustain this, right?

Thought it's worth sharing for those who can't afford Max plan like me.

I know, I probably shouldn't say anything because this is absolutely subsidized launch pricing to drive up interest and I'm going to jinx it and they'll eventually slow down the gravy train but damn. I saw someone else post their $20 in 2 days breaking even and thought I might as well share my own experience - I broke even day 1. I've actually only gotten rate limited once, and it was for about an hour and a half on that first day when I burned $30 in equivalent API use.

I'm a heavy roo code user via API and get everything for free at work so I generally look for the right tool for the job more than anything else, and while I still think roo modes shine where claude code hasn't quite nailed yet, it's a very solid product. In my own time, I had been going more gemini heavy in roo because sonnet struggles with big context and have mad love for that beautiful month of free 2.5 pro exp... and I was willing to overlook a lot of the 05-06 flaws. Jury is still out on 06-05, but I decided to give the $20 plan a shot and see if claude code would cut my API bills and damn. It did almost immediately. First day was 06/06, the 06/01 and 06/05 were using my direct anthropic API. This is not an ad, it's good shit and you might as well get some VC funded discount claude code usage while it's still out there.

Got tired of being locked to Anthropic models in Claude Code. Built a proxy that lets you use 580+ models via OpenRouter while keeping the full Claude Code experience.

What it does:

• Use Gemini, GPT, Grok, DeepSeek, Llama — whatever — inside Claude Code

• Works with your existing Claude subscription (native passthrough, no markup)

• Or run completely free using OpenRouter's free tier (actual good models, not garbage)

• Multi-agent setup: map different models to opus/sonnet/haiku/subagent roles

Install:

npm install -g claudish
claudish --free

That's it. No config.

How it works:

Sits between Claude Code and the API. Translates Anthropic's tool format to OpenAI/Gemini JSON and back. Zero patches to the Claude Code binary, so it doesn't break when Anthropic pushes updates.

Everything still works — thinking modes, MCP servers, /commands, the lot.

Links:

• Site: https://claudish.com

• GitHub: https://github.com/MadAppGang/claude-code/tree/main/mcp/claudish

Open source, MIT license. Built by MadAppGang.

What models are people wanting to try with Claude Code's architecture? Curious what combos work well.