Headroom's statuses explained: Ready, back in, % left

Each Headroom row has one status on the right. "Ready" means nothing is used up. "N% of session left" means a limit is past 90%. "Back in 38m" means the session or weekly limit is used up, with the time until the account works again. A model name followed by "back in" means only that model's weekly limit is used up and your other models still work.

This post maps each one to the Claude limit behind it. Headroom is a free Mac menu bar app, independent of Anthropic and not made, endorsed or supported by it.

The three limits behind the statuses

Anthropic describes two types of limits on paid plans: "a session limit that resets every five hours, and weekly limits that reset once every week" (usage and length limits). Weekly limits apply across all models. Some plans also have a separate weekly limit for a single model, and as of November 2026 the Help Center names Fable (Fable models on your plan). The meters in Headroom follow the same split:

Usage counts against the session and weekly allowances at the same time. Anthropic's example: "A single burst of heavy activity, such as a large workflow fanout, can exhaust the weekly allowance before the session window resets" (errors).

Used, not left

Every meter and bar in Headroom shows how much you have used, never how much is left. 38% on the Session meter means 38% used. The one place Headroom talks about what is left is the "N% of session left" status, covered below. Claude's own usage screen counts the same way: Anthropic's Help Center says Settings > Usage shows "Current session" as percent used and time remaining (usage limit best practices).

A bar turns red at 90%. That is Headroom's own warning line, not an Anthropic threshold.

"Ready"

Green dot. Nothing is used up, so Claude Code should work on this account now. It does not mean the account is empty of usage, only that no limit has been reached. Look at the meters to see how much is used.

"N% of session left"

When a limit is past 90%, the status switches from "Ready" to a note such as "8% of session left". It is a warning that the account is close to the edge. Claude Code gives a similar warning inside a session; Anthropic's docs show a message such as "You've used 85% of your session limit · resets 3:45pm" (errors). Headroom's is the same idea, but visible without opening a session.

Do not plan on using the last few percent. Users have reported hitting a limit slightly before the display reaches 100% (GitHub issue 64885, a hard stop at about 95%; issue 105890, a rounding difference). These are user reports.

"Back in 38m"

Red dot. The session limit or the weekly limit is used up. The time is the wait until the account is usable again. It is a countdown to the reset of the limit that is blocking you.

Claude Code shows the same thing in its own words when you hit a limit: for example "You've hit your session limit · resets 3:45pm" or "You've hit your weekly limit · resets Mon 12:00am", and it "blocks further requests until the reset time shown in the message" (errors).

The status does not name the limit, and the time alone does not always tell you. The session limit resets in full five hours after its period starts (usage and length limits), so a wait longer than five hours, such as one counted in days, can only be a weekly limit. A shorter wait, like 38m, can be either, because a weekly limit can also be close to its reset. Open the row to see which bar is full and when each resets. Weekly limits "reset at a fixed time each week that is assigned to your account", independent of when you start using Claude or when your subscription begins (usage and length limits), so the weekly countdown is not "seven days from your first message".

Switching models does not help here. Anthropic says "The session and weekly limits are shared across all models, so switching models doesn't restore access" (errors). For what to do while you wait, see Hit the weekly limit in Claude Code.

" back in 6d 3h"

Half red dot. For example "Fable back in 6d 3h". That model's weekly limit is used up. Your other models still work on this account.

This status exists because some plans have a separate weekly limit for one model. Anthropic says Max and Ultra plans, and premium seats on Team, have a separate weekly limit for Fable models: "You can use up to 50% of your weekly usage limits on Fable models at no extra cost", and it draws from the plan's regular weekly limits (Fable models on your plan). When it is reached you can "keep using Fable models with usage credits, or switch to another Claude model to keep working within your plan's usage limits."

The 50% is a share of the weekly limit, not extra room: "you can never use more than your weekly limit." So Fable use draws from the same weekly limit as everything else. See Claude Fable weekly limit.

As of November 2026 the Help Center names only Fable, but Claude Code's error reference still lists the messages "You've hit your Opus limit" and "You've hit your Sonnet limit", and says "The Opus and Sonnet limits each apply only to requests to that model family" (errors). So if one of your accounts shows another model's name, that is the per-model limit Anthropic's usage figures report for that account. Headroom labels the meter with the model's name.

"Not tracked" and "Sign-in lapsed."

Two more row states are not usage statuses:

• Not tracked. You chose "Stop Tracking" in an opened row. The account stays signed in to Claude Code and stays in the panel as a short row with a "Track Again" link (also in the "…" menu).
• Sign-in lapsed. The saved sign-in no longer works. Click "Sign In Again…" on that row. See Headroom says Sign-in lapsed.

The menu bar number

The number next to the gauge is the average session use across tracked accounts, and the panel's first line says how many accounts are usable now, as in "3 of 4 accounts usable now · average session use 52%". An account with no five-hour limit, such as a verified Ultra account (Ultra plan), shows only its weekly limits and is left out of the average.

Click a row for each limit as a bar with "% used" and "Resets in 38m, 3:40 PM". The rest of the opened row, how often Headroom checks and where its numbers come from are in See every Claude Code account's limits in the menu bar. Download from the Headroom home page.