/status vs /usage in Claude Code: which shows what
/status shows your version, model, account and connectivity. /usage shows plan limits and costs. Here is which command to run for which question, and why docs disagree.
Use /status to see which version, model and account Claude Code is using. Use /usage to see how much of your plan limits you have used and when they reset. They are separate screens, and looking for your limits on the wrong one is an easy way to conclude that Claude Code does not show them.
What /status shows
According to the Claude Code commands reference, /status opens Settings on the Status tab, "showing version, model, account, and connectivity". It is the command to run when the question is "what is Claude Code actually talking to?"
It is most useful for three things.
- Which account is signed in. If you keep a personal and a work login, this is how you confirm which one the current folder uses. The full routine is in how to tell which account Claude Code is using.
- Which credential is winning. When both a login and an API key are configured,
/statusmarks the one that is not in use, per the authentication docs. That matters because anANTHROPIC_API_KEYyou approved (and in-pmode, any key that is present) is used instead of your subscription, which means API charges instead of included usage. See why an API key overrides your subscription. - Login health. In version 2.1.210 or later,
/statusshows a Login row when your saved claude.ai login has expired, along with the organization and email it belonged to, according to the same page. The row appears only when that claude.ai login is the active credential.
What /usage shows
/usage shows session cost, plan usage limits and activity stats. On a Pro, Max, Ultra, Team or Enterprise plan it also includes a breakdown of what counts against your plan limits. /cost and /stats are aliases. The tour of every part of that screen is in how to check your Claude Code usage with /usage.
The docs do not describe /usage in the terminal as the place to confirm which account or credential is in use, so the two commands work as a pair: /status for who, /usage for how much.
Side by side
| Question | Command |
|---|---|
| Which Claude Code version am I on? | /status |
| Which model am I using? | /status (and /model to change it) |
| Which account is signed in? | /status |
| Is an API key overriding my login? | /status |
| How much of my session limit have I used? | /usage |
| How much of my weekly limit have I used? | /usage |
| When do my limits reset? | /usage |
| What used the most of my limit? | /usage |
Why older advice points at /status for limits
You will find advice, including in Anthropic's own Help Center, saying to check your remaining allocation with /status. The Help Center article on using Claude Code with Pro, Max or Ultra still says to "Monitor your remaining allocation using the /status command". The Claude Code docs, which describe the commands as they exist now, put plan limits under /usage.
Anthropic has not said why the two differ. Until the Help Center is updated, treat the Claude Code docs as the reference for what each command does, and use /usage for limits.
A common trap: limits look fine, but you are being charged
If /usage shows plenty of room and you still see API charges or an error such as "Credit balance is too low", run /status next. Anthropic's error reference says a "Credit balance is too low" message on a subscription usually means an approved ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is sending requests to a Console account, and points you at the API key row in /status.
The same page says that for "API Error: Request rejected (429)", the first suggested step is to run /status, because a stray ANTHROPIC_API_KEY can route requests through a low-tier key instead of your subscription. That error refers to a rate limit on a key or cloud project, not to a subscription limit.
To go back to your subscription, unset the key in the current shell and remove it from your shell profile:
unset ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
A running session keeps the environment it started with, so the error reference says to relaunch claude after this. Then run /status again to confirm that the subscription login is the credential in use, and run /login if you have not signed in with your subscription yet.
A related command outside the session
If you want the account information without opening an interactive session, claude auth status prints the authentication status. JSON is the default and --text gives readable output. The CLI reference says it exits with code 0 if you are logged in and 1 if not, which makes it handy in scripts. That is covered in the account post linked above.
A quick routine
When something about limits looks off, this order saves time. Run /status first, to confirm the account and that your subscription login is the credential in use. Then run /usage to read the bars for that account. If the bars look wrong for who you thought you were, check the account before you blame the limit. This comes up when a personal plan and a work seat are both signed in on one Mac, because the configuration folder a session starts with (~/.claude by default, or whatever CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR points to) decides which login it uses. The folder you happen to be working in does not.
When /usage looks wrong
/usage reads plan limits from Anthropic. If that request fails, it falls back to the last bars it loaded in the past 60 minutes with a "Showing last-known usage" note, and you can press r to retry. A line like rate limited until 3:14am means Claude Code cannot fetch your limits until then. It does not mean you are limited.
Keeping both answers in view
If you run more than one Claude Code account on a Mac, you end up opening /status and /usage in each. Headroom, a free menu bar app, shows each signed-in account's email next to its session and weekly percentages, so the "who" and the "how much" sit in one panel. It is an independent app from Everyday Mac Tools, not made or endorsed by Anthropic, and it reads the sign-in Claude Code already saved on your Mac. It never sends a prompt. Get it here.