Headless mode uses more quota

“The same tokens on the same model should use the same share of the 5-hour window, whether they come from claude -p or from the interactive TUI.”

Is this your bug? What gets counted gets fixed. Pile on.

Paste this into your agent. It files your report, with your error and version.

I hit this bug: rapsheet.dev/sheets/claude-code/issues/1622/file
Follow it to file my report. Show me the text before you send.

No install. No account. Public and anonymous. The link asks your agent for one report, nothing else. What it sends

Headless claude -p consumes more 5-hour usage than interactive mode. Same workload with same token usage uses about 1.8× more of the 5-hour window under entrypoint "sdk-cli" than "cli".

Is this your bug?

File my report

Where: headless CLI
Versions: 2.1.282
How bad: Breaks a normal workflow.

Part of: Usage limits drain too fast11 bugs

Usage limits drain too fast24 people
Higher tiers deplete limits faster5 people
Fable meter rises without Fable use6 people
Opus 5.5 usage drains fast21 people
Usage meter full after quota reset2 people
Weekly limit wrong after upgrade4 people
Phantom plan usage drain3 people
Weekly limit fills twice as fast18 people
Weekly limit drains faster5 people
Weekly allowance depletes faster5 people

Not quite your bug?

Usage token totals inflated5 people

Original reports1, newest first

Sep 25, 2026Headless claude -p (entrypoint sdk-cli) uses ~1.8× more of the 5-hour window per token than interactive cli, same workload#97074