Claude Code Usage Limits 2026 [6.5x Tokens, Same Code]

Steps

1. Run /context to inspect messages, instructions and tools.
2. Use /clear when starting a new task, or /compact when continuing a long conversation.
3. Choose an effort level with /effort and increase it when the task needs more reasoning.
4. Keep CLAUDE.md focused and run the project tests to verify changes.

Transcript

Claude Code just stopped. Usage limit reached, and you were halfway through. In this video, you'll learn three things. One, how to see what is eating your limit. Two, how to throw out what Claude doesn't need anymore. Three, how much effort to give Claude so you stop paying for thinking you don't need. And a bonus, the stuff Claude carries around that you never even asked for. We're Rocket Launcher, a software company. In our free community, we teach Claude Code and go high level with people from all over the world. The link is in the description. Let's start with number one. Think of Claude's memory as a backpack. Everything you typed, every file it read, every answer goes into that backpack, and Claude carries the whole backpack with every new message. The heavier it gets, the faster your limit runs out. So let's look inside. Type slash context. Fifty-two thousand tokens, and forty-eight thousand of them are old messages from a task that's already finished. That's the heavy stuff in the backpack. So throw it out. Type slash clear. Now check again. Four and a half thousand. The old chat is gone, and your code, still there. Clear only empties the chat, never your files. Same problem, but you need to keep going? Then use slash compact instead. Let's see how that works. Slash compact is like packing smarter. Claude writes a short summary of the conversation, throws out the long version, and keeps going. Watch. Same long conversation. Now fifty-two point nine thousand tokens. Type slash compact. Now it's down to seven point three thousand. And here's the test. We ask Claude what our earlier log check found. It still knows. Zero failed orders. The results survived, the clutter didn't. So the rule is simple. New task, slash clear. Same task, getting long, slash compact. Claude Code also compacts by itself when the backpack is almost full. Compacting earlier can reduce what later messages carry, but making the summary also uses tokens. If this already helped you, hit like. It really helps us. Number three, effort. Effort is how hard Claude thinks before it answers. Low is a quick answer. Max is Claude thinking really, really hard. More thinking sounds better, right? So we tested it. Same task, same model, Opus five point five, once on low, once on max. The task: add a discount feature to a little shop app and keep everything else working. Low effort, done in nine seconds. Four hundred sixty-five output tokens. The tests pass. Max effort, twenty-nine seconds. Over three thousand output tokens. More than two thousand of those were just thinking. The tests pass too. And the code? Let's put them next to each other. Exactly the same, line for line. In this test, Max spent six and a half times more output tokens to write the identical answer. At API list prices, that's two cents versus nine cents. Tiny ones. But Claude Code does this all day, and on a subscription, effort and conversation length both eat into your limit. So does Max ever win? For really hard problems, Anthropic recommends higher effort. Our advice, test it on your own hard task before you make it your default. So here's the habit. Start low or medium. Turn it up only when Claude gets it wrong or the problem is really hard. To change it, type slash effort and pick a level. Press Enter to save a default for this model or S for this session only. Max is session only. Now the bonus. People say every MCP server you connect eats tokens on every message. We tested it. Three servers connected. System tools stayed at twenty-one point three thousand. Claude Code now loads MCP tools only when it needs them. But your Claude dot md file is loaded every message, so keep it short, only what Claude can't figure out by reading the code. Here's your quick check before the next task. Open slash context. Look at messages, instructions, and tools separately. Choose clear or compact based on what you need to remember. Then run your tests before deciding that more thinking was worth it. So three habits. One, look inside with slash context. Two, slash clear for a new task, slash compact for a long one. Three, low effort first, max only when it's hard. And keep your backpack light. We put this whole checklist in our free community next to our full Claude Code course. The link is in the description. And if you want to see what Claude Code can build when you use it like this, watch this video next.