Starting June 15, Anthropic is splitting Claude subscription billing into two separate pools, and developers using Claude Code through third-party tools like Zed face price increases ranging from 12x to 150x depending on their usage patterns. The change separates first-party tool usage (the official Claude CLI and claude.ai chat) from third-party and SDK integrations, moving the latter to a capped credit system billed at full API rates.

What's Changing With Claude's Billing Model?

Anthropic's new structure creates two distinct billing categories. First-party tool usage continues under existing subscription limits, while third-party integrations and SDK usage (including Zed's Agent Communication Protocol integration, the claude-p flag, and other third-party tools) move to a new monthly credit pool billed at full API rates. The monthly credit limits are stark: Claude Pro subscribers get $5 in credits, Max 5x subscribers receive $100, and Max 20x subscribers get $500. At full API rates, that $500 budget covers roughly 13 to 26 heavy Opus 4.7 debugging sessions, each consuming 500,000 to 1 million tokens.

Developers who have audited their usage report effective price increases ranging from 12x for light workloads to 150x or more for heavy automation workflows. Credits do not roll over month to month, and when they run out, usage stops entirely unless developers enable overage billing. Anthropic will send a claim email around June 8, and developers must claim their credit before June 15 or it defaults.

How Can Developers Keep Using Claude Code Without Price Increases?

• Update Zed to version 1.3.5 or later: Grab the latest stable release of the Zed editor, which shipped Terminal Threads on May 20 and introduced the infrastructure needed to run Claude Code as a first-party tool.
• Open the Agent Panel and select Terminal: Click the plus icon in the Agent Panel toolbar, select "Terminal" from the dropdown, and a terminal session opens in the Threads Sidebar as a first-class sidebar entry.
• Run Claude CLI directly in the terminal thread: Execute the claude command in the terminal thread exactly as you would in your system terminal. This routes the interaction through first-party tool usage, keeping it covered by your existing subscription limits.
• Access the Threads Sidebar with keyboard shortcuts: Use Option-Command-J on macOS or Ctrl-Option-J on Linux and Windows to quickly navigate to the Threads Sidebar where Terminal Threads live alongside agent threads.

Terminal Threads represent what Zed describes as "the only way to keep using Claude Code in Zed with your existing Claude subscription". The logic is straightforward: running the official Claude CLI inside a terminal thread in Zed makes it a first-party tool interaction, identical to running Claude Code in your system terminal. The same code, the same editor, but a completely different billing outcome depending on how it enters the system.

Why Does This Billing Split Matter for Developers?

The distinction between first-party and third-party usage has enormous financial implications. Running Claude Code through Zed's ACP integration routes requests through the Agent SDK, which triggers the new capped credit billing after June 15. Running the same Claude CLI tool through a Terminal Thread in Zed uses your regular subscription, the same as running it in your system terminal would. For developers relying on Claude Code for debugging, code generation, or automation workflows, this difference translates to either maintaining current costs or facing bills that could exceed their monthly budgets within days.

Zed's Terminal Threads feature extends the editor's existing Parallel Agents architecture, which launched with Zed 1.0 in April and introduced the Threads Sidebar as a central workspace for managing concurrent AI work. Terminal Threads add a third thread type to the mix, allowing developers to run Zed's built-in agent (unaffected by Anthropic's billing change), ACP-connected agents like Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot, and terminal-based agents like Claude Code CLI in a unified interface.

The deadline is real and non-negotiable. Anthropic will send claim emails around June 8, and developers must act before June 15 or their credits default. For Zed users who have been running Claude Code through the ACP integration, the update and setup takes approximately 30 seconds, but the financial stakes are substantial. While Microsoft Copilot is absorbing some Claude Code users on its platform, Zed is keeping them on its own terms by providing a billing workaround that preserves subscription pricing.

What About Other AI Tools and Providers?

The implications extend beyond Anthropic. Gemini CLI has ACP support, and Google has not announced a comparable billing split as of this writing, so the status quo holds for Google's tools. Codex has ACP availability, and developers on OpenAI subscriptions should check whether a similar credit-pool structure applies to their plan. Amp, which has no ACP equivalent, was always terminal-only in Zed and now becomes a first-class workflow rather than a side terminal window. The precedent Anthropic is setting may influence how other AI providers structure their billing for third-party integrations in the coming months.