Quota Exhaustion Issue in Claude Code Pro Max 5x Plan

On the Pro Max 5x plan, I experienced unexpected quota exhaustion shortly after a reset, despite moderate usage. Initially, heavy development consumed the quota as expected, but after the reset, the quota was depleted in just 1.5 hours. The problem seems to stem from cache_read tokens being counted at full rate against the rate limit, negating the benefits of prompt caching. This issue is exacerbated by background sessions consuming shared quota and auto-compact events creating expensive spikes. The 1M context window, marketed as a feature, actually amplifies the problem by increasing the tokens per call, leading to faster quota depletion. To address these issues, I suggest clarifying cache_read quota accounting, implementing effective token rate limiting, detecting idle sessions, providing real-time token consumption visibility, and offering context-aware quota estimates.