25 Claude Rules to Stop Hitting Your Token Limits

Claude plans use a rolling five-hour usage window, and paid plans also have weekly limits. Every message re-reads your whole conversation, files, tools, and instructions, so the size of the context matters more than the length of your question.

Most limits are hit by long, messy chats, not by hard questions.

• 1 · Start a new chat for every new topic
• 2 · Ask for a short summary before switching, and paste only the summary into the new chat
• 3 · Edit your message and resend it instead of adding corrections
• 4 · Ask several related questions in one message
• 5 · Do not keep one chat running for days

• 6 · Give context once, clearly
• 7 · Ask for the length you need, such as “in five bullets”
• 8 · Say “no preamble” when you only need the answer
• 9 · Ask for changes only, not the whole document again

• 10 · Share only the pages or sections that matter
• 11 · Convert large PDFs to text when you can
• 12 · Put reused files in a Project instead of uploading them again
• 13 · Remove old or duplicate files from Projects

• 14 · Use Haiku 5.5 or Sonnet 5.5 for simple tasks
• 15 · Save Opus and Fable for hard problems
• 16 · Lower the effort level for routine work
• 17 · Use max effort only for the hardest problems

• 18 · Turn off connectors and web search for tasks that do not need them
• 19 · Remove plugins and MCP servers you do not use
• 20 · Ask for a plan before long agent tasks, so they do not wander

• 21 · Use /clear between tasks
• 22 · Use /compact on long sessions
• 23 · Keep CLAUDE.md short
• 24 · Point Claude to exact files with @ instead of asking it to explore
• 25 · Use subagents on smaller models for searching and reading

• Check your usage in Claude’s settings
• In Claude Code, try a context meter mod, such as Anthropic’s Token Weather sample
• Notice which tasks use the most, and change those habits first

• Use prompt caching for long, repeated instructions
• Use the Batch API for work that can wait, at lower prices
• Set a max output length
• Track spend in the Claude Console

• Wait for the five-hour window to reset
• Switch to a smaller model if you still have room
• Buy extra usage on a paid plan if you need it now
• Upgrade only if you hit limits every week