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Anthropic officially bans using subscription auth for third party use

code.claude.com

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Re: Anthropic officially bans using subscription auth for third party use

#421

Post by fauigerzigerk »

Loic wrote: post #369
bilekas wrote: post #314

It might be some confirmation bias here on my part but it feels as if companies are becoming more and more hostile to their API users. Recently Spotify basically nuked their API with zero urgency to fix it, redit has a whole convoluted npm package your obliged to use to create a bot, Facebook requires you to provide registered company and tax details even for development with some permissions. Am I just old man screa…

They put no limits on the API usage, as long as you pay. Here, they put limits on the "under-cover" use of the subscription. If they can provide a relatively cheap subscription against the direct API use, this is because they can control the stuff end-to-end, the application running on your system (Claude Code, Claude Desktop) and their systems. As you subscribe to these plans, this is the "contract", you can use onl…

It doesn't really make sense to me because the subscriptions have limits too.

But I agree they can impose whatever user hostile restrictions they want. They are not a monopoly. They compete in a very competitive market. So if they decide to raise prices in whatever shape or form then that's fine.

Arbitrary restrictions do play a role for my own purchasing decisions though. Flexibility is worth something.

Re: Anthropic officially bans using subscription auth for third party use

#422

Post by code51 »

alexandre_m wrote: post #174
esafak wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a bizarre plan because nobody is 'dependent' on Claude Code; we're begging to use alternatives. It's the model we want!

You’re not really paying for the model, you’re paying for the tool, the ecosystem, and the application layer around it. Sonnet 4.6 in CC doesn’t behave the same way as Sonnet 4.6 in Antigravity.

Skills is a generic construct. System prompt is generic as well. Subagents, AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md etc. these are generic, "please care for my instruction" kind of constructs without any real guarantee to close gaps.

Tool is generic (CC vs OpenCode) Ecosystem is already same everywhere.

I don't understand what's the point.

Re: Anthropic officially bans using subscription auth for third party use

#423

Post by stavros »

theturtletalks wrote: post #37
firloop wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest reason why this is confusing is the Claude Agent SDK[0] will use subscription/oauth credentials if present. The terms update implies that there's some use cases where that's ok and other use cases (commercial?) where using their SDK on a user's device violates terms. [0] https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/agent-sdk/overview

Had the same question, comment below quotes their docs saying Agent SDK using oAuth token is also not allowed.

It doesn't quote their docs, it quotes the page this post is about.

Re: Anthropic officially bans using subscription auth for third party use

#424

Post by stavros »

BoorishBears wrote: post #206
firloop wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest reason why this is confusing is the Claude Agent SDK[0] will use subscription/oauth credentials if present. The terms update implies that there's some use cases where that's ok and other use cases (commercial?) where using their SDK on a user's device violates terms. [0] https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/agent-sdk/overview

The SDK is Claude Code in a harnesss, so it works with your credentials the same way CC does. But they're stating you can only use your subscription for your personal usage, not someone else's for their usage in your product. I honestly think they're being short sighted not just giving a "3rd party quota" since they already show users like 4 quotas. If the fear is 3rd party agents screwing up the math, just make it l…

How can they be clearer that the Agents SDK is not allowed?

> OAuth authentication (used with Free, Pro, and Max plans) is intended exclusively for Claude Code and Claude.ai. Using OAuth tokens obtained through Claude Free, Pro, or Max accounts in any other product, tool, or service — including the Agent SDK — is not permitted and constitutes a violation of the Consumer Terms of Service.

Re: Anthropic officially bans using subscription auth for third party use

#425

Post by paradox460 »

scwoodal wrote: post #98
bluegatty wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you buy a 'Season's Pass' for Disneyland, you cant 'sublet' it to another kid to use on the days you don't; It's not really buying a 'daily access rate'. Anthropic subs are not 'bulk tokens'. It's not an unreasonable policy and it's entirely inevitable that they have to restrict.

I’m not subletting my sub to anyone. I’m the only one using the third party harness. I’m using their own SDK in my own CLI tool.

Running with the Disney analogy, it's like if Disney didn't let you wear a shirt with a universal or Warner property on it in their parks

Absurd, and not beyond the realm of possibility

Re: Anthropic officially bans using subscription auth for third party use

#426

Post by wobfan »

pirsquare wrote: post #341
bilekas wrote: post #314

It might be some confirmation bias here on my part but it feels as if companies are becoming more and more hostile to their API users. Recently Spotify basically nuked their API with zero urgency to fix it, redit has a whole convoluted npm package your obliged to use to create a bot, Facebook requires you to provide registered company and tax details even for development with some permissions. Am I just old man screa…

Facebook doing that is actually good, to protect consumers from data abuse after incidents like cambridge analytica. They are holding businesses who touches your personal data responsible.

Facebook knew very early and very well about the data harvesting that was going on at Cambridge Analytica through their APIs. They acted so incredibly slowly and not-harsh that it's IMO hard to believe that they did not implicitly support it.

> to protect consumers

We are talking about Meta. They have never, and will never, protect customers. All they protect is their wealth and their political power.

Re: Anthropic officially bans using subscription auth for third party use

#427

Post by navigate8310 »

andersmurphy wrote: post #308
xyzsparetimexyz wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They wear down being run at 100% all the time. Support slowly drops off, the architecture and even the rack format become deprecated.

Yeah what's crazy is most of these companies are making accounting choices that obscure the true cost. By extending the stated useful life of their equipment, in some cases from 3 years to 6. Perfectly legal. And it has the effect of suppressing depreciation expenses and inflating reported earnings.

But don't they palpitate for thise sweet depreciation credits to decrease their tax on revenue?

Re: Anthropic officially bans using subscription auth for third party use

#428

Post by notrealyme123 »

miroljub wrote: post #410
sbarre wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every garden eventually becomes a walled garden once enough people are inside.

[flagged]

What a weird metaphor for a company which most likely wants nothing more than growing markets.

Re: Anthropic officially bans using subscription auth for third party use

#429

Post by dragonwriter »

stavros wrote: post #404
Loic wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They put no limits on the API usage, as long as you pay. Here, they put limits on the "under-cover" use of the subscription. If they can provide a relatively cheap subscription against the direct API use, this is because they can control the stuff end-to-end, the application running on your system (Claude Code, Claude Desktop) and their systems. As you subscribe to these plans, this is the "contract", you can use onl…

I don't see how it's fair. If I'm paying for usage, and I'm using it, why should Anthropic have a say on which client I use? I pay them $100 a month and now for some reason I can't use OpenCode? Fuck that.

You aren't paying for usage, you are paying for the product that the subscription is offered to. If you are paying for usage, well, that's their billed by token-usage API plan, which they are quite happy for you to use with any client you want.

Re: Anthropic officially bans using subscription auth for third party use

#430

Post by stavros »

dragonwriter wrote: post #429
stavros wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see how it's fair. If I'm paying for usage, and I'm using it, why should Anthropic have a say on which client I use? I pay them $100 a month and now for some reason I can't use OpenCode? Fuck that.

You aren't paying for usage, you are paying for the product that the subscription is offered to. If you are paying for usage, well, that's their billed by token-usage API plan, which they are quite happy for you to use with any client you want.

Even worse, if I'm paying a subscription for the product, and I don't want to use the product, what's it to them?
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