On September 24, 2026, Anthropic clarified that its optional promotional credit for Claude Code cloud sessions is used first; regular Pro or Max plan usage applies after the balance is spent. Anthropic had announced the sessions’ availability outside research preview on September 23.
How Claude Code cloud sessions work
A cloud session runs Claude Code remotely, so your computer can be shut down while the task continues. You can start one in a browser, the Claude mobile or desktop app, from a terminal with claude --cloud, or through Routines, then monitor or steer the session from another device.
Anthropic-hosted sessions use fresh Ubuntu 24.04 virtual machines on x86_64, with approximate ceilings of 4 vCPUs, 16 GB of RAM and 30 GB of disk. Organizations can also route sessions to self-hosted environments. Cloud sessions share account usage limits with other Claude and Claude Code use; Anthropic says there is no separate virtual-machine charge.
Remote Control works differently: it connects a web or mobile interface to a Claude Code session running on your own computer, so that machine needs to remain available.
The one-time credits for Pro and Max
Anthropic’s September 23 announcement listed these one-time promotional balances for cloud sessions:
| Plan | One-time cloud-session credit |
| Pro | $100 |
| Max | $250 |
The credit is optional and applies to cloud-session use before regular plan usage. The promotion named Pro and Max subscribers; cloud-session access also includes Team and Enterprise users with premium seats or Chat + Claude Code seats.
The promotion was reported to require an individual Pro or Max subscription active when it began on September 23. The reported claim deadline is October 7, 2026, and unused credit is reported to expire November 4, 2026.
Getting a repository into a cloud session
The standard web workflow connects GitHub and lets you choose a repository. From the CLI, Claude Code can also upload an eligible local Git repository as a bundle. That bundle excludes untracked files, and a session started from a bundle cannot push changes back to a non-GitHub remote. Files and software installed only on your computer do not carry over; the remote environment starts from the repository clone or uploaded bundle.
An idle hosted virtual machine can pause with its files saved and may later be reclaimed. Reopening an expired session provisions a fresh VM and restores the conversation history, but background processes running when the old VM was reclaimed do not resume.
